Graduate spotlight: Urias cultivates the link between plants and people

When Joseph Urias transferred to UC Davis from a community college two years ago, he found allies in the Department of Plant Sciences. The flexible program let him customize his learning. Passionate about the interface of plants and people, he dove into the study of horticulture and nursery management: He aimed to strengthen the hands-on learning he was getting at Planting Justice, a nonprofit nursery and community center in Deep East Oakland.

“Education is like going to the gym,” Urias said. “Learning is exercise for your mind.” And like after a run, he’s feeling good.

This June, Urias earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental horticulture and urban forestry. He hopes to link sustainable agriculture with sustainable food systems at Planting Justice.

“People at the nursery are inspirational and change-makers,” Urias said. “Some of us working there are paroling out of prison. Some of us struggle with substance abuse. Some of us are folks with low incomes and kids to support.”

In the future, Urias hopes to strengthen relationships among UC Davis, Planting Justice and the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Clonal Germplasm Repository, where he also works. He envisions workshops, tours, fruit tastings or classes where participants can exchange information.

His journey started at age 28 when, he recalled, “I started pursuing something with my heart.” Now 43, Urias is the first person in his family to graduate from college.

Weeds, love and a first-gen journey

Born in San Jose, Calif., and raised in Vacaville, Urias had many friends who didn’t finish high school. Work installing floors gave him freedom and flexibility.

He eventually landed a good-paying job as an operator at the Shell Catalyst & Technologies plant in Martinez. “They made an ethylene oxide catalyst for plastic products, and I learned ethylene is used to ripen fruit,” Urias recalled.

He had always found plants interesting and would wonder about the fields of weeds he passed on his way to work. He had been reading about the medicinal properties of one such weed, the milk thistle, and its potential for protecting chemical plant workers from toxins that could damage the liver.

One day, Urias noticed milk thistle growing in a stairwell at work. Someone else had noticed it, too. “I went out the next day, and it had been sprayed with herbicide,” Urias remembered. “I thought, ‘Wow, the medicine that could heal us, we’re spraying with herbicide.’”

It was the love he shares with his wife, Alma Luna, that first opened him to the wonder of plants, Urias confessed. Together, buoyed by his comfortable earnings, they bought a house.

Yet something kept pushing him. He found a course catalogue from the local community college district, and thumbing through it, Urias discovered the discipline of urban agroecology. In the shower one day, a voice came into his head, clear as a bell:

“Go to college.” 

Despite their mortgage, Urias quit his job and signed up at Merritt College in Oakland. Through a professor there, he found work with Planting Justice in 2015. The group’s location in Sobrante Park specializes in perennial food crops and rare edible plants. It also serves as a food hub in an urban food desert, a nature center for local children, a job training site and a park for the largely Black and Latino neighborhood. Plans are in the works for an aquaponics farm nearby and a nursery in Sacramento.

Bridging to a positive future

At UC Davis years later, an early influence on Urias was Thomas Gradziel, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences. Gradziel clearly remembers their first meeting: “It was late on a Friday afternoon at the Student Farm,” the renowned pomologist recalled. “Along came Joseph, checking out the different fruit trees, and the grafts students had made… Even then, it quickly became apparent that Joseph had an exceptional passion for both plants and plant propagation.”

In spring 2023, Urias started working for the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Davis and Winters. “I still work for Planting Justice, and I’m excited about continuing to bridge all the resources at the repository and the university with the Planting Justice community,” he said.

If anything, Urias’ passion has grown in his two years at Davis, Gradziel added. “That passion, along with the knowledge, expertise in propagation and the professional network Joseph has developed, all tell me this is just the beginning of a truly exciting career in plant sciences.”

The journey has been challenging, Urias said, but worth the effort.

“I like putting my energy into something that will build a positive future.”