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Celebration Corner

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Joji, wearing a hat with ear flaps, stands in a field
Joji Muramoto

Muramoto honored with Bradford-Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award

The Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis has announced that the 2025 Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award will be given to Joji Muramoto, associate professor of Cooperative Extension at UC Santa Cruz and associate Cooperative Extension organic agriculture specialist at UC ANR.

This prestigious annual award will be presented to Muramoto on Monday, May 5, at a ceremony in Davis featuring distinguished speaker Meredith Niles, the Robert L. Bickford Endowed Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences and the Food Systems Program at the University of Vermont.

Muramoto was hired as the first Cooperative Extension Specialist fully dedicated to organic agriculture at UCANR in 2019. Since then, Muramoto has served the organic agriculture community across the state by working collaboratively with local farm advisors, specialists, UCANR’s Organic Agriculture Institute, and state and nonprofit organizations related to organic agriculture. 

Muramoto’s research focuses on enhancing soil health and promoting the sustainability of organic agriculture in California through transdisciplinary agroecological approaches. Prior to his current position, Muramoto was a researcher at UC Santa Cruz. Since 1996, he has conducted research and extension on fertility and soil-borne disease management in organic strawberry and vegetable production and fumigant alternatives in conventional strawberry production in coastal California.

Throughout his 29-year career as a soil scientist and agroecologist in California, Muramoto has conducted numerous field-based research projects with local growers and collaborators, published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and invited book chapters, supervised more than 150 undergraduate students and delivered over 150 extension presentations.

Muramoto earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in agricultural chemistry (soil science) and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural chemistry from the Tokyo University of Agriculture in Japan, where he also serves as an affiliate professor.

From an early age in suburban Tokyo, Muramoto was interested in the organic movement. “Organic farmers there told me repeatedly, ‘Soil is the foundation of farming.’ That's when I got interested in soil science,” he said. 

As he advanced in his career, he found that helping growers was especially rewarding. “My passion is to help organic and conventional farmers make their farms more sustainable: ecologically sound, economically viable and socially just,” Muramoto said.

Register for free at https://registration.ucdavis.edu/Item/Details/1271 to attend the Bradford-Rominger award ceremony.

Read more at https://asi.ucdavis.edu/2025_Bradford_Rominger_Award_Muramoto.

Rijal honored by alma mater Virginia Tech 

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Jhalendra Rijal, standing next to a PowerPoint slide that reads, "Thanks to all of my mentors," speaks to people in a classrooom.

Jhalendra Rijal, UC Cooperative Extension area integrated pest management advisor based in Stanislaus County, received the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award from Virginia Tech University’s Department of Entomology. He was honored on March 25 in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“I’m deeply thankful to my alma mater for this recognition and for the strong foundation it provided in my journey as an IPM entomologist,” Rijal posted on LinkedIn. “It was a true joy to reconnect with faculty mentors, engage with current students, and celebrate alongside fellow Hokies who continue to advance our field.”

Rijal received his Ph.D. in entomology from Virginia Tech in 2014. 

Zabronskyy, Crump, Koundinya, Cooper win AIAEE award for presentation

Hope Zabronsky wearing a red top accepts an award certificate from a woman.
Hope Zabronsky on left.

Hope Zabronsky, Amanda Crump, Vikram Koundinya and Mark Cooper won the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education’s award for distinguished oral presentation for their "Improving Information Dissemination of Agricultural Extension Providers in Supporting Farmers to Adopt Climate Smart Agriculture Practices: Insights from Malawi.”

Zabronsky, California Institute for Water Resources academic coordinator and Climate Smart Agriculture Program lead, delivered the 30-minute presentation at the 41st conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education Conference, held April 14-17 in Inverness, Scotland.  

She highlighted research conducted with colleagues from UC ANR, UC Davis, and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi. The study focused on agricultural extension education and climate change, and this presentation addressed the ways extension providers share information about climate-smart agriculture practices with maize farmers. 

Other UC ANR colleagues also delivered presentations, including:

  • “How Do We Develop Effective Evaluation Capacity Building Programs in Extension?” - Vikram Koundinya, Katherine Webb-Martinez, Kit Alviz, Jennifer Sedell, Christina Becker and Iowa State University doctoral student Aneesha Kakara, who is interning with Koundinya and Webb-Martinez
  • Assessing the Impact of a Prescribed Fire Extension Program Using Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) Method” - Vikram Koundinya, Devii Rao, Barb Satink Wolfson, Kit Alviz, David Benterou, Katherine Webb-Martinez
  • “Climate Change Experiences and Extension Education Needs among Ranchers in Northern California” - Samuel Ikendi, Leslie Roche, Grace Woodmansee, Tracy Schohr, Vikram Koundinya, Natalia Pinzon, Mark Cooper, Daniele Zaccaria, Tapan Pathak and Lauren Parker and Steven Ostoja of the USDA California Climate Hub in Davis.
Ranchers gather in a pasture under a blue sky
Northern California irrigated pasture managers gathered in 2024. Photo courtesy of Tracy Schohr and Leslie Roche
  • “Enhancing the Capacity of Extension Technical Service Providers to Address Climate Change Concerns in California” - Samuel Ikendi; Kimber Moreland, Lauren Parker and Steven Ostoja of the USDA California Climate Hub in Davis; Vikram Koundinya, Tapan Pathak and Prakash K. Jha.

    A woman hold a paper stands in front of a group of people seated at tables in a horseshoe formation.
    Kimber Moreland delivers a training on using the TSP Adaption workbook developed by the project in Davis in 2024. Photo by Samuel Ikendi

Senator Cortese visits Santa Clara County Spring Garden Fair

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State Senator Dave Cortese speaks with four people while standing in a garden.
State Senator Dave Cortese visited the Spring Garden Fair hosted by the UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.

“The Spring Garden Fair was fantastic! We had over 2,000 attendees, sold MANY plants, educated through direct consultation, information tables, and 11 gardening talks, and much more!” said Sarah Farley, UC Master Gardener program manager for Santa Clara County. 

The communications/publicity team surveyed 227 people while they waited in line about how they found out about the fair.  “Among other things, we found that almost 40% of those surveyed were first-time visitors to the Spring Garden Fair,” Farley said. 

State Senator Dave Cortese attended and gave a short speech. “As you are enjoying the event today, thank a volunteer,” he told the crowd. 

The UC Master Gardeners presented Cortese with a succulent arrangement made by the UC Master Gardener Succulent team. 

Cortese posted on Facebook about the Spring Garden Fair: https://www.facebook.com/davecortesegov/posts/pfbid0urkfCdpPocBHL1q6MF8PEw85w1YcZZtj78DmpR9sYNZJB1oc3a7aS2JH4GGHVNMPl.

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Five people walk among flowering plants. Sign in foreground reads: UCCE Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County
Over 2,000 people attended the Spring Garden Fair in Santa Clara County.