UGA plant pathologist works to improve crop management and empower farmers across the globe

W ith the sun setting over the distant mountain range and the South China Sea behind us, we listened as a Filipino farmer explained how the symptoms developed quickly, now scorching the foliage of his melon crop. Surrounded by his fish pond teeming with tilapia, mango trees laden with golden fruit, and small fields planted with onions and melons, this should have been a bucolic moment for my colleagues from UGA Extension. Instead, the gravity of the situation kept the mood somber for Ted McAvoy , Alton "Stormy" Sparks , Mark Abney , Jeremy Kichler and Ty Torrance , who were in the Philippines for the first time.

Addressing our UGA team, Walter Valdez and other colleagues from Bataan Peninsula State University, and provincial agricultural officers, the farmer asked what could be done to protect his crop now; he already applied a fungicide with little effect. Here on the Bataan peninsula, where 82 years ago Filipino and American soldiers fought the Japanese in a life-or-death struggle, today's battle was against a foe that threatened this farmer's livelihood.

As he knelt low among the diseased plants, Torrance called to us, "It's downy mildew; I have rarely seen worse. At this stage, there is nothing that can be done; the crop will be a loss."

I had to agree. The melons were six weeks away from harvest; in another week, the plants would be burnt and brittle. Though the farmer had done his best to protect the crop, the fungicide that he applied was not effective against this particular pathogen (Pseudoperonospora cubensis). Sadly, this was not the first time the disease affected this field; downy mildew went undiagnosed in cucumbers the previous year. Kichler noted, "It was discouraging. This grower in the Philippines needed information, the kind of information that our growers in Georgia have come to expect from us in UGA Extension."

As a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UGA, I was deeply honored to be among those selected to participate in the Fulbright Specialist Program, which was established in 2001 by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. According to its website, the Fulbright Specialist Program "pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share expertise, strengthen linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas institution." This program has been ongoing in the Philippines for 10 years.

I met Shirley Castañeda Agrupis, herself a Fulbright visiting researcher at Kansas State University in 2011, during previous visits to the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) campus. As president of MMSU, Agrupis believed that my experience in plant disease management would complement expertise within her faculty. UGA and MMSU established a memorandum of understanding that would make my presence even more appropriate. In cooperation with Mee Jay Domingo, director of external linkages and partnerships at MMSU, and through the World Learning Organization, which facilitates the Fulbright program, I was scheduled to travel to the Philippines in April 2020. However my Fulbright program was disrupted within days of my departure by the coronavirus.

After waiting more than three years, I was warmly welcomed to the MMSU campus in September 2023. I was assigned three objectives.

The first objective was to conduct research on plant disease and pest management of peanut, garlic, shallots and mung bean in five municipalities within Ilocos Norte: Piddig, Bacarra, Pasuquin, Vintar and Sarrat.

The second objective was to present lectures to undergraduate and graduate students related to pest management for these same crops, with an emphasis on the impact of climate and climate change on crop production in the region. During my stay I had daylong visits with the students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development on the Batac and Dingras campuses and with graduate students on the Laoag City campus.

My third objective was to train farmers and agricultural officers to identify and control diseases and pests in important crops. I was also tasked with helping them to better understand opportunities for Extension publications.