Biography

Dr. Victor E. Cabrera was born and raised in the Inca’s land of Cusco, Peru. After finishing High School, he moved to Lima to pursue his B.S. and Engineering degrees from La Molina Agrarian University. After graduation, he worked for three and a half years as a agriculture educator in an agricultural college. During that time he completed a 3-month post-graduate course on administration of agrarian schools in Spain and France. In 1997, Victor was awarded a fellowship from the Kellogg Foundation to pursue a M.S. degree in Farming Systems Research and Extension at the University of Florida Department of Agricultural Communication and Education. His M.S. research focused on improving small farm livelihood systems using alternative agronomic practices, which were evaluated with linear programming techniques. After finishing his M.S. degree, Victor accepted a 6-month interim position at the University of Florida Food and Resource Economics Department. Victor went back to Peru in 1999 where he worked as a consultant of the Inter-American Development Bank for two years. In 2001, he returned to the US to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Florida School of Natural Resources working as a research and teaching assistant in the Food and Resource Economics Department. During his Ph.D. program, he became deeply involved with dairy industry and dairy farm systems developing a comprehensive decision support systems to help dairy producers cope with increasing environmental restrictions while maintaining profitability. In 2004, right after graduating, Victor accepted a Postdoctoral position with the University of Miami, where he worked performing risk analyses of using climate information under government farm programs. In early 2006, Victor accepted the position of Assistant Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist with the New Mexico State University where he worked for two years performing applied research focused on environmental decision-making for the growing dairy industry in New Mexico and Western Texas. In April of 2008, he joined the faculty team of the Dairy Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Dairy Management with 70% Extension and 30% research appointment split. Dr. Cabrera is focusing his extension and research programs on dairy farm economic decision-making for improved profitability and sustainability. Dr. Cabrera translates proven research into user friendly decision making tools addressed to extension agents, dairy producers and dairy farm consultants. During his short career, Victor has authored or coauthored 18 peer-reviewed publications, 2 book chapters, 20 Extension publications, 30 proceeding papers, and developed more than 20 scientific ‘tools’ for decision making. Victor has also been invited as speaker and consultant to Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Mexico. Victor is a member of the American Dairy Science Association, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and the American Agricultural Economics Association. Victor's ultimate goal is to help rural people to improve their life quality through applied bio-physical, socio-economic, and environmental research. Coming from a farm, he has always been linked to the agricultural and rural sectors and his studies and works have always focused on enhancing farming systems. Victor is committed to providing leadership in dairy management decision-making related to cost-efficiency, profitability, and environmental stewardship. Victor believes in ‘participatory research and Extension’ as a way to deliver research-based responses to real needs. A primary focus of Victor’s Extension work is the creation and delivery of computerized decision support system tools.