News Stories - Page 154

Alankrita Goswami, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, is researching agricultural commodity markets, specifically the dynamics of options and futures markets of agricultural commodities. She uses her skills and knowledge of applied econometrics in both her own work and as a teaching assistant for Berna Karali — work that has earned her one of UGA’s 2019 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards.

 It’s summer, and Georgia gardeners are anxiously awaiting their first tomato harvest. Just in time for those first tomato sandwiches, researchers at the University of Georgia have helped unlock the mystery of what separates today’s tomatoes from their inedible ancestors.

Twenty-five professionals, who represent a wide swath of Georgia’s agriculture and natural resource industries, have been chosen to participate in the 2019-2020 class of Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry (AGL).

Each year the Trial Gardens at the University of Georgia hosts a summer open house to show off the season’s best plants. This year they’re working to beat the heat by moving the party from July to June.

Georgia’s vegetable growers need to irrigate more frequently as unseasonably high temperatures are forecast to remain high with little to no rainfall expected. Andre da Silva, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable specialist, said it is urgent that vegetable producers heed this advice.

Six Georgia 4-H’ers have been awarded a $500 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation via the National 4-H Council to encourage their fellow 4-H members to eat and drink healthier.

American and international students continue to be attracted to the dual master’s degree program in sustainable agriculture offered through a partnership between the University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (CRSS) and the University of Padova (UNIPD) Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE) in Italy.

A recent University of Georgia Cooperative Extension survey of 431 Georgia vegetable fields found that more than 60% contained root-knot nematodes, tiny parasitic worms that feed on roots and destroy plants.

Georgia temperatures are rising, and the weather is only going to get hotter with little rain in the forecast. That’s not good news for Georgia’s cotton producers who are in the middle of planting this year’s crop, says Jared Whitaker, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension cotton agronomist.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has scheduled two insect scouting schools for Georgia’s cotton, peanut and soybean farmers, both set for June.