Our Fava Bean Research Collaborators

Dr. Hossein Zakeri
Chico, CA Coordinator

Hossein’s research background is rooted in water and nutrient management in soybean, lentil, pea, and canola. As an Associate Professor at Chico State University, his research focuses on cropping system development, plant nutrition, and water management in annual legumes.

Dr. Kyle Brasier
Chico, CA Coordinator

Kyle is a plant breeder who has worked to develop new varieties of wheat, barley, stevia, and blueberry. Kyle is a Research Scientist at Chico State University and his current research focuses on crop diversity, fava bean breeding, and crop management.

Dr. Ranjit Riar
Fresno, CA Coordinator

Ranjit’s background is in cereal and forage crop production and he is currently an Associate Professor at Fresno State University. His research looks at the effects of tillage and crop management practices on fava bean, cotton, sorghum, and forages.

Dr. Margaret Smither-Kopperl
Lockeford, CA Coordinator

Margaret is the Manager of the USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center in Lockeford, CA. In her position at the USDA, she is a champion for crop diversity, cover cropping and soil health.

Dr. Junda Jiang
Fava Bean Breeder

Junda is a plant breeder who has worked to develop new varieties of rice and fava bean. His current work at Lundberg Family Farm focuses breeding superior varieties of rice for northern California and fava bean varieties that are adapted to rice lands.

Dr. Jinguo Hu
Fava Bean Breeder

Jinguo’s work focuses on the genetic characterization of crops. Before retiring from the USDA Agricultural Research Service, he was involved with fava bean breeding and crop diversity.

Christopher Bernau
Fallon, NV Coordinator

Christopher is the Manager of the USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center in Fallon, NV. In his position at the USDA, Christopher develops resources to increase on-farm diversity, adoption of cover cropping and build soil health.

Dr. Aaron Fox
Pomona, CA Coordinator

Aaron’s background is centered on pest management practices and ecosystem services in urban agriculture. He is an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly Pomona working to develop tools to increase crop productivity and build urban communities through agriculture.

Lydia Breen
Community Science Advisor

Lydia’s work with Planet Earth Observatory and the Master Gardeners Program encourages experiential learning for a healthy planet. She works in local neighborhoods with artists, scientists, and conservationists to foster climate science education using fava bean.

Dr. Whitney Brim-DeForest
Outreach and Extension Advisor

Whitney is the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources County Director in Sutter and Yuba counties. She works with growers to reduce environmental impacts and increase economic returns in crop production.

Ana Medic
Chico, CA Coordinator

Ana is an instructor and fava bean researcher at California State University, Chico. An engineer and plant scientist by training, her work focuses on fava bean weed management and crop production strategies.

Erik Spitzer
Graduate Student

Erik is the field technician and researcher at California State University, Chico. He manages fava bean projects in Chico and is involved in vegetable fava bean research.

Sandy Fisher and Durl Van Alstyne
Small Farm Advisors

Sandy and Durl are farmers in northern California that own Chico Flax. They primary operations focus on producing high quality flax for fiber and brought fava bean into their farm to improve soil fertility.

Dr. Maria Giovanni
Food Scientist

Maria is a food scientist at California State University, Chico. Her work is focused on developing an understanding of fava bean consumer preferences and new recipes.

Harmanpreet Sharma
Graduate Student

Harman is a graduate student in the College of Agriculture at Fresno State University. She is investigating the potentials of new fava bean varieties in cover crop mixtures.

Valerie Bullard
Lockeford, CA Coordinator

Valerie is an agronomist at the USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center in California. She is a leader in cover crop science and works to improve adoption of healthy soils practices.

Madeline McAndrew
Former Graduate Student

Madeline is a graduate student in the Food Science program at California State University, Chico. She is working to understand consumer preferences for bean consumption.

Laura Boots-Haupt
Former Graduate Student

Laura is a graduate student in Agriculture at California State University, Fresno. Her thesis digs into the diversity of fava bean plant materials around the world!

Kubir Sandhu
Graduate Student

Kubir is a graduate student in the College of Agriculture at Chico State University. His research focuses on almond production under reduced water conditions.

Gabriel Worthington
Graduate Student

Gabe is a graduate student in the College of Agriculture at Chico State University. He is investigating the potentials of new fava bean varieties in cover crop mixtures.

Steve Wallin
Graduate Student

Steve is a graduate student in Agriculture at Chico State University. His thesis looks at orchard intercropping and the potential of legumes in these systems.