Jacob is a research entomologist and agroecologist. He grew up in South Dakota and attended South Dakota State University for both undergraduate degree in biology and a MS in natural resource management. Jacob continued to a PhD in entomology at Purdue University where he studied the trade-offs that cucurbit growers face in managing insect pests while conserving insect pollinators and protecting crop yield. This multi-faceted project helped reduce the amount of insecticide applied to these cropping systems and aid in the preservation of pollinators, especially wild species. Currently Jacob is working on several projects at the California Organic Center centered around the use of cover crops to help in vegetable production. Collecting data on soil health, water retention, weed pressure, and insect pests to provide evidence to the viability of cover cropping systems can hopefully lead to wider adoption of cover crops as a solution to some of the troubles organic growers in the region face.
