Episode IX: A Wellspring of Waste with Deborah Pagliaccia

Read the companion article here.

Deborah Pagliaccia’s work has many promising applications, including improving plant and soil health, reducing waste, addressing hunger and food access, reducing water use, and reducing fossil fuel use. Food waste bioproducts, which she calls digestates, are fermented food for plants and other microorganisms. The best part is that gardeners can make it at home!

Dr. Deborah Pagliaccia is a professional researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, at the University of California, Riverside. She is also the Managing Director of CAFÉ, (California Agriculture and Food Enterprise), a program which supports connections among those interested in food and agriculture on the campus and in the community.

See University of California Riverside’s CAFÉ for more from Dr. Pagliaccia and her colleagues.

GARDEN FUTURIST  

A show about innovative thinkers contributing to a climate resilient future through the power of gardens.

Produced and hosted by Sarah Beck, Adriana Lopez, and Adrienne St Claire 

Edited and directed by Kelsey Skonberg 

Sarah Beck is the executive director of Pacific Horticulture.

Adriana López-Villalobos currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where she works as Curatorial Coordinator for the UBC Botanical Garden. She is originally from Mexico, where she completed her BSC and MSc, studying plant ecology and mating systems evolution, before migrating to Canada to pursue a PhD focusing on the genetics of species across their geographic ranges.

Adrienne St. Clair is a botanist working with Metro, a regional government in Portland, Oregon where her work spans conservation to restoration. Adrienne managed a native plant nursery for almost a decade before pursuing a graduate degree. She received her Master’s in Plant Biology and Conservation from Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Garden where she studied the effect of horticulture techniques on native-plant genetics.

Kelsey Skonberg is a Community-Centered Video and Podcast Editor and Science Journalist in Everett, WA.