Mary Bianchi

Mary Bianchi, UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor emeritus, died on Nov. 4. She was 67.

Bianchi served the University of California for 32 years, with the last 26 years of her UCCE career in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. With expertise in horticulture, pomology, subtropicals, water management and water quality, she worked with growers and oversaw the UC Master Gardener Program in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

After earning her bachelor's and master's degrees, both in soil science, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bianchi joined UC ANR in 1984 as an intern, first in Tulare County, then in Napa, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara counties, before transferring to UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

Richard P. Enfield, UCCE 4-H youth development advisor emeritus, who was based in San Luis Obispo, met Bianchi in 1992 when she was hired as a UCCE advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and worked with her for many years.

“As a fellow advisor, I was always enormously impressed with her expertise, professionalism and performance, as well as her contributions to the county UCCE team,” Enfield said. “When I became county director and her immediate supervisor in 2005, I soon realized Mary's high level of competency and the depth of her significant contributions to not only agriculture and natural resources in her counties and beyond, but also the vital role she played in the community. I quickly realized that Mary was a sought-after critical resource in numerous subject matter areas, and I also became more acutely aware of her vast contributions to UCCE in her two counties and to ANR in general.”

During her tenure in San Luis Obispo County, Bianchi noted the needs of the urban horticulture community and launched the local UC Master Gardener Program, with the first class graduating in 1996, and she assumed the program in Santa Barbara County in 2009.

Enfield was impressed with her skill in building strong collaborations with partners for her activities.

“More than any other farm advisor who I have worked with over my 34-year career, Mary understood the importance of and the potential power of bringing all types of people ‘to the table' to address either a specific issue or an ongoing longer-term topic such as land-use issues,” he said.

“An example that comes to mind is her work on the issue of genetically engineered crops in 2004. Mary facilitated a group of people representing a very diverse group of organizations and agencies to address the issue (because of a ballot measure inSLO County; the first in the state) and she facilitated a dozen community meetings and brought in UC campus and Agricultural Experiment Station faculty and specialists from UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside to work with the community group.”

Mary Bianchi led then Associate Vice President Bill Frost and Vice PresidentGlenda Humiston on a tour of local UCCE research projects in 2016. From left, Bianchi, Frost, a Santa Maria vegetable grower, Humiston, and UCCE advisors Surendra Dara and Mark Gaskell.

In 1999, in response to concerns about impaired water quality in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Bianchi formed and directed 119 team members of the UC Farm Water Quality Project. The seven-year effort provided growers who irrigated with information for on-farm water quality planning to manage nonpoint source pollutants. This multidisciplinary, multiagency project reached 2,200 producers in seven counties and was recognized with the 2006 ANR Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Teamwork and the 2008 Western Extension Directors Award.

Following a foodborne illness outbreak associated with fresh produce sourced from the region in 2008, Bianchi joined a team that analyzed the impacts of food safety concerns on conservation in the Central Coast region. She brought together stakeholders and technical experts to evaluate the information and created an online learning course. She also spearheaded a cross-discipline dialogue with produce buyers, food safety professionals and conservation professionals to build understanding and balanced management approaches that protected both food safety and conservation.

In 2010, after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation started to require licenses for maintenance gardeners who used pesticides incidentally as part of their work, Bianchi launched a DPR-funded Pest Management Alliance project. She and colleagues developed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) curriculum in Spanish and English for maintenance gardeners and retailers where the gardeners purchased the pesticides.

In 2014, Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis presented Bianchi its Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award. Upon receiving the award, Bianchi said, “I think that you do create change one person at a time by listening to what they have to say and respecting the fact that they are bringing their own successes and constraints and baggage that you don't know about.”

In 2019, the California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy honored Bianchi's career.

“Mary's willingness to tackle whatever needs were most pressing to the community she served meant that her professional work routinely challenged her to be a lifelong learner, a role she enthusiastically embraced, and modeled for younger colleagues,” said Karen Lowell, area agronomist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salinas, when she presented Bianchi's award. “Her mantra, ‘If you can prove it, you can say it,' drove her to a meticulous review of information, and a willingness to say only what she could confidently support with solid evidence.”

Throughout her career, Bianchi was an active member of the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society for Horticultural Science, the California Avocado Society, and the California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy, for which she served as president in 2011. She also was a member of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Advisory Council, the Steering Committee for the UC Statewide Master Gardener Program, and the UC Lindcove Citrus Research and Extension Center's Research Advisory Committee.

When Enfield retired in 2013, Bianchi succeeded him as county director for UCCE in San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties until she retired in 2017.

“Mary was an outstanding UC Cooperative Extension advisor, always a delight to work with and a good friend,” Enfield said. “She will be missed by all those who knew her, but the impact of her research and educational programs will live on for many years, as will the memories that so many hold of Mary. Also, the amazing Master Gardeners' Demonstration Garden of the Seven Sisters in San Luis Obispo will be a living reminder of Mary's legacy and impact on her community.”

Bianchi is survived by her husband, Jeff Palmeter, sisters Ann Johnston (Bruce Johnston), Cathy Bianchi (Sue Murray) and Jan Mills (Dennis), mother-in-law Marilyn Palmeter, brother-in-law Brad Palmeter (Janice) and nieces and nephews.