Govinda Shrestha has been named statewide hemp extension specialist at Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center.
“Govinda brings an immense amount of energy and experience that will be a force-multiplier for hemp producers in southwest Oregon as well as the entire state,” said Jay Noller, founding director of the center, which supports state hemp growers through a range of initiatives.
Shrestha has a doctorate in agroecology and a masters degree in agrobiology from Aarhus University in Denmark. He has extensive agriculture extension experience in the U.S., Europe and Nepal, where he grew up on a farm.
He most recently worked as a postdoctoral scholar in integrated pest management for potatoes at the OSU Hermiston Agricultural Research & Extension Center. He was also a postdoctoral researcher at the Western Triangle Ag Research Center in Montana, where he specialized in pest management for wheat and alfalfa hay crop pests.
Shrestha is based at the OSU Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Central Point where he will provide statewide extension and outreach during the peak outdoor growing season. Shrestha started June 1.
