News Stories - Page 153

With just 15 minutes and proximity to any blooming plant, Georgians can help University of Georgia Cooperative Extension researchers gain a clearer picture of pollinator health across our state.

The University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) has named Allisen Penn the associate dean for UGA Cooperative Extension and outreach. Penn comes to UGA having spent the previous decade as a regional program leader for University of Tennessee Extension in Nashville.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut officially started several projects in Ghana this month with a launch meeting to bring together teams of scientists and students from the U.S. and the West African country. The lab is managed out of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences through an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development, but involves scientists from a dozen U.S. universities, as well as institutions across partner countries.

Groundnut breeders across Africa have wondered at the differences they’d see in nuts that were called the same name but didn’t look alike. Last year, a group of breeders from across the continent put together hundreds of lines of peanuts and, under the auspices of the Peanut Innovation Lab, found out just how similar or different their peanut lines are. The scientists from the national programs in nine countries –Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Togo, Gambia, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique – met with U.S. scientists last month to review the data collected through an Innovation Lab project called “Genotypic analysis of peanut germplasm using the Axiom_Arachis2 SNP array.”

Bringing together experts in groundnut research from across Ghana, a new organization of scientists aspires to boost the size of the crop and profit for farmers, improve the quality of groundnuts consumers see at the market and increase the supply of nutritious and safe food served in homes. The Ghana Groundnut Working Group met for the first time in July to explore peanut production, economics, technology and benefits in Ghana. The model for the meeting is the American Peanut Research and Education Society, a 51-year-old organization in the United States that has helped the peanut industry in the Americas weather disease and other production problems over recent decades.

Twenty-four Georgia 4-H teenagers spent their summer in a unique agriculture-focused student exchange program without leaving the state. Funded by the Thalia and Michael C. Carlos Foundation, One Georgia 4-H is an urban-rural 4-H exchange program designed to showcase the importance of agriculture in rural and urban Georgia.

Drought-like conditions this summer are forcing Georgia forage farmers to delay treatments for Bermuda grass stem maggot, according to Lisa Baxter, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension forage specialist.

Two University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences food scientists have been presented awards of excellence from the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Larry Beuchat and Professor Francisco Diez were recognized at the association’s annual meeting held July 21–24 in Louisville, Kentucky.

During a summer when Georgia corn farmers have relied heavily on their irrigation systems working effectively, many struggled with equipment malfunctions that may have reduced crop yields. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist Wes Porter believes that those problems can be avoided in the future if producers make necessary modifications after the growing season.

Georgia peach farmers are feeling “peachy” about the outlook for this season’s crop, which is expected to more than double last year’s volume, according to Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Peach and Taylor counties.