My name is Sarah Marsh, and I am excited to join UC Cooperative Extension as the new Rice Farming Systems Advisor serving Colusa and Yolo counties. I will be based out of Colusa at the Colusa UCCE office. I grew up on a diversified row-crop and orchard farm in Arbuckle and am grateful for the opportunity to serve the community in which I was raised. After completing my undergraduate degree in Plant and Environmental Soil Science at Texas A&M University, I obtained a M.S. in Horticulture and Agronomy at UC Davis, where I worked with Dr. Kassim Al-Khatib in studying weeds and herbicide resistance in rice agroecosystems. I have since worked in rice breeding research and integrative pest management in several row crops in the Upper Gulf Coast region.

I hope to spend the first few months getting to know the growers and community of this region and learning what the unique needs of our area are. I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from all of you, and I am excited to partner with the community to craft a research program that can deliver relevant results. I encourage you to reach out with ideas, requests, or questions relating to rice farming as I develop priorities to pursue in this position. Please feel free to drop by the Colusa UCCE office or give me a call. I can be reached via email at smarsh@ucanr.edu or telephone at (530) 203-8585.