Browse Crop and Soil Sciences Stories - Page 8

746 results found for Crop and Soil Sciences
Field to jar series: Breeding the best peanut CAES News
Peanut Breeding
Whether they show up whole in a candy bar, are transformed into a sandwich spread or lend earthy notes to a spicy curry, peanuts are an important part of foodways in the U.S. and of cuisines from around the world. Georgia is the No. 1 peanut-producing state in the U.S., growing approximately 52% of the peanuts produced in the country in 2021, mostly in the state’s sandy Coastal Plain region.
Horticulture Assistant Professor Kate Cassity-Duffey specializes in organic production. (Submitted photo) CAES News
Organic Transition
As demand for organic food continues to rise, organic agriculture has attracted both longtime producers and new farmers into the industry. University of Georgia researchers are working on a new study meant to develop best practices for transitioning farmers starting out with land that has been used for grazing or has lain fallow.
Urtnasan "Uugii" Ganbaatar and UGA Professor Mohamed Mergoum attended the the annual Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium, sponsored by the World Food Prize Foundation. A Borlaug Fellow, Ganbaatar spent three months working with Mergoum to perform research and gain knowledge using advanced genetic technologies for wheat breeding. CAES News
Borlaug Fellow
For Borlaug Fellow Urtnasan “Uugii” Ganbaatar, the opportunity to work with University of Georgia wheat breeder and geneticist Mohamed Mergoum is opening up a world of growth. With her colleagues at the Institute of Plant and Agricultural Sciences, part of the Mongolian University of Life Sciences, Ganbaatar wants to implement the advanced breeding techniques used at UGA to improve her country's dominant crop.
Although she has done extensive work in GMO advocacy, Van Eenennaam’s own research centers on a different topic entirely: genome editing. (Photo by Dennis McDaniel) CAES News
D.W. Brooks Lecture
Genetic improvement, particularly improvements related to animal production, has been one of the most transformational agricultural advancements in our history. The breeding of healthier, more productive livestock has been achieved through genetic selection over the course of time, both through natural genetic selection and through increased use of artificial insemination.
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Rival Colleagues
While the University of Georgia and the University of Florida are longtime rivals on the football field, both land-grant universities share a commitment to growing future leaders in agriculture and natural resources. In fact, there is a lot of “cross-pollination” between UGA and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
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Plant Breeding Ph.D.s
Recent data shows that the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences produced the third-most plant-breeding Ph.D. graduates between 2015 and 2020. With over 80% of alumni employed at public or private institutions, the plant breeding, genetics and genomics Ph.D. program also ranked highly for its graduate employment rate.
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Poplar Bioproducts
A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia and two partner institutions have been awarded a $15.8 million grant over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy to reengineer poplar trees to be used as a sustainable energy source. The researchers will use biotechnology approaches to breed the trees as a multipurpose crop that can be used for bioenergy, biomaterial and bioproduct alternatives to petroleum-based materials.
Aerial view of the UGArden on South Milledge Avenue as UGA and AmeriCorps VISTA students harvest vegetables. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA) CAES News
Growing Places
The gardens JoHannah Biang imagined creating when she was an undergraduate student were filled with ornamental flowers and trees, lush and beautiful, nourishing to the soul. Now, as a doctoral student and long-time manager of UGArden, University of Georgia’s student-run farm, Biang is an integral part of creating and sustaining an operation that has put food on the plates of thousands of underserved individuals and families in the greater Athens area.
When properly programmed and operated, sprayer drones are able to fly above crops to apply chemicals using a small tank and spray nozzles, avoiding muddy fields and difficult terrain, all while providing the targeted application that saves growers money and time. (Photo by Simer Virk) CAES News
Spray Drones
It’s a familiar sight for many — a ground sprayer slowly making rounds in a field, applying pesticides to row crops to give producers the best chance of protecting crops from pests and seeing high yields at harvest. These ground sprayers, with booms that can be up to 120 feet wide, are the tool of choice for producers who are spraying large areas with agricultural chemicals.
Fall armyworm larvae have a white inverted Y-shaped mark on the front of their dark head. They are smooth skinned and vary in color from light tan or green to nearly black, with three yellowish-white hairlines down the back. The larval stage lasts from three to four weeks and can be damaging to turfgrass and crops. (Photo by USDA Agricultural Research Service Photo Unit, Bugwood.org) CAES News
Fall armyworms
Over the past couple of weeks, I have received numerous calls from curious homeowners and frustrated farmers regarding the dreaded fall armyworm. Damage to established turf is most often aesthetic. However, newly planted sod or sprigs can be severely damaged or even killed by fall armyworm feeding.