Spanning the Globe

Virginia Cooperative Extension in South Africa

Authors

Three Virginia Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources agents who specialize in crop and soil environmental sciences as well as two faculty members from the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science will participate in the 2007 trip to South Africa.

Matthew Lewis
Based in Northumberland County, Matthew Lewis has worked for Virginia Cooperative Extension for almost six years. After earning a bachelor's degree in crop and soil environmental sciences from Virginia Tech, he stayed in Blacksburg to earn a master's degree in the same field. His career with Virginia Cooperative Extension began in King and Queen and King William counties before switching to Cumberland County. He is now unit coordinator for Northumberland County. Lewis hopes not only to learn about exotic plant pests that pose a threat to Virginia but also to gain a better understanding of international agriculture in general. He believes South Africa has much knowledge to share in terms of production technology, pest management, and rural policy, and he looks forward to developing long-term professional relationships with farmers, researchers, and agribusinesses overseas.

David Moore
David Moore is unit coordinator for the Middlesex County Virginia Cooperative Extension Office. He has two degrees from Virginia Tech: a bachelor's degree in dairy science and a master's degree in horticulture. Moore worked in the agribusiness industry before starting a career with Virginia Cooperative Extension in 1992. He hopes to see whether or not South Africa's alternative crops are adaptable to Eastern Virginia. The agronomic practices in South Africa also interest Moore. Because South African farmers have had more time than their American counterparts to deal with some crop diseases like soybean rust, Moore hopes that he and his colleagues will bring back valuable information to help them fight these pathogens.

Mary Ann Hansen
Because Mary Ann Hansen is one of the co-authors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant funding this exchange, she will lead this trip. Hansen has been an instructor of plant pathology since 1984. She earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This will not be her first trip to South Africa. In 2006, Hansen chaperoned Virginia Tech exchange students to the University of Free State and met many of the researchers and seed company representatives she will see again this time in South Africa. She looks forward to learning about disease management techniques in South Africa and hopes this will help her provide better control recommendations for samples sent to the Plant Disease Clinic, a service lab for Virginia Cooperative Extension agents that she manages.

Erik Stromberg
In addition to his role as a professor of plant pathology, Erik Stromberg has been an agronomic crops specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension since 1981. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Riverside and a doctorate from Oregon State University. Stromberg leads the efforts to detect and monitor Asian soybean rust in Virginia, and he is a member of a multi-state committee on the disease. This will be Stromberg's third trip to South Africa. He worked with plant pathologists and plant breeders to study gray leaf spot on corn during the 1996 trip, and he co-presented a workshop at the Agricultural Research Council (the South African equivalent of the USDA) during his 2000 trip. Stromberg will have already spent three months in South Africa and Zimbabwe before this visit. He looks forward to working with his colleagues to study Asian soybean rust.

Robyn Whittington
Robyn Whittington of Amelia County has pursued an interest in small grains throughout her career. During her undergraduate years at Virginia Tech, Whittington worked as an agricultural technician at the Eastern Virginia AREC in Warsaw, Va., where she helped with small grains breeding and genetics. After earning a bachelor's degree in crop and soil environmental sciences, Whittington continued this job for nine months until landing her current position. She has been a Virginia Cooperative Extension agent since September 2005. Whittington is excited to see how Extension works in other countries, and she hopes to bring back useful information to help producers in her area.