Avachat joins Controller and Business Services
Archana Avachat joined UC ANR on March 27 as a senior business analyst in the Office of the Controller and Business Services. She is responsible for UCPath project management, roadmap evaluation, communication and systems testing.
Prior to joining UC ANR, Avachat worked as a product owner at CSAA and brings extensive experience in business analysis and project management. She has successfully led complex system implementations and business process improvements at top-tier companies including Cisco, Oracle and EMC.
Avachat holds a master’s degree in computer applications from Banasthali Vidyapith, a university in India.
Avachat is based at UC Office of the President in Oakland and can be reached at aavachat@ucanr.edu. Connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/archanaavachat/.
Farley joins Master Gardener Program in Santa Clara County
Sarah Farley joined UC ANR on March 23 as the Master Gardener program manager in Santa Clara County.
Farley brings nearly a decade of experience in Extension education, volunteer engagement, and building strong community partnerships. Her career has spanned multiple states, beginning at Penn State Extension as a farm financial management educator. She then served as a 4-H youth development agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension and later became a local food systems and small farms educator with University of Illinois Extension.
During her time in Illinois, Farley led programs focused on composting, soil health, small ruminants, urban agriculture, and food access. Before launching her Extension career, she worked in technical sales and marketing for two Fortune 50 companies.
A 4-H alumna and native of Pennsylvania, Farley grew up on a five-generation family farm, where she developed her passion for agriculture. She has volunteered with organizations such as the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, Virginia 4-H, and WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) Argentina.
Her professional work has been recognized by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, and she participated in the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Global Academy in France, where she engaged with faculty and visited French institutions and urban gardens.
Farley holds a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and agribusiness management from Penn State and a master’s degree in agriculture and life sciences, education from Virginia Tech.
She is based at the UCCE Santa Clara County office and can be reached at slfarley@ucanr.edu or (408) 282-3103. Connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlfarley.
Jordan Mesias joined the UC ANR Fire Network on March 10 as an instructional designer for the postfire forest resilience education program. He will be responsible for developing an online, self-paced course to promote postfire education for private forest landowners. His goal is to help fire-affected communities by empowering them with the postfire management concepts and strategies to restore their forested land.
Prior to joining UC ANR, Mesias worked as an instructional designer for 2U, creating UX/UI design bootcamps that teach learners the fundamental skills of user experience design. The experience provided Mesias with the knowledge and skills in instructional design and course creation. It also provided him with joy that comes with creating a curriculum that allows learners to gain the skills to pursue their dreams and change their careers.
Mesias grew up on a citrus farm in Orosi and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at UCLA. In his free time, he enjoys making pizza, biking around town, and walking his dog Chimmy.
Mesias is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at jtmesias@ucanr.edu.
Fernandez joins agave research team
Yessica Viridiana Fernandez Galicia, a researcher, farmer and promoter of sustainable agave systems in Mexico, has joined the Water Management Lab at UC Davis. Working with Samuel Sandoval Solis, UCCE specialist in water management, she leads the California Agave Project. Fernandez is the lead author of the “Guidelines for Agave Selection and Production in California,” a tool for growers, researchers and entrepreneurs interested in the sustainable cultivation of agave in this region.
Her passion for agaves has led her to develop various alternatives for their use with an agroecological approach, always seeking to improve the economic and social conditions of rural communities. As part of this effort, she has promoted agave revaluation projects such as Pulcaleta, Pulcata Loba and Casa Agave Mitiko.
Fernandez earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional from Mexico and a master’s degree in agribusiness and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo. She has developed research focused on the revaluation of agaves, the value chain and the potential of pulque as an agave distillate. She completed a pre-doctoral stay at UC Davis Water Management Lab, collaborating in research on agave as a dry farming crop in contexts of water scarcity.
Fernandez brings over 20 years of experience in agricultural projects in Mexico. For the past three years, she has expanded her work in California. She has collaborated with various organizations, including women agave growers and the California Agave Alliance, focusing on the development of sustainable value chains.
Fernandez is based at UC Davis and can be reached at yesfernandez@ucdavis.edu.
Xu joins UCCE as soil health specialist
Sutie Xu joined UC ANR on Jan. 2 as an assistant professor of Cooperative Extension in soil health in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis.
Before coming to UC ANR, Xu was an assistant professor at South Dakota State University. She has conducted studies on soil health, carbon dynamics, nutrient cycling, hydro-physical properties and soil microbial activities in a variety of ecosystem types under different climate conditions.
The agriculture ecosystems she has been working on include row cropping systems, rangelands/grasslands and vegetable production systems in South Dakota, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas and Michigan. Her research relies on interdisciplinary studies to understand the influence of anthropogenic, environmental and biotic factors on physical, chemical and biological processes in soils.
After earning her Ph.D. in soil and water science from the University of Florida, Xu worked at Michigan State University and the University of Tennessee as a postdoc researcher to gain more experience in sustainable agriculture and soil studies.
For her research and extension in California, Xu will work on identifying effective soil health indicators for different agricultural production systems. Meanwhile, she will collaborate with growers, UCCE advisors, agronomists, plant scientists and other stakeholders to develop sustainable food-production management strategies to deal with the challenges in California agriculture. Some of those issues are decreased land and water availability, increased risks in drought, heat and wildfire, and higher demand in agricultural products.
She also will contribute to studies on plant-soil-microbe interaction to support fundamental research. She will involve stakeholders in project development and data ollection and continuously collect feedback for future soil-health research, then deliver soil health and research findings to clientele.
Her goal is to increase farmer awareness of the importance of soil-health management in agroecosystems and motivate them to adopt sustainable management strategies – such as cover cropping, diversified crop rotation, efficient water and nutrient management, and organic farming – to promote ecosystem productivity, sustainability, resilience and resistance.
Xu is based at UC Davis and can be reached at sutxu@ucdavis.edu.