- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His seminar, from 12:10 to 1 p.m., will be hosted by Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. The seminar will be recorded for later viewing on UCTV.
"Sustainable agriculture is proving to be a challenge for many growers," Ohmart said. "They are unsure of the definition of sustainable agriculture, how to integrate the concept into their farm management, and how to measure its value to their production bottom line. SureHarvest has developed a framework that growers, grower groups and companies can use to design, implement and measure sustainability performance. The framework is called SureHarvest's 5 Ps of sustainability. The model evolved out of SureHarvest's work with the California wine industry since 2002 and is designed to meet those challenges."
Ohlmart will discuss the evolution of the framework and the tools that have been developed to facilitate program implementation. "This includes an online program management software platform that contains an online self-assessment workbook of sustainable farming practices, a reporting system for instant feedback on a grower's self-assessment and educational content in context on sustainable farming practices."
SureHarvest has also been working with the Almond Board of California designing and implementing the California Sustainable Almond Program and with the California Cut Flower Commission developing a program for the sustainable production of cut flowers, said Ohmart, who also will discuss these programs. He will zero in on "lessons learned about the challenges of getting grower engagement in sustainability programs, including the role of the University of California research and extension."
Ohmart received his bachelor's degree in forest biology from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York (SUNY) and his Ph.D. in entomology from UC Berkeley. He was a principal research scientist for Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Forest Research in Australia for 13 years where he did basic research on insect pests of Monterey pine and Eucalyptus.
His biography also includes:
- From 1989 to 1995 he worked as a private consultant for Scientific Methods, Inc. in Chico, Calif., helping growers develop and implement integrated pest management (IPM) programs for almonds, apples, walnuts, prunes, and pistachios.
- From 1996 to 2009 he was the Sustainable Winegrowing director for the Lodi Winegrape Commission where he helped them develop what has become an internationally recognized sustainable winegrowing program. This included creating the Lodi-Winegrower's Workbook program and the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing program, California's first third party-certified sustainable winegrowing program.
- Since late 2009, he has served as vice president of professional services with SureHarvest, a company that provides a complete set of sustainability solutions for growers, grower groups, and Agrifood companies. He has presented more than 300 seminars, conference papers and symposia papers at universities, government research organizations, and grower groups throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland and is very active at the county, state and national level in pest management and agriculture industry affairs.
In addition, Ohlmart serves on the boards of Protected Harvest, the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists, and the Advisory Board of the Cal Poly Center for Sustainability. He recently published the book View from the Vineyard: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Winegrape Growing.
His seminar will be recorded for later posting on UCTV.
Upcoming seminars:
Wednesday, Nov. 5
Chuck Fox
Professor, University of Kentucky, specializing in ecology and evolution of life histories; insect-plant interactions; insect behavioral ecology
Title: "Inbreeding-Environment Interactions: Experimental Studies and a Meta Analysis"
Host: Jay Rosenheim, professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 12
Louie Yang
Assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, specializing in ecology
Title: "Pulses, Phenology and Ontogeny: Towards a More Temporally Explicit Framework for Understanding Species Interactions?"
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Ray Hong
Associate professor of biology, California State University, Northridge, specializing in nematology
Title: “A Fatal Attraction: Regulation of Development and Behavior in the Nematode Pristionchus pacificus by a Beetle Pheromone”
Host: Valerie Williamson, professor of nematology, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 26
Doris Bachtrog, lab
Associate professor of integrative biology, UC Berkeley, specializing in evolutionary and functional genomics
Title: "Numerous Transitions of Sex Chromosomes in Diptera"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Dec. 3
To be announced
Wednesday, Dec. 10
Sawyer Fuller
Postdoctoral researcher, Harvard University
Title: "RoboBee: Using the Engineering Toolbox to Understand the Flight Apparatus of Flying Insects"
Host: James Carey, distinguished professor of entomology
This seminar is being remote broadcast to UC Davis via internet
Contacts:
Steve Nadler, sanadler@ucdavis.edu
Professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jesael "Jesa" David, jcdavid@ucdavis.edu
Student Affairs Officer, Graduate Programs
Plant Pathology, Entomology and Nematology