Estiene Jordaan

Mrs. Estiene Jordaan is a PhD student in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Her MSc on the topic of Streptomyces species associated with common scab on potatoes in South Africa was awarded under the guidance of Prof. Jacquie van der Waals. One paper was published from this work in the European Journal of Plant Pathology. She is currently working on her PhD, which focuses on Charcoal rot on Soybeans and Sunflowers in South Africa and the various environmental and cultural aspects that contribute to the disease. She is a student member of the South African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) and has presented twice at the annual conference. Mrs. Estiene Jordaan also holds certificates for the Fertilizer advisor’s course through the Fertilizer Association of South Africa (FSSA) and the Crop protection course through the Association of Veterinary and Crop Associations of South Africa (AVCASA). She was granted the Abe Bailey Travel grant in 2011 through which she gained experience in molecular diagnostic techniques at the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research. To gain experience in the industry she worked for a year as an agronomist, for tomato and onion production in open fields and production under protective structures, at one of South Africa’s biggest tomato producers Bertie van Zyl Pty Ltd. (ZZ2). She was also involved in outreach and community projects such as educating small scale farmers through Potatoes South Africa, and she is still involved in projects such as UP with Science that introduces schools to Plant Pathology as a career option and the Potato Diagnostic Clinic that provides farmers with information on diseases and disease management.