News Stories - Page 11

For Joseph McHugh, a career as an entomologist was never in question: He became fascinated by insects and their diversity in grade school and his passion never wavered. This year, his internationally recognized leadership in the field he loves was rewarded as he was named the Herbert H. and Jean A. Ross Memorial Distinguished Professor of Insect Systematics and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Researchers and educators at the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant work in a unique kind of lab. On Skidaway Island, staff are surrounded on every side by miles of salt marsh and towering oak trees with vibrant, twisting branches covered in Spanish moss. Egrets soar overhead and squareback crabs scurry over their boots as they cross the maritime forest floor.

Emma Grace Crumbley — also known online as Emma the Entomologist — is a scientific communicator with a passion for bug facts. And whether she’s sharing a recipe for cricket cookies or highlighting insect names with Star Wars origins (ever heard of Agathidium vaderi, also known as the Darth Vader beetle?), she is dedicated to making insect education accessible.

Situated on 250 acres in Perry, Georgia, next to the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter and at the heart of the state's agricultural landscape, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Grand Farm are coming together to build the University of Georgia Grand Farm, a working innovation farm with plans to deploy the first field projects in 2025.

An outreach program offered by the University of Georgia has received federal funding to train military veterans to start their own farms. Farm Boot Camp, a specialized training program for military veterans and their spouses, offers free monthly trainings and specialized workshops to provide essential skills and knowledge needed to start or return to farming operations.

You don’t expect it to be here. Not after passing subdivision after subdivision with names culled from the merging of random adjectives and natural objects: Longleaf, Brightwood, Hickory Hills. But travel far enough down Turner Church Road — a smidge north of the burgeoning Georgia town of McDonough — and the tree-lined spiderweb roads of housing developments open to vast farmland adorned with berry crops and little, red-roofed structures.

In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly established June 7 as World Food Safety Day to bring awareness of foodborne risks and “to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.” With 25 faculty members involved in food safety microbiology, the University of Georgia has one of the largest teams of food safety researchers of any university. Their research and collaboration efforts contribute to a growing body of knowledge that ensures producers and consumers have the latest information about food safety.

A new national grant program administered by the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program will pump more than $10.2 million into research to address food loss and waste in the region. Supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the SARE Community Foods Project Food Loss and Waste Training and Technical Assistance Grants Program is seeking grant proposals from applicants working in the public sector on food loss and waste prevention.

Three years after its debut, the Georgia Green Landscape Stewards program is expanding throughout the state with the assistance of University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener volunteers. Using a points-based system, the program has certified more than 200 private properties, public spaces and pollinator gardens in 47 counties as Georgia Green Landscapes, with new applications coming in every month.

Visual beauty meets functional research at the University of Georgia Trial Gardens. Located on South Campus, the gardens are home to seeds and plants from nearly every plant breeding company worldwide, grown to service UGA research, teaching and new crop introduction. “The Trial Gardens are the premier campus test site in the southeast for the evaluation of commercial bedding plants and perennials,” said John Ruter, the Trial Gardens director and Allan M. Armitage Professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.