Lynn Wunderlich Farm Advisor Pomology, Horticulture and Specialty Crops University of California Cooperative Extension El Dorado and Amador Counties Current position: As a U.C. Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, I am a local problem solver. My job responsibilities include conducting on-farm research, diagnosis of pest problems and providing management solutions for those problems, and delivery of U.C. research-based information to my clientele. Most producers I work with are small farmers growing a variety of crops which they direct market. I deliver information through a newsletter, field days, one-on-one farm calls, grower meetings and our website. Current research includes work on enhancing mating disruption of codling moth in apples, testing chemical and cultural techniques to manage root rot in Christmas trees, and evaluating labor-saving techniques such as spray thinning of bloom to reduce fruit set. I also provide information on broader production issues, such as irrigation, planting and marketing. In addition, I serve a growing number of home gardener clientele and provide training to our county's Master Gardener volunteer program. How the IPM program helped me get where I am now: When I applied for graduate school, I desired an "applied" course of study that would also teach me solid research techniques. The Integrated Pest Management program gave me that unique educational experience. For example, I had a course in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department where I learned all about calibration of spray equipment and how pumps and nozzles worked -- extremely useful information which I still use today, and at the same time, I took a seminar course in Plant Pathology where we read and critiqued complex scientific journal articles. I don't believe that level of education, both applied and academic, is available elsewhere. The field courses, where we looked at the many different cropping systems in California, were extremely valuable. The highlight of my graduate career was the experience I gained working on my Master's thesis. I was able to conduct research that I believed was meaningful, innovative and practical. I learned how to ask, and answer, scientific questions, and I learned how to drive a tractor, too. Photos: (click to enlarge)

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