I am primarily an agricultural scientist with a strong background in administration, third world agriculture, and international projects.  I grew up on the family farm in Pennsylvania; earned my Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture at Pennsylvania State University and my PhD in Horticulture, Biochemistry and Plant Pathology at Michigan State University. 

I suppose one’s life is a series of unexpected and unplanned events that affect the choices and passions of the course of life.  I had grown up resisting the call of the religious missions in Africa.  However real life experiences kept reminding me of the plight faced by people less fortunate than Americans.  The US army sent me to Korea where I saw farmers struggling to produce food and manage their water system.  Farmers carried their ploughs to the field on their back while the oxen walked along side because, “the family could not afford a new oxen.”  Irrigation systems were dug by hand, 3 men on one shovel, water quality often reduced rice production. 

After graduate school, I joined the faculty at the University of California where my early graduate students were from Egypt, India, Sudan, Lebanon, and Nigeria.  I probably learned more about the real issues affecting agricultural production and quality of life in their world from them, than they did about the biotechnology of crop production from me.  Then in the mid 1970’s Josep Walli entered my life. After obtaining a doctorate at the University of Arizona in 1958, he became a professor at Ayn Shams University and built a career as an expert in horticulture.  In 1982 he became the Minister of Agriculture where he served until his retirement in 2004.  In the mid 1980’s he also became Deputy Prime Minister.  Throughout his career, Dr. Wali worked to improve crop production, increase Egypt’s independence with a sustainable food supply, and develop a scientific base for agriculture. 

We worked together on the “new crops” project in 1976 where we examined the possibilities of jojoba, guayule, leucaena, mangium, amaranth, and the winged bean and concluded that Egypt must first improve its agricultural research program before progress could be made with new crops.  During the next decade we interacted through numerous studies on the economy and quality of life with the Bostid committee of the US National Academy of Science.  Also during this period the University of California through its Davis campus worked with USAID on a project on the improvement of the horticultural crops in Egypt.  From January of 1992 to the Spring of 1995, I lived in Egypt and served in the position of Senior Research Administrative Advisor of the NARP.  This project spent over $200 million in an effort to increase food production and to improve Egypt’s economic competitiveness through an improved agricultural research and extension system.  Improvement was accomplished through the renovation of facilities, technical and academic training, equipping laboratories and conducting research.  My principal responsibility was to assist in the communication between the Ministry of Agriculture of Egypt and the United States Agency for International Development.

My professional career was with the University of California.  For the first 10 years I was a research and teaching faculty member and for the second 10 years, I continued my research in the biochemistry of horticultural problems and served as the associate dean for research in the college of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.  From the Riverside campus I moved to the Office of the President as an associate Vice president of the Division of agriculture and natural resources with responsibilities for research and extension activities throughout California.

During my career with the University, I worked closely with committees and departments in the California State Government and in the United States Federal Government.  I also spent one year with the National Association of State Governments and Land Grant Universities as a lobbyist.

I retired from the University in December 1991 and took a position with the University of Arizona and the Consortium for International Development located in Cairo, Egypt.  There I was a senior research advisor for the USAID NARP (national agricultural research program) with a close working relationship with the Egyptian ministry of agriculture.

At the end of that program in 1995, I began a part time assignment with the University of California as a coordinator of the California Catalunya programs which had been established through an agreement between the Catalan Parliament and the California Legislature.  I am still active in that position.

I learned that you can take a person out of Egypt, but you cannot take Egypt out of the person.  My life in Spain has enabled me to continue to interact with research and development programs in agriculture, water management and quality of life in Spain, Egypt and other Mediterranean countries.

Ultimately these passions lead me to writing my story about agriculture in developing countries, but focused on Egypt: “The Future of Egypt Depends on Agriculture and Wisdom.”