OFRF-Funded Organic Strawberry Researcher Receives Prestigious Sustainability Leadership Award

By Elizabeth Tobey

In 2019, Dr. Joji Muramoto became the first Cooperative Extension Specialist in the University of California (UC) system dedicated specifically to organic agriculture. This week, he will receive an award from the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at UC Davis for his contribution to organic agriculture research.

The 2025 Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award recognizes and honors the legacy of Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger by celebrating the leadership of an individual who has worked to promote agricultural sustainability.

Some of the most significant scientific advancements in strawberry research have been made by Dr. Muramoto and Dr. Carol Shennan at UC Santa Cruz, where they have pioneered alternatives to methyl bromide in commercial strawberry production. The practices of anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD), an alternative to soil fumigation for the control of soil pathogens and nematodes, developed by Dr. Muramoto and colleagues, have been widely adopted among organic and conventional strawberry growers in California.

From an early age in suburban Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Muramoto was interested in the organic movement. “Organic farmers there told me repeatedly, ‘Soil is the foundation of farming.’ That’s when I got interested in soil science,” he says. As he advanced in his career, he found that helping growers was especially rewarding. “My passion is to help organic and conventional farmers make their farms more sustainable: ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just.”

Dr. Muramoto’s influential research focuses on enhancing soil health and promoting the sustainability of organic agriculture in California through transdisciplinary agroecological approaches. Since 1996, he has conducted research and extension on fertility and soil-borne disease management in organic strawberry and vegetable production and fumigant alternatives in conventional strawberry production in coastal California.

The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) began following Dr. Muramoto’s research in 1997 when we helped to initiate the work with a research grant. OFRF awarded additional grants in 2003 and 2010, which have since been leveraged to secure more than $5 million in funding from state and federal agencies to support this pivotal work. “I thank OFRF for its support from the beginning of my career at Santa Cruz,” Dr. Muramoto said when we reached out to congratulate him on this award. We applaud researchers like Dr. Muramoto, whose work exemplifies the ways that organic research can lead to innovative solutions that benefit the whole farming community, conventional and organic alike.

With organic agriculture as the fastest-growing sector in the United States’ food market, accounting for over 6% of total food sales and 15% of all produce sales, we believe it should receive a proportionate amount of research funding. However, organic research currently receives less than 2% of USDA’s research funding, and less than 1% of the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) research budget. Additionally, the research agencies at the USDA have not been spared from the current administration’s budget cuts and widespread firings.

Agricultural research is the backbone of the technical and financial assistance programs operated by the USDA that ensure food security, food safety, environmental sustainability, and economic vitality for the United States. We are committed to continuing to advocate for the funding that organic agriculture research deserves, enabling scientists like Dr. Muramoto to continue to pave the way towards sustainable solutions for all farmers.

Read more about our Policy Priorities here, and explore additional research in our new searchable resource database, The Organic Research Hub.