So far UC Davis has been a blast. I’ve learned things that I didn’t know and got confirmation of other things that I already did. My research consists of determining whether organic agriculture can reduce the spread in tomatoes of a pathogenic plant virus called beet curly top virus, or BCTV for short. BCTV spreads primarily through an insect, the beet leafhopper. Now for farmers this is a great deal of choice as far as how the plant will be grown: conventionally or organically. It’s my job to go out into the field and answer the questions as to what would be best.