December 2021 - 14

DOCTORAL duets
BY PETER KONJOIAN AND JONATHAN KARALL
Research in the Exciting Sector of
Controlled Environment Agriculture
education at Cornell and is currently a
fourth-year Ph.D. candidate focusing on
the optimization of day-neutral strawberry
cultivars in controlled environments.
Peter: Jonathan, thank you for joining us.
Let's start by discussing your career plan.
As you complete your doctoral program,
are you leaning toward an academic or
industry position?
Peter Konjoian is president of Konjoian's Horticulture
Education Services Inc. His career spans four decades as a
commercial grower, researcher and consultant. Jonathan Karall
is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University studying controlled
environment agriculture. Konjoian can be reached at peterkfes@
comcast.net.
T
oday's guest is Jonathan Karall.
Jonathan received his bachelor's
degree in plant sciences from the
California State Polytechnic University of
Pomona in 2014 with a focus in agronomic
principles and practices for field-crop
production. During his education he
spent four years employed as a farm
laborer working on the university's
190-acre farm. Jonathan moved on to
Cornell University in 2015 to begin a
master's program in horticulture biology
focused on controlled environment
agriculture (CEA), biological and
environmental engineering
and economics. He
continued his
graduate
Jonathan: Thank you for the introduction,
Peter. It's my pleasure to participate in this
doctoral duets with you. At the moment,
I'm not leaning one way or the other.
Although I have several preconceived
notions about my projected career path,
I have not committed to one track at this
time. I think that the biggest reason for that
is the flexibility that comes with keeping
my options open. However, I truly enjoy
the process of not only research but the
education of individuals with an underlying
interest in the agricultural sector.
Peter: Your answer is refreshing,
Jonathan. I like hearing that you feel
confident in making industry contributions
from either sector - academic or private.
As one who's done both, it pleases me
to know you are ready, eager and able to
operate from either platform.
Jonathan: That's a great thing to hear,
Peter. I believe that far too often we fear
that choosing one path over another will
inevitably close the door on the path not
chosen. Hearing that you have successfully
explored both paths is reassuring. I believe
that my ideal career path would afford me
the opportunity to pursue both passions,
research and teaching.
From what I have seen, this ideal of
mine exists in both the public and private
sectors. Furthermore, I find a great deal
of self-fulfillment in the act of working
with marginalized communities pertaining
to agriculture and the application of CEA
irrespective of technological scale. The
way I see it, all organizations would benefit
from some form of community outreach
and as such I would love to see the
leadership of that as part of my title.
Peter: You hit the nail on the head with
that comment. Some 20 years ago, we
repeatedly asked the question: How do
we educate urbanites about the value of
agriculture? How do we engage them in the
discussion of how we feed ourselves? And
how can we learn what the perceived value
of agriculture is to those living in urban
environments?
Back then, who would have thought that
today, the descriptor urban dessert would
exist? Perhaps it's at last being embraced
that we're all in this together, there's
only one planet to steward together, and
it absolutely takes a village. I applaud
your philosophy and am confident you
will find a path that allows you to practice
your passions. With that in mind tell us
about your Ph.D. research, I understand
you focused on greenhouse strawberry
production?
Jonathan: I did. Upon the
completion of my M.S.
research where I
worked with
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