Mark Rippke joins Department of Horticulture
September 20, 2017
Mark Rippke joined the Department of Horticulture in August as an Agricultural Specialist working with research in fruit production. Current projects he is working on include cold hardy grapes, hop
production and apple rootstock trials. Mark graduated from Iowa State University in 2016 with a B.S. in Horticulture, emphasis in fruit and vegetable production, and spent the past year volunteering in Ghana through AgriCorps, an NGO focused on agricultural education.
Mark grew up on a small corn and soybean farm outside of Moville, Iowa, and during his time as an undergraduate student, he worked at the Horticulture Research Station and for Dr. Diana Cochran as a research assistant. Mark was involved with FarmHouse Fraternity and Dance Marathon as a student. Mark looks forward to growing as a horticulturist and sharing research findings with Iowa’s growers through this position.