Two months have flown by faster than I realized. Leaving the South and coming back to the West Coast after almost a decade is a bit jarring. Gone are the slow dusty beats of the corn, cotton, and soy tractors traversing the field filled with Ford F-250s and secondhand RAM 2500s. Now I stand on sandy soils producing some of the juiciest fruit lined with the workers’ Toyotas and Hondas. In some ways the processes are the same and in other ways they are different.

I grew up in East Bay around Berkeley and Oakland, CA. I began my sojourn in entomology at Berkeley counting insect species and tracking abundance out of vernal pools in Northern coast ranges. I received my doctorate in entomology working knee deep in rice paddies in the Central Valley collecting rice water weevil samples from rice cores. In my final year at Davis I was afflicted with the same instinct a fledging starling has to fly far from the nest.

I sought adventure in a foreign land. I did my postdoc at NC State working on bollworm and lygus about 2 hours west of the Outer Banks. For a me, the southern United States was that foreign land shrouded in the mystery of the swampy willows, suspicious hill tribes, vicious red ants, angry storms, atherosclerotic inducing foods that would shorten your life expectancy.

After several years of positive interactions with industry that challenged the anti-business mythos of my upbringing, I joined Bayer at their insectary in Tennessee. I managed plant insect protectant trials in corn, cotton, and soy across a series of pests. On occasion I was sent forth to Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico to work trials. As a direct result of the challenges of the pandemic I was tasked with filming and producing company videos, which quickly became a part of my work skillset. Tennessee was beautiful country, but eventually life has a way of bringing you back where you belong and where you are needed most.

I wish I had the power to tell the lygus bugs and mites to take a hike off a short pier, but I am an entomologist not a magician. The strawberry industry and the world of agriculture at large faces many challenges stemming from the supply shocks from the disintegration of global trade networks, unpredictable climatic variations, the vacillating tastes of consumers, regulatory pressures, and the tragedy of the commons. In this type of environment, the words of the great emperor Marcus Aurelius are a guide for each of us. I only have control over the scientific questions and experimental methods.

Herein lies the strength of my entomology lab and the Strawberry Center at large. Our focus on the specific problem of managing insects and pathogens is critical for helping growers reduce costs in the short and long term. Small gains over time add up to huge changes later. And being able to have the long view through the valley and over the hills will help everyone be prepared for the challenges ahead. 

I’m eager to meet those challenges head on. See you in the strawberry fields soon!

Mohammad Amir Aghaee, PhD
Entomology Program Leader- Strawberry Center
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA  
Office: Technology Park Building 83 Suite 1B
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Work cell 805-540-1489
Email: maghaee@calpoly.edu