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8 CapitalPress.com January 29, 2016 Extension educator keys on sustainability Carlo Moreno helps conventional and organic farmers thrive using fewer inputs By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press University of Idaho Ex- tension Educator Carlo Moreno has worked in far- flung parts of the world in the last 10 years, experienc- ing agricultural challenges that have fueled his passion for sustainability on the farm. “Safe food should be made available to all people who need it; lowering the cost makes it accessible,” he said. Sustainable production helps decrease the cost by re- ducing inputs, and in small- scale operations it tends to increase yields, he said. Sustainability has been the focus of his work — from the salad bowl of the world in California to the impoverished Mexico-Texas border region and subsis- tence farming high in the northern Andes Mountains of South America. “I like the idea of going into communities, seeing what their problems are and working together to solve them,” he said. A couple of things he’d like to do in his current role with the university is ex- plore cover crops for weed and pest management and work with organic growers, even though some stigma is associated with organic pro- duction and could present a bit of a challenge, he said. “Like politics, there’s a risk of alienation. But you don’t necessarily have to be organic to be sustainable,” he said. He wants to assist organ- ic and conventional grow- Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press University of Idaho Extension Educator Carlo Moreno exam- ines plants. Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press University of Idaho Extension Educator Carlo Moreno looks up from examining plants during a Nov. 4 cover crop tour hosted by soil and water conservation districts near Burley. Carlo Moreno Age: 36 Title: University of Idaho cereal crops Extension educator, Minido- ka County Degrees: Ph.D. in Environmental Studies with a focus on agro-ecology, University of California-Santa Cruz; master’s degree in entomology, University of Maryland; bachelor’s degree in biology, San Jose State University ers alike and help empower farmers to experiment to find out what works in their operations, he said. Moreno’s path to agricul- ture began with his interest in insects. He never really thought there was a career in insects — a notion his parents reinforced — so he started studying biology at San Jose State University. While there, he was help- ing out a graduate student with a project looking at the influence of annual flower- ing strips on the biological control of aphids in broccoli fields in the Salinas Valley. The project exposed him to agriculture and integrat- ed pest management and opened his eyes to career op- portunities. The New York native went on to study entomology Balanced Energy Solutions while pursuing his master’s degree at the University of Maryland. Pursuing a Ph.D. in en- vironmental studies with a focus on agro-ecology took him to the northern Andes in Venezuela where he worked with peasant farmers to break down barriers to production. Trying to grow enough food to feed themselves, the farmers had switched from native potato varieties to higher-yielding varieties. But those varieties proved sus- ceptible to invasive pests. His work there was to understand how traditional practices could contribute to manage- ment of the invasive potato pest, the Guatemalan potato moth, as well as to local farm- er livelihoods. “I learned that native pota- toes are not only more resis- tant to damage from this inva- sive potato moth pest, but that they also indirectly help farm- ers build their social capital and diversify their livelihood sources,” he said. He worked with an innova- tive farmer who had a strategy to intercrop the native variety with the non-native varieties. It worked, but the other farm- ers had resisted the strategy, Moreno said. “Like anything else, it’s hard to change people’s minds,” he said. Returning from South America, Moreno did post-doctoral work with the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley through a grant from the National Science Foundation to help boost or- ganic production in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. His focus was to address the major barriers facing mi- grant farmers along the Tex- as-Mexico border, one of the poorest areas in the U.S. The area was steeped in agriculture and is a major supplier of winter vegetables to the U.S. Farmers there were dealing with serious pest and weed problems, and his work was mostly directed at organic practices to man- age the challenges. He sees the opportunity to work in Idaho as a chance to improve his skill set and a challenge to take what he’s used in small-scale produc- tion and work with a differ- ent set of people to promote an interest in sustainable ag- riculture, he said. He teamed up with the Northwest Center for Alter- natives to Pesticides for the recent Organic 101 workshop in Twin Falls, at which he hoped to identify obstacles faced by organic producers with the goal of developing research and extension pro- grams to help, he said. 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