Recent News
Glean SLO's first strawberry harvest
Jul 5, 2024
We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Glean SLO in their first strawberry glean, where they harvested an impressive 578 pounds of over 60 varieties of strawberries. Glean SLO will be joining us weekly to continue gleaning berries. We are deeply grateful to organizations like Glean SLO for helping us give back to the community that supports us. 
2024 CAFES Commencement
Jul 1, 2024
Congratulations to our amazing student employees and Master's students who officially graduated this year! We're proud of your hard work, dedication and achievements.
This year's graduates who are affiliated with the Strawberry Center and the Strawberry Academy wore a new red-green-gold cord with their graduation cap and gown as a show of pride for the Center and the graduate. We are incredibly grateful for their contributions, creativity and drive.
Best wishes in all your future endeavors, Class of 2024! 
Cooper Calvin successfully defends his master's thesis
Jun 26, 2024
CONGRATULATIONS to Cooper Calvin who successfully defended his master's thesis this week. His thesis is titled "Emerging Diseases, Abiotic Disorders, and Macrophomina Root Rot Management of California Strawberry" and you can watch his presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhEvhiLqDY
His thesis committee is comprised of Drs. Shashika Hewavitharana (chair), Gerald Holmes and Charlotte Decock.
Best wishes to Cooper on the next steps in his career!
Alison Stevens receives CAFES "Outstanding Staff Award"
Jun 24, 2024
Alison Stevens received the “Outstanding Staff Award” in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Alison has been working at the Strawberry Center for 8 years and her skills and leadership role have grown along with the Center. She exemplifies the ideal team player; always aware of the needs of the organization and the people in it and working hard to see that those needs are met.
Congratulations to Alison on this prestigious and well-deserved honor!
Strawberry Center students present research at 2024 CAFES Spring Student Research Symposium
Jun 20, 2024
Congratulations to Strawberry Center students who presented their research at this year’s CAFES Spring Student Research Symposium. Our students won 3 of the 6 awards and were competing against the entire college (9 departments) with over 70 research projects. This is the 3rd consecutive year that a Strawberry Center student has won 1st place in the graduate student research competition. That’s an impressive record!
Awards:
- Cooper Calvin: 1st place, graduate student research, "Crop termination and cover cropping to manage Macrophomina root rot of strawberry"
- Joseph Ramirez: 2nd place, graduate student research, "California survey of Botrytis fruit rot in Santa Maria strawberry fields with and without fungicides applied"
- Stephen Pryor: 2nd place, undergraduate student research, "Relationship between Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae and Meloidogyne hapla in strawberry cropping system"
We are also very proud of these student research posters:
- Samantha Simard, "Survey of Soilborne Pathogens Infecting Strawberry in Ventura County, California"
- Marina Gutierrez, "Implementing UV-C Treatment Following Fungicide Application for Control of Gray Mold in California Strawberry"
- Colin Koubek, "Effect of Chloropicrin and Metam Sodium on Nitrogen Mineralization and Preplant Fertilizer Release in California Strawberry Production"
- Maria Guadalupe Alvarez Arredondo (PLSC) and Jake Sporleder (BRAE), "Can microwave be a fumigant alternative to control Macrophomina root rot in strawberries?"
Current Issues in the CA Strawberry Industry: Presentations available online
Jun 17, 2024
Each year in the Spring academic quarter we invite a series of speakers to Cal Poly to deliver a lecture on a current issue in the California strawberry industry. We just finished this year’s series and thought you might like to see the lineup. Most of the lectures are posted to our YouTube channel. Each one is 45 to 60 min long. Take a look!
https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2024/06/14/current-issues-in-the-strawberry-industry-2024-lectures-now-available/
Newest blog article addresses issue of faulty and misleading claims
Jun 11, 2024
Center Entomology Program Leader Dr. Mohammad Amir Aghaee addresses the issue of faulty and misleading products and provides a few tips to help PCAs and growers avoid potential pitfalls when considering the use and adoption of new products and services.
Read full blog article titled "Beware the temptation of Fraus" @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2024/05/31/beware-the-temptation-of-fraus
Subscribe to the Cal Poly Strawberry Center research blog @ https://strawberrycenterblog.com/subscribe/
Driscoll's CEO visits Cal Poly
Jun 6, 2024
Soren Bjorn (CEO, Driscoll's) gave a lecture (22 May 2024) at Cal Poly on "Is there a future for strawberries in California?". Our students are fortunate to have a front row seat to some of the strawberry industry's most seasoned professionals, and professionals get something back as well. According to Soren, "I love coming to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and engaging with the students. Hopefully, they learn something. I always leave feeling a little smarter by understanding what is on their minds.”
Thank you Soren for making the trip to Cal Poly and imparting your extensive local and global business knowledge and experience to our students!
To view Soren's presentation, visit our Center YouTube channel @ https://youtu.be/-T1JYG-Exss
8th Annual Field Day Registration opens this Monday, June 3!
May 30, 2024
Cal Poly Strawberry Field Day 2024
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Hundreds of strawberry growers, researchers and industry representatives from all over California (and beyond) gather annually for the Strawberry Center Field Day.
Participants rotate through Automation, Entomology and Plant Pathology stations, hearing from Cal Poly students and staff about the latest research taking place at the Strawberry Center. Topics range from the newest automation technology to predatory mites to soil-borne pathogens of strawberry, and much more! Lunch will be served. https://strawberry.calpoly.edu/2019-events
Dr. Hewavitharana visits Georgia Brown Elementary for Career Day
May 28, 2024
Along with other local community professionals, Center Plant Pathologist Shashika Hewavitharana visited Georgia Brown Elementary in Paso Robles, CA for their Annual Career Day. Georgia Brown is a dual immersion magnet school with both English and Spanish instruction. A cohort of 112 students from four kindergarten classes participated in this session with Dr. Hewavitharana. She talked to them about the discipline of plant pathology, the career path of a Plant Doctor, Cal Poly University, and the importance of learning both English and Spanish. Children involved in an interactive 'Learn by Doing' activity of observing plant disease symptoms and signs including the strawberry postharvest disease called Botrytis fruit rot.
