crop pests – TriCal, Inc.

EXAMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FUMIGANT APPLICATION ON SWEETPOTATO CROP

Posted on December 9, 2022September 26, 2023 by Cat Reyes

(TriCal Sweetpotato Trial (Livingston, CA): Harvest) The demand for sweetpotatoes across the United States has increased dramatically for the last several years, reaching its apex in 2015 with record high production of 3.1 billion pounds. In 2021, the average American consumed about 6.3 pounds of sweetpotatoes. Why such increased popularity for this particular crop? Sweet […]

Soil Fumigation: Helping to Overcome Destructive Crop Pests

Posted on June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 by Jeff Vargas

Destructive pests – such as nematodes, fungi, insects, weeds, and other pathogens – can be devastating to a crop. Many times, these pests are actually a non-native, invasive species that readily establish themselves throughout farms within California and other parts of the U.S. Did you know, on average, that California alone acquires 9 new invasive […]

Ag News: A blog by Dr. Mike Stanghellini, Dr. Kristi Sanchez & Guests

Our Authors

Dr. Mike Stanghellini
Director of Research & Regulatory Affairs Dr. Mike Stanghellini received a dual-major Ph.D. in Entomology and Horticultural Science with a minor in Plant Pathology from North Carolina State University. Since 2005, he has served as the TriCal liaison to federal, state, and international regulatory agencies, agrochemical companies, grower organizations, and third-party research entities. Mike directs and supervises our research on product defense, new product registration, and lab/field research on soil fumigants, novel products, and non-fumigant soil pest control tactics.

Dr. Kristi Sanchez
Senior Researcher and Nematologist Dr. Kristi Sanchez received her Ph. D. in Plant Pathology, specializing in Nematology, from the University of California, Davis. She has over a decade of combined research and field experience with UC Davis, the agrichemical industry, and the Plant Pest Diagnostics Center with the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Kristi’s expertise includes pest management of nematodes, morphological and molecular diagnostics of plant parasitic nematodes, and the development of experimental assays for nematode studies in the lab and field. Kristi is a regular invited speaker on topics related to soil health, nematode control, and integrated pest management in orchards.