Hello, my name is Aayusha Subedi, and I am an Oregon State University Extension Service intern in Jackson County. I am a high school junior, and this is my first year working as an Extension intern. I am working in a plant pathology lab at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Central Point, Ore. with Achala KC, an Extension plant pathologist and assistant professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and her team. I am extremely excited to be taking part in this amazing opportunity. I am looking forward to learning about plant pathology research and exploring the commercial fields this summer.

Throughout this internship, I will be working with another intern, Jasmin Lama. We will be conducting several projects, including pear disease diagnosis, hemp disease management, and grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) detection. Within the first week, we started testing some treatments for hemp at a local farm. Furthermore, I was able to attend a OSU Extension Southern Oregon Pear Field Day, an Extension event organized by KC on July 6, where the participants were able to learn about all the different ways local and commercial farms operate and combat diseases such as fire blight on pears. My favorite part of this day was to tour the TreeTop processing factory in Medford. It was amazing to witness the fruit-processing journey and visit the farms in the community. On Friday July 7, we traveled to the Woodhall vineyard in Monroe, Ore., to collect 176 samples for grapevine trunk disease management research. A graduate research assistant, Anupa Gaire, is conducting a study as a part of her master’s program. It has been a unique experience helping her with the extensive process of collecting, processing and plating samples.

I am grateful to be an OSU Extension Intern and I cannot wait to learn and help this summer!