News Stories - Page 25

The idea and principles of Farm to School programs have been around for more than two decades, but it took nearly half that time for adoption and funding to garner growth and wider attention.

Over the past few decades, pollinators have been in decline worldwide, which is concerning because 70% of crops used for human food depend on pollinators. Turfgrasses – used for most residential lawns – often take some of the blame for pollinator decline as they are known to be wind-pollinated and were thought not to serve as a pollinator food source, until now.

The Peanut Innovation Lab has posted the second in a pair of animations giving farmers valuable advice on growing groundnut. This edition focuses on late-season information related to harvest and storage, and might be shown together with the first animation or separately. The animations, produced by Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO), relay to smallholder farmers proven methods to protect and improve yield. The message of the videos was shaped through interviews and surveys with partners in Africa to ensure that the information is prioritized to have the most impact.

Danielle Essandoh always liked plants, but as she prepares to defend her master’s thesis for a degree in plant breeding from Makerere University in Uganda, she sees how her love of plants grew into a passion for helping people. Specifically, the work could lead to improved varieties that can withstand two particular diseases that can destroy groundnut crops in eastern Africa – groundnut rosette disease and late leaf spot.

Due to high consumer expectations, farmers and agricultural producers are constantly under pressure to deliver their products at higher yields for cheaper prices. This may seem like an impossible combination of demands, but University of Georgia Cooperative Extension researchers are developing precision agriculture methods to make the planting process more efficient for farmers while protecting profits.

J. Frank McGill, affectionally known throughout the Georgia agricultural community as “Mr. Peanut,” passed away surrounded by family on March 3 at age 95 in Tifton, Georgia.