Mariano Galla, UC Agronomy and Weed Advisor, Glenn, Butte & Tehama Counties

I was born and grew up in Italy. My grandfather was an agronomist and I spent almost all my summers helping him at “Pian del noce” (Walnut Flat), his farm in southern Tuscany where he grew grapes, olives, walnuts, and vegetables.

I studied Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florence, Italy and in 2010 I pursued a Master of Science Degree in Agriculture working at the department of plant pathology studying organic control of yellow leaf spot disease on vegetables. The same year, I moved to Australia where I worked for Agrisearch Services, a contract research company. In the following four years, working from different location across Australia, I managed many field trials in a wide range of crops, ranging from cotton to sugarcane, but also almond and row crops.

In 2014, I moved to UC Davis to pursue a Ph.D. Degree in horticulture and agronomy, working under the supervision of Dr. Brad Hanson (UCCE Weed Specialist, UC Davis) and Dr Kassim Al-khatib (Plant Sciences, UC Davis). My Ph.D. project focuses on rice herbicide drift on walnuts in the Sacramento Valley. I am currently a candidate for the degree and I hope to graduate by the end of the year.

Starting in June, I am the new agronomy and weed science farm advisor for Glenn, Butte and Tehama counties, based at the UCCE Glenn office in Orland. I am working in small grains, corn, sunflower, cotton, alfalfa and dry beans. In addition, as a weed science advisor, I am looking forward to also working on weed control in orchard crops. I can be reached at mfgalla AT ucanr.edu or by phone at 530-865-1107.