Rob Straser

GFI Fellow - Class of 2019

Graduate student, agricultural entomology
UC Riverside

DESCRIPTION

Growing with the R’Garden: Fostering a Living Learning Laboratory to Combat Food Insecurity.

At UC Riverside, the campus community garden, “R’Garden,” serves both members of UC Riverside and the larger Riverside community to provide food growing space and promote learning about sustainable food systems. Rob works with on-farm diversification strategies to promote beneficial insects that help support crop production. He will translate his research to develop an on-campus initiative around sustainable pest and pollinator management. In collaboration with the R’Garden, UC Riverside faculty and students, Rob will install a perennial hedgerow to promote native predators, parasitoids, and pollinators. Through on-farm lectures, workshops, and research projects, students will gain an improved understanding of agricultural practices at the local- and landscape-level that support healthy ecosystem functioning. This initiative will promote student learning, research opportunities, and assist the R’ Garden in providing nutritious and accessible produce to the UC Riverside community while addressing the environmental, social and economic drivers of food insecurity at UC Riverside and across UC campuses.

View poster (PDF)