News Stories - Page 494

A new technology that kills pathogens on food at home and in restaurants, grocery stores, beverage-manufacturing and food-processing facilities has been licensed to the maker of FIT Fruit and Vegetable Wash™. The licensing agreement between the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. and HealthPro Brands, Inc., FIT’s parent company, vastly extends the range of applications for the company’s current anti-microbial food wash.

Due to its internal makeup, a pecan tree naturally makes a big crop every other year. This means some years are better, or worse, than others for pecan growers. But a new technique can stabilize production and help make each year a good year, says a University of Georgia pecan specialist.

Soybeans are the typical replacement for ground meat in patties. But patties made with black-eyed peas and peanut could be just as good, say University of Georgia food scientists.

Elbert and Putnam counties will participate in a ground breaking program for high-risk students. What is learned will benefit the entire state, say specialists with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.

David Friedman sent a cricket flying 31.55 feet – with his mouth. Now the University of Georgia junior from St. Simons holds the unofficial state record for cricket spitting.

While temperatures were near normal for March in Georgia, rainfall was well above normal, according to data collected by the National Weather Service. Precipitation was below normal only along the state’s northern and southern borders and east-central area.

All of Georgia except the Lanier and Hartwell basins are now out of drought. Several days of heavy rain across the southern two-thirds of the state have alleviated the remaining drought conditions in south Georgia.

If you’ve recently walked on a golf course, athletic field or newly established landscape any where in the world, chances are you stepped on a Tif variety turfgrass developed at the University of Georgia.

As the last frost date nears, it’s almost time to plant tomatoes. On the April 11 episode of “Gardening in Georgia with Walter Reeves,” host Walter Reeves visits Bonnie Plant Farms to see how millions of tomato plants are started each spring.

Georgia’s wine industry is growing fast, tripling its acreage in just the past five years. To provide the industry with the research and outreach it needs, the University of Georgia is expanding programs in viticulture and enology and establishing a new professorship.