MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — Germán Sandoya-Miranda grew up on a farm in Ecuador, and loves working with growers and farmers to this day.
He will have ample opportunity in his new position as the Washington State University Endowed Chair in Raspberry Breeding.
“I like knowing my research will directly impact farmers, improving their crops and lives,” said Sandoya-Miranda, who will be based at the WSU Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon. “I was always interested in studying agriculture after watching my parents and grandparents grow crops and seeing the difficulties they had.”
In his new position, he will help farmers grow better red raspberries. Washington state produces 90% of America’s frozen red raspberry crop, much of it grown around Lynden, Washington, near the Canadian border.
“We hope he will develop new cultivars and varieties for berry growers in the Pacific Northwest,” said Gavin Willis, executive director for the Washington Red Raspberry Commission. “Our growers are dealing with effects of climate change, along with shifts in disease and pest pressure, and they want to produce more food with fewer inputs. We think Dr. Sandoya will be a tremendous asset for the industry, leading to better raspberries for consumers.”
The commission created the endowment that will bring Sandoya-Miranda in from his current position as a lettuce breeder at the University of Florida.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Sandoya-Miranda,” said Raj Khosla, Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. “His work will directly support Washington’s raspberry growers and strengthen an industry that is vital to our state. He brings a proven record of partnering with growers to advance this delicious crop and amplify its economic and agricultural impact.”
Raspberries will be the third crop plant Sandoya-Miranda has worked on in his career. His interest in plant genetics started with an undergraduate research internship that involved working with maize.
“That experience opened my eyes,” Sandoya-Miranda said. “I saw how science can make things better for farmers. I thought, ‘This is what my family needs.’ So, I decided to continue this as a career and help as many farmers as possible.”
His priority upon arriving at WSU on May 15 is to meet with as many raspberry growers as possible, learn about their major concerns, then build a program to address their needs.
“I want to understand if their current production is enough or they’re looking for an increased yield,” Sandoya-Miranda said. “Or if there are issues like diseases, pests, or other problems that are limiting production.”
The current WSU raspberry breeding program is based at the Puyallup Research and Extension Center, so he plans to commute between there, Mount Vernon, and Lynden as he gets up to speed.
“The idea is to operate the breeding program from Mount Vernon to be closer to the industry,” Sandoya-Miranda said. “We’ll continue to do the cross-pollination work and germplasm maintenance in Puyallup, then do experiments in Mount Vernon and in farmers’ fields near the border. I’m looking forward to helping the raspberry grower community and making the crop more profitable for them and better for consumers.”