After two and a half decades, PLANT 33 Agricultural Entomology is creeping and crawling back into the Delta College course offerings.
Taught by Associate Professor of Plant Science and Viticulture Lindsay Hofsteen, students learn about a variety of insects, how to identify them, and their role in agriculture and the ecosystem.
In fall of 2024, Hofsteen joined Delta College with 20 years of experience in the wine industry and kicked off the first entomology course in since 1999.
She also teaches soil science and plant science among other agriculture related topics. This revitalized course will potentially be an elective requirement in a plant science associate degree Hofsteen is developing.
Hofsteen hopes the course becomes a key step for those who want to go into pest control or crop advising. She says it’s imperative to be able to identify what is a “good one or bad one”, and if they are affecting your plants before making a management plan whether it be in agriculture, landscapes or buildings.
“Some of these courses can be just as applicable to your front yard as they can to a 1000 acre agricultural production farm,” Hofsteen said. “I think that there’s something to be learned for everybody. And the more we know, the better we can be citizens, right? Although these courses target that pest control crop advising a career path, I think that they are can be interesting and enjoyable for everyone.”
Hofsteen feels a sense of pride in her tight-knit class of five this semester.
“One of the things I love about community college is that they’re adults, and they go out there and they try to do it, and they take a stab at it,” Hofsteen said. “That’s what this class is for. You may not pin your insect perfectly, or you may not be able to learn how to catch your insect right away, or how to use the net, but all those things come with time. It’s all about practice. Maybe it sparks an interest in an individual to continue on with that specific subject.”
Students are expected to catch and identify 30 insects, while one slot may be classified as an arachnid. Reid Harrison, who is transferring to Oregon State University in the fall to study BioResource Research, stated his favorite find is a spider from the Dysderidae family.
“It’s the one class I look forward to,” Reid Harrison said.
Lesslie Ziller an environmental science major took the course as it is required for her degree. She appreciated the number of lab hours dedicated to the course.
“I thought it would be more textbook-y, but it’s a lot more hands on,” Ziller said.
Kathy Schick, who has an extensive background in entomology and biology, took the class in 1999 and has returned to help volunteer and act as an assistant to Hofsteen.
“Even if you’re not serious about going on [in entomology], get to know it, because these species outnumber us all on this planet,” Schick said. “The smaller things are, the less likely they are to be described and understood.”
As the managing secretary of the Pacific Coast Entomological Society, with a masters and PHD in entomology from UC Davis, Schick is a wealth of information for the students to draw from. She helps answer the students questions, add the occasional insect to their collections and help pin tricky segments. On March 30th Schick donated fleas to the students’ collections.
“Knowing more about the world around us is going to help everybody, and the way to learn it is to take some fun courses like entomology,” Schick said.
