Archives: Speakers

Associate Professor – Boyce Thompson Institute and Research Molecular Biologist

USDA Agricultural Research Services

Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section.

Michelle is an Associate Professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute and Research Molecular Biologist, USDA-ARS Robert W. Holley Center. 

She leads an active vector biology research group within BTI. Her program uses a combination of molecular, genetic, and proteomics approaches to understand how insects transmit plant pathogens and how pathogens manipulate host plants to ensure replication and transmission. A second area of research is the development of new pest management tools to enhance cultural control and to provide new management strategies for insect vector-borne diseases in plants. 

Grower & Consultant

Golden West Ag Services

Graham Burt-Papatone is an Agricultural Consultant and owner of Golden West Ag Services in Visalia, California. His areas of focus as a consultant are biological integrated pest management, organic and conventional farming systems in permanent crops, and regenerative agriculture.

Before devoting his work fulltime to Golden West Ag Services in 2019, Graham served as a farm manager for a six-thousand-acre family farming operation working with dairy cattle and calves, corn, wheat, alfalfa, citrus and olives. During his tenure, he successfully guided all six of the family dairies in achieving Certified Sustainable status with the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program. Additionally, Graham attained the responsibility of maintaining state and federal environmental quality standards.

As a lifelong resident of the San Joaquin Valley and fourth generation agriculturist, Graham is committed to working with family farming operations to develop sustainable farming programs and provide sound biological solutions in an extremely challenging regulatory climate.

Vice President, Field Development

Certis Biologicals

Dr. Michael Dimock is Vice President for Field Development at Certis Biologicals, a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of biopesticides headquartered in Columbia, Maryland.  He holds Ph.D. (Cornell University) and M.S. (N.C. State University) degrees in Entomology and conducted postdoctoral research at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.  He has worked for 35 years in international research, development, and commercialization of biopesticides for management of arthropod pests, plant pathogens, and nematodes of importance in agriculture, forestry, ornamental horticulture, and human health.

Owner

KIS Organics

Tad Hussey is the owner of KIS Organics and a partner in Kaizen Consulting. He received his BA from the University of Washington in 2000 and his Masters from Macquarie University in Australia in 2005. His company’s mission is to help growers in working towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of growing cannabis using science-based horticulture. Tad also hosts the “Cannabis Cultivation and Science” Podcast where he interviews scientists, authors and farmers to help bridge the gap between agriculture, horticulture, and the cannabis industry.

KIS Organics vision is to help gardeners in working towards a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly way of growing all plants using science-based horticulture. We provide high-quality “living” soils, soil amendments, and education on organic growing practices.

Chief Operating Officer

TPS Lab

Noel Garcia, CCA, serves as TPS Labs Chief Operating Officer and Senior Consultant. He is a Certified Crop Advisor under the American Society of Agronomy. His career started at the USDA-ARS developing imagery acquisition software involving video and satellite images, image processing and geographical information systems. He was recruited by E.K. Chandler, to write software to manage and report raw laboratory data.

Reporting laboratory data soon escalated to converting Chandler’s interpretive abilities to intuitive software. Garcia also conducted field trials on various pop-up fertilizers, humic/fulvic acids, hormones, compost/ teas and other biostimulants with a variety of crops. Writing interpretive software required Garcia to gain an intimate understanding of soil and water chemistry, soil microbiology, plant physiology, how fertilizer compounds affect plant uptake and how to maximize plants’ genetic potential with nutritional balance at specific stages of growth.

Recently he studied the effects of soil biology on plant and soil health and structure for the remediation of saline and sodic soils. Additionally, he researches new products that can help remediate the declining quality of today’s soils, improve water use efficiency and grow more nutrient dense foods.

Professor and Director

Virginia Tech Nematode Assay Lab

Jonathan D. Eisenback earned a Ph.D. at North Carolina State University in plant pathology, specializing in the plant-parasitic nematodes. He has traveled to many countries around the world making presentations at conferences, holding workshops about nematodes, performing surveys of important nematodes in crop production, and teaching about the plant-parasitic nematodes. For his many contributions to the science of nematology, the Society of Nematologists named him as a Fellow. As the Director of the Virginia Tech Nematode Assay Lab, Eisenback advises growers in Virginia and surrounding states on the management of plant-parasitic nematodes. As a professor of nematology, his research focuses on many different aspects of nematology, including morphology and taxonomy, resistance in plants, survival mechanisms of extremophiles, viruses associated with nematodes, nematodes parasitizing trees, and the use of nematodes as monitors of soil health.

Professor and Director

North Willamette Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University

Dr. Surendra Dara is an entomologist with more than 25 years of experience in IPM and microbial control. He worked on numerous invasive and endemic species of arthropods and plant pathogens. Dr. Dara has a strong research and extension background working on irrigation, nutrient, and pest management issues, biostimulants, and biological soil amendments to develop sustainable agricultural solutions. His research and extension covered commodities such as alfalfa, cassava, cotton, small fruits, and vegetables serving agricultural communities locally, regionally, and internationally.

Dr. Dara has authored/co-authored more than 400 scientific and extension articles, which include three co-edited books, four co-edited special issues of journals, 25 book chapters, and 54 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has extensive international outreach experience training farmers in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Kosovo, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe. He received multiple national awards for his internationally recognized research and extension work. He holds editorial responsibilities for multiple journals and is currently the President of the Plant-Insect Ecosystems Section of the Entomological Society of America.

Biological Program Manager

BioWorks

Michael is a Biological Program Manager with BioWorks. In this role he provides technical support for the company’s catalog of disease-management products, and their utilization in integrated plant health management programs. Prior to joining BioWorks in 2019, he was fortunate enough to have travelled the world plying his craft, with research and outreach positions in Israel, Kenya, the US, New Zealand, and Canada, putting new biological control tools and knowledge into the hands of growers.

Professor Horticulture and Crop Science Dept.

The Ohio State University

Dr. Michelle Jones studied Agricultural Biochemistry at Iowa State University for her BS and received her PhD in Horticulture from Purdue University.  Her love of Floriculture stems from an honors research project evaluating the effect of ethylene on carnation vase life. She was on the faculty at Colorado State University and moved to The Ohio State University in 2001.  She is currently a Professor in the Horticulture and Crop Science Department and serves as the D.C. Kiplinger Endowed Floriculture Chair. Her current research and extension programs focus on the use of beneficial bacteria and biostimulants to increase nutrient use efficiency and improve disease and environmental stress tolerance in floriculture crops. She also works with greenhouse growers to identify and remediate ethylene damage in production greenhouses and improve the shelf life of flowering ornamentals.