Stories from the field

The people of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources work with California farmers to produce food for the world healthfully and sustainably. Read their stories.

David Doll

An innovation that has brought Doll acclaim in the Merced farming community is his Almond Doctor blog. The project connects farmers who are producing almonds on 110,000 acres in Merced County with the latest UC research on almonds.

A research drone.

“The blog is in real time, in the moment,” Doll said. “During the drought, I wrote about water issues. When farmers are using fertilizer, I talk about nitrogen management. Delivering timely content is the key to a successful blog.”

Doll is on the cutting edge of another agricultural technology: the use of drones for aerial imaging to determine orchard water stress. The project is still in its early stages, but Doll sees the potential.

“Right now, to measure stress, we need to monitor moisture in the soil or in individual leaves,” Doll said. “It’s labor intensive and you can’t cover a lot of ground; maybe a dozen trees. Our goal is to be able to fly over the orchard and get an idea of the whole orchard’s water stress status.”

Almonds

Natural, unsalted almonds are a tasty and nutritious snack with plenty of health benefits. Loaded with minerals, they are also among the healthiest of tree nuts. Just a handful of nutrient-rich almonds a day helps promote heart health and prevent weight gain, and it may even help fight diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's.

California farmers produce 100 percent of the United State's almonds. Almonds are the second-highest export crop for the state.

An accomplished 4-H member

Doll was in 4-H for seven years and an active member of Future Farmers of America in high school, serving as president his senior year. Despite all the exposure to agriculture, he said, it wasn’t until he worked in a greenhouse nursery that he got interested in agricultural science.

“That’s when I started engaging in my family’s farm,” he said. “I wanted to figure out why we did certain things.”

His curiosity prompted him to study plant biology at Purdue University, where he assisted in the lab of a plant pathology professor who earned his doctorate at UC Davis. When Doll completed his bachelor's degree, he enrolled in graduate school at UC Davis at his mentor’s suggestion.

“I had wondered how I could help make the world a better place. That’s a 4-H carryover,” Doll said. “You can move away from problems, or you can move toward them. I made a commitment to the community of Merced.”