Benjamin Hoover is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Nursery Production in the Horticulture and Crop Science Department at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo). He has been at Cal Poly for 8 years. He holds a B.S. in Horticulture from Temple University and both an M.S. and a Ph.D. in horticulture from Penn State University. Prior to graduate study, he spent 10 years at Behmerwald (BAY-mur-wald) Nursery producing landscape plants for wholesale and retail sales.

At Cal Poly, Ben teaches Plant Propagation, Plant Materials I and II, Horticultural Production Techniques, Experimental Techniques and Analysis, and Nursery Production. He supervises the annual Tomato Spectacular sale on campus and coaches the Cal Poly National Collegiate Landscape Competition team.

Ben is a horticulturist and plant nerd who is eternally curious. He loves being an educator and researcher because it gives him opportunities to learn something new every day. He is interested in plant selection, plant propagation, plant health, hiking, running, books, statistics, and baseball. Last but not least, he is blessed beyond measure by his family [wife: Pamela, sons: Dietrich (4-years old) and Martin (18-months old)].