NWREC Director Looks to Increase Public Engagement
Over the years, research conducted at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora has provided multiple benefits to Oregon agriculture and, by extension, to the general population.
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Surendra Dara, NWREC Director |
Farmers get that, said Surendra Dara, who took over as the center’s director in January. The general population, however, doesn’t.
“The general population has almost no clue how research stations work and how they contribute not only to agricultural science, but also to the local economy and local businesses,” Dara said.
That, Dara said, is something he hopes to change.
“That is an area we need to work on,” he said, “to demonstrate the impact we have on the general public, and also increase the impact by increasing the engagement of the public.”
Dara, who has more than twenty-five years of experience in research and extension, succeeds Mike Bondi, who served as station director since 2010 before retiring last year. Most recently, Dara spent thirteen years with the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), including as entomology and biologicals advisor from 2018 until this past January, and from 2009 to 2018 as strawberry and vegetable crops advisor.
Dara, who was born and raised in India, holds a Ph.D. in entomology from Virginia Tech.
Staci Simonich, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, said Dara has impressed her with his passion for innovative agricultural production and his ability to connect with stakeholders. “I look forward to his strong leadership and contributions at one of our most visible and influential experiment stations in the state,” Simonich said.
Bryan Ostlund, administrator of the Oregon Blueberry Commission, said he is pleased with the leadership OSU is bringing in of late.
“It is impressive what we see happening at OSU right now, including at NWREC with the new leadership of Surendra Dara,” Ostlund said. “I don’t recall a time in working with OSU where I’ve witnessed a trifecta of new key leaders all come to the forefront at basically the same time, that being the new Dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Staci Simonich, the new Vice Provost and Head of Extension, Ivory Lyles, and now Dara.
“It is a new day for our land-grant university, and I couldn’t be more impressed,” Ostlund said.
Bryan Ostlund |
At NWREC, Dara oversees a station with several early to mid-career scientists involved in applied research on the many crops being studied at the station. “All the faculty are very experienced and they are very good at their jobs and have strong connections to the agricultural community,” Dara said. “They do good research and outreach.”
Dara sees multiple strengths in the station, including its location, which is a plus both because of its proximity to the Corvallis campus and to the state’s major population base.
“Proximity to campus is always an advantage,” he said. “It helps the faculty here to collaborate with the campus faculty. And sixty-five percent of the state’s population lives in this area, which provides us with good outreach opportunities.”
Dara said he will continue with the station’s popular Harvest Dinner, held annually since 2011, and will add to that by hosting an Ag Innovations Conference, similar to a conference he started in California eight years ago.
“The idea of the Ag Innovations Conference is to bring together researchers from universities, state and federal agencies and private industry to give presentations about how they address an issue,” Dara said. “It could be an irrigation issue, or using pesticides effectively or using microbials or other biologicals.
“It is not like a typical extension event where just researchers present new information,” he said. “This is about industry too, because they invest so much into ag research and we want to learn from them. This is to provide a platform for researchers, farmers and industry people to come together, share their ideas and then network and help identify what the industry needs.”
Dara said the conference was well received in California and he has high hopes for it in Oregon, as well. Both the conference and the dinner were held in September, prior to this newsletter’s publication.
As for increasing the general public’s understanding about what occurs at the center and how it benefits them, that too is on his mind. “I am working on some ideas where we can increase public engagement,” he said. “And it isn’t just about people coming here, but it is also public relations that I hope to expand.”