Cultivating the future
UC Davis alum and his wife give $2 million to support graduate research to benefit farmers everywhere
After more than 30 years helping California farmers combat crop disease and on-farm production challenges, Richard Buchner ’76, M.S. ’82, and his wife, Terri, are turning their focus to the future.
With a $2 million estate gift to UC Davis, the Buchners are establishing an endowed graduate fellowship in plant pathology, the science of preventing and managing plant diseases.
The fellowship will prioritize practical, field-driven solutions that strengthen agriculture in California and around the world — the kind of applied research Buchner championed throughout his career.
“Producing wholesome, healthy food is important for humankind,” he said. “We lose a lot of it to pests, insects and disease, so we’re going to need good science minds to ensure a safe, adequate food supply. We have a great deal of hope in the bright students at UC Davis and their ability to solve real problems in the field.”
Growing solutions
During his nearly four decades with University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), Buchner served as both a farm advisor and county director, working alongside growers of walnuts, prunes and almonds to identify emerging threats and design research trials across Northern California.
Among those efforts was a collaborative initiative to combat a severe outbreak of walnut blight in the late 1980s, a bacterial disease intensified by Northern California’s heavier rainfall. Working with UC specialists and industry partners, the team developed management strategies that are still used today.
“We might not have the walnut supply we have today without that work,” he said.
For more than a century, UCCE has worked alongside farmers, ranchers, environmental stewards and communities across California to identify pressing challenges and develop science-based solutions.
We have a great deal of hope in the bright students at UC Davis and their ability to solve real problems in the field.
Through its statewide outreach program, run by the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC specialists connect research with working landscapes — creating a two-way exchange in which local communities help shape the questions scientists pursue, and researchers return practical strategies back to the field.
“In my career, Cooperative Extension was the bridge,” Buchner explained. “It was the interface between the science done at the university and the growers out in the field. I basically interpreted campus-based research and put it to use.”
Although Buchner retired in 2017, he remains engaged in the field through consulting work across Tehama County.
Rooted in partnership
The Buchners first met in the late 1970s when Richard interned as a research assistant at a UCCE office in El Dorado County. There, Terri was active in 4-H, a youth development program that offers hands-on learning in agriculture, science, leadership and community service. The pair bonded over their shared interests, and throughout his career, she was a steady partner in the field.
Looking back fondly on that time together, Terri remembers climbing ladders with Richard each spring to help count disease spots in walnut orchards.
“It was a great camaraderie amongst all of us working together out in the field,” she said. “We formed good friendships and it was always a fun way for us to spend time together.”
After decades of hands-on service in orchards across Northern California, the pair are excited to support something just as vital: young scientists who will help safeguard the world’s food supply for generations to come.
“It’s been a wonderful life filled with great learning experiences,” Richard said. “I was able to do research and help growers solve problems. I can’t think of a better way to continue this work than to support graduate research in perpetuity.”
In 2025, the Buchners chose to activate their gift early and began contributing annually toward their $2 million goal — allowing the fellowship to start supporting students now while steadily building the endowment for the future.
“It’s the best of both worlds for us,” he said. “We have our nest egg if we need extended care, and we can also contribute to the scholarship now to see some of those impacts while we are still alive. It’s a blessing for both Terri and me.”