Mark Hoddle, a #UCCE Biological Control Specialist, first dabbled in #BiologicalControl at 5 years old when he fed whiteflies from his mother’s fuchsias to newborn mantids in his native New Zealand. “The mantids weren’t effective biocontrol agents, but that got me interested in using some types of insects to control other insects,” Hoddle said, an interest that has never waned. Hoddle earned bachelor's and master’s degrees in zoology with a focus on entomology at the University of Auckland. An article he published as a graduate student caught the eye of a University of Massachusetts professor, who invited him to New England to work on silverleaf whitefly. “I didn’t even know where Massachusetts was, but I was just working as a lab tech in Christchurch so I decided to go,” Hoddle said. Hoddle earned a Ph.D. in Massachusetts while helping develop a program for growers to control silverleaf #whiteflies on greenhouse-grown poinsettias. Six months before he was to finish his doctorate degree, Hoddle learned of two extension specialist positions open at #UCRiverside – one focused on #IntegratedPestManagement, the other on biological control. He didn’t have plans to stay in the United States, but saw applying for the jobs as an opportunity to visit what he considered the world’s #biocontrol capital – the University of California, Riverside. Five months later, he was offered both jobs and selected his first love, biological control. See the whole video at https://youtu.be/RZdP_5pZqTs #WeAreUCANR #agriculture #agriculturelife #farming #farm #farmer #agripics #farmingpics #farm365 #farmingagphotos #farmingphotos #farmlife @ucriversideofficial @uofcalifornia







