Greetings from the world of Hop Breeding and Genetics! I hope to put together stories and information about the best and most exciting crop one could possibly have the honor of working on.

For starters, let’s talk history…in particular my history. I grew up on the outskirts of Sacramento, CA while there were still a few acres of hops located in the Sloughhouse Valley slightly west of Sacramento. I remember driving by the small yards located there and wondering what kind of crop that was. Little did I know, I would grow up to spend my career working on this curious and odd crop!

I ended up at University of California, Davis with the original intent of becoming an Ag Teacher at a high school. After doing a student teaching stint at one of the local high schools, it became apparent that this career path was not for me. I finished my Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Education and then spent a summer working for a company that was at that time called “Pioneer Hybrid Inc” working on sunflower breeding. This really piqued my interest in plant breeding and genetics. I then applied for graduate school in the department of Agronomy at UC Davis. My focus in this program was on plant breeding and biometrics and I began my graduate career working with the late Dr. Larry Teuber on alfalfa. I finished my Masters of Science degree and then went on for a PhD working with Dr. Teuber and alfalfa. Dr. Teuber’s primary focus in research was on the genetics of alfalfa seed production and alfalfa breeding. We set out on investigating several aspects of pollination looking at what attracts pollinators and what plant targets could we look at to increase pollination–and subsequently increase seed yield. Stay tuned as my next entry will cover all the fascinating studies included in my PhD!