Director of the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center Retires
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Jeff Dahlberg has served as the director of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier for the past 10 years. That is until Friday, when Dahlberg officially retires. Although much of this 35-year career has been focused on sorghum, he says the part of the value of the extension center is in the diversity of crops it serves.
Dahlberg…”You know, this center is surrounded by five counties that are five of the probably most productive agricultural counties in the country. You know, we're always looking at trying to help farmers, you know, move on to the next thing or actually combat a new pest or disease that unfortunately shows up here. We do a lot of rootstock development here. If you know anything about the state of California, most of the grapes, the nut crops, the stone fruit are all on rootstock because of soil nematodes and soil pathogens. And without rootstocks, we wouldn't be growing the diversity of crops that we are in this state. You know, stuff like that, which doesn't get huge headlines, is really important work here.”
Dahlberg’s interest in agricultural research started in the Peace Corps, where he volunteered in West Africa. Thank you to Jeff for his years of service to California agriculture.