Jacqueline Kowalski
Associate Extension Educator
- Bethel CT UNITED STATES
- College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
Jacqueline Kowalski's specialty areas are urban agriculture, food production, and integrated pest management.
Contact More Open optionsBiography
Jacqueline Kowalski is an associate extension educator for the University of Connecticut and is the Extension lead for urban agriculture. She is based at UConn's Fairfield County Extension in Bethel, and her focus is to provide resources for urban farmers, community gardeners, and others interested in agricultural production in the city. Her specialty areas are specialty crop production and integrated pest management.
Her previous work includes several years in Extension at Ohio State University. She also served as director of horticulture and agronomy for the Department of Agriculture for the U.S. Virgin Islands territorial government.
Additionally, Jacqueline is an urban farmer. Her farm, St. Croix Farms, founded in 2013, features vegetables and flowers.
Areas of Expertise
Education
University of the Virgin Islands
M.A.
Education
Michigan State University
B.S.
Horticulture, Specializing in Vegetable Crops
Links
Social
Media
Media Appearances
In Bridgeport, urban farming continues to grow despite challenges
Connecticut Post online
2023-06-22
Jacqueline Kowalski, an educator with UConn’s extension program who teaches urban farming, said that land is always a challenge for those who want to start urban farming businesses. “If you don’t own the land, it's really expensive to purchase,” Kowalski said. “If you are leasing land, you should come up with a lease agreement. You want to ensure that you test the soil prior to use.”
Jacqueline Kowalski Hired as Urban Agriculture Educator
UConn Extension News and Publications online
2022-04-08
Urban agriculture in Connecticut is growing! Urban farms, community gardens, and innovative practices such as hydroponics are all a part of the urban agriculture landscape. To help meet the needs of the urban agriculture community, Jacqueline Kowalski recently joined the UConn Extension team. She is based at the Fairfield County Extension Center in Bethel.
Articles
Using School Gardening as a Vehicle for Critical and Creative Thinking in Health Education
ERIC2014 This strategy is to provide health education teacher candidates with critical and creative thinking tools to explore gardening as a vehicle to integrate health education content with other subjects. According to the Competency-Based Framework for the Health Education Specialist (2010a), entry-level health educators should have skills and competencies needed to make connections between learning content and skills, as well as develop a process for integrating health education into other programs.
Trials of Passionfruit in the US Virgin Islands
AgEcon2004 Passionfruit (.Passiflora edulis) is a local tropical fruit used in juice, jelly and ice cream in St. Croix. However, almost all of the juice used for making passion fruit drinks comes from imported concentrate. A field trial was developed to evaluate fifteen passion fruit varieties of red, yellow and red/yellow hybrids in the US Virgin Islands. The passion fruit vines were grown on either a single wire or three wire trellis system. All varieties tended to produce within nine months, with production peaking in October-November.
Selection for Early Bearing Papayas in the Virgin Islands
AgEcon2001 Papaya production in the U.S. Virgin Islands is for the domestic market and has been plagued by the Papaya Ringspot Viras (PRSV) and seasonal hurricanes. This has resulted in papayas now being growing as an annual crop. The need exists in the U.S. Virgin Islands for papayas with early production to ensure a marketable crop within 9-10 months. The local demand is for papayas of the 1-1.5 kg size and this is considerably larger than the 0.25-0.5 kg solo varieties developed for export.
