Santa Cruz, Calif. : University of California, Santa Cruz, University Library
Date of Publication
2010
Description/Abstract
61 pages. As an entomologist and integrated pest management specialist, Sean Swezey has held a variety of demanding and influential posts. He has served as associate director of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) at UC Santa Cruz and director of the Davis-based University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP). He has held research and teaching appointments at UC Berkeley, Cornell University, and UC Santa Cruz. He has also worked as a consulting entomologist in Central and South America with the Organization of American States and with the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Swezey has helped pioneer organic growing techniques for several important California crops, successfully challenging entrenched assumptions about the inevitability of chemical-intensive production. He wrote and edited a University of California organic apple production manual—the first such manual for any organic commodity. He has advised a series of California Secretaries of Agriculture on the implementation and enforcement of the California Organic Foods Act of 1990. With UCSC agroecology professor Steve Gliessman, he helped establish one of the first organic farm advising services based at a university. In 2000, the Organic Farming Research Foundation’s (OFRF) Third Biennial National Organic Farmers’ Survey identified Swezey as the most frequently cited "Favorite University Researcher for organic production information."
In this interview, conducted by Sarah Rabkin on November 24, 2008, at UCSC’s Program In Community and Agroecology, Sean Swezey discussed his training in biological pest control at UC Berkeley; his international advising; his research with transitional and organic apple, strawberry, artichoke, and cotton crops; his administrative work with UC SAREP; his collaborative work with farmers, and his university teaching.
All uses of these manuscripts are covered by copyright agreement between the interviewees and the Regents of the University of California. Under “fair use” standards, excerpts of up to six hundred words (per interview) may be used without the Regional History Project’s permission as long as the materials are properly cited. The citation should include the title of the oral history, the name of the narrator, the date of publication, the pages of the oral history from which the excerpts come, and the fact that the oral history was produced by the Regional History Project at the University Library, UC Santa Cruz. Any excerpting beyond six hundred words requires the written permission of the University Librarian, appropriate citation, and may require a fee, especially if this is a commercial publication or production. Under certain circumstances, not-for-profit users may be granted a waiver of the fee. In all instances, the Regional History Project requests a copy of the publication for the UCSC Library’s collection. Please contact ihreti@ucsc.edu for copyright questions.
