Ruth Dahlquist-Willard

University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources

Ruth Dahlquist-Willard is the Interim Director of UC SAREP. Her current role includes facilitating collaborating between several new programs joining UC SAREP: the UC ANR Small Farms Network, the UC Master Food Preservers, and the UC Organic Agriculture Institute. Prior to this, Ruth served as a UC Cooperative Extension Small Farms and Specialty Crops Advisor in the Fresno area for ten years, leading an extension program supporting small-scale, diversified, and historically underserved farmers through individual technical assistance, bilingual outreach and training in Hmong, Lao, Spanish, and Punjabi, research on small-acreage specialty crops, and policy engagement. Ruth holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE). Her collaborative policy efforts have resulted in several changes to regulatory and incentives programs to improve equity in access for small-scale and underserved farmers.