Frank J. Louws

Bio

Dr. Frank Louws works with Horticultural Crops to enhance food security with emphasis on designing resilient cropping systems to manage plant diseases. He has led, and been a member, of multiple interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary teams to address complex problems related to small fruit and vegetable production systems. Areas of impact include: 1) assessing the population structure and dynamics of bacterial pathogens and elucidating management tactics to limit crop losses; 2) elucidating the biology, ecology, epidemiology, host/pathogen dynamics and management of foliar and fruit fungal pathogens that limit marketable crop yields with emphasis on strawberry and tomato pathogens; 3) elucidating the biology, ecology, epidemiology, host/pathogen dynamics and management of soilborne fungal, bacterial and nematode pathogens that limit marketable crop yields with emphasis on strawberry and tomato pathogens. Work with soilborne pathogens has enabled growers to transition away from methyl bromide as a soil fumigant to manage soilborne pests. The decreased use of methyl bromide as a soil fumigant has decreased the bromine content in the stratosphere enabling ozone hole recovery – highlighting local-based science and extension resulting in global impacts. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathology Society (APS) and is the recipient of the APS international “Excellence in Extension” award and the APS “Excellence in Regulatory Affairs and Crop Security” award.