Robert Larkin is a Research Plant Pathologist with the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), New England Plant, Soil, and Water Laboratory, Orono, Maine, and has been there for 25 years. He works with potato and organic vegetable production systems in the research areas of biological and cultural control of soilborne diseases, disease-suppressive rotations, sustainable cropping systems, soil health, and soil microbial communities. Previously, Dr. Larkin was at the USDA-ARS, Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, as well as the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. He received a B.S. degree in Environmental Sciences-Biology from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, an M.S degree in Ecology from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.