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Cal Poly's Own Agri-Crisis Brings Lectures to Life

Posted on: Friday, 28 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Sally Connell, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Apr. 28--Cal Poly's motto, "Learn by doing," has taken on special meaning for agriculture students who are experiencing how a rare pest can turn their studies upside down.

Students have heard the ominous lectures about nursery owners and growers wiped out by a single hailstorm, drought or invasive pest. Now the lectures are coming to life.

Research projects have been held up, spraying in pest control classes has changed, and entomology classes are shifting focus to the tiny passion vine mealybug's appearance in greenhouses on campus.

"There's a certain level of excitement, and there is a certain amount of frustration," said pest management professor Robert Rice. "They were in the middle of projects they can't do now."

The interest goes beyond the the 3,700 students in the College of Agriculture. Federal, state and county officials worry the passion vine mealybug -- also known as the Pacific mealybug -- poses a threat to crucial California crops such as grapes and citrus. Its discovery in early April is the first recorded time the bug has been found in the continental United States.

An exciting disruption Even as students see research held up, they note excitement in witnessing a bug find that will be fodder for research in their fields for years to come.

"It's been great to be a part of it and see how the whole regulatory system works and why it works," said Audrey Chaney, a fourth-year environmental horticultural student who aspires to one day own her own floral design business.

Chaney is one of the students organizing the Tomato Mania sale that was postponed after the insect was found, giving them a scare that they might lose the value of their hard work maintaining the plants since January. Participating students can make as much as $2,000 from the sale.

Fritz Light is a graduate ornamental horticultural student who hopes to be a pest control adviser. His research on how common mealybugs feed on succulent plants is held up by the more exotic insect's discovery in the biological sciences greenhouse where he regularly works. He's also afraid that a need to spray for this new mealybug will threaten his work.

Light would like to see students doing the actual mealybug sampling, as would other students. So far, that sampling has been done solely by inspectors from the county, state and federal governments, though students have done spraying.

"In some respects, these guys are forensic scientists," Light said of the professional inspectors. "They just don't want us messing with the scene of the crime. Not that there was any crime, but if this thing gets loose, there could be millions, maybe billions, of dollars involved" in devastated crops, depending on how far it eventually spreads.

A learning experience Sarah Bradley is graduating in June and has a job lined up in a tree nursery. She's in what some students call Rice's "killer class" in integrated pest management, in which they determine the presence of a greenhouse pest, evaluate formulations for pesticides and decide whether bio-controls using other insects as predators might work.

"I guess it's good experience to learn how the quarantine process works," Bradley said, sounding less enthusiastic than most. "But we also haven't learned how to really make a recommendation like a pest control adviser would. The quarter started, it was found, and we are just too busy spraying for the problem."

Mark Shelton, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, said this important learning opportunity makes him miss teaching.

"The instructors are using this as a real-world example of how we deal with exotic pests -- how to deal with a quarantine," Shelton said. "Absolutely there is 'learn by doing' going on."

Plantsaletoday The Tomato Mania plant sale runs today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the horticultural unit at the end of Via Carta Road at Cal Poly. Basil plants also will be for sale.

With the exception of quarantined buildings on campus where the passion vine mealybug was found, plants, produce and fruit movement has been unaffected by the discovery, and they can move freely in and out of the county.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

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Source: The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

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