‘It was an astonishing experience’

borlaug scholarsCFAES recently hosted four distinguished international researchers — from Bangladesh, Tunisia and two from Ghana — through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program. All four work in sustainable agriculture fields, including protecting plant health, boosting soil quality and preserving crop biodiversity. Read the story …

Photo feature: Health check; or, fare bee well, my honey, fare bee well

image of honey bee hiveJuan Quijia Pillajo, Michael Wransky and Natalie Riusech, all members of CFAES scientist Reed Johnson’s summer apiculture crew, check the health of some rather active honey bees in this recent shot by CFAES photographer Ken Chamberlain. Johnson shows the inside of a bee hive, talks about threats to honey bees and discusses their importance as crucial pollinators of many of our food crops in a 2013 video (2:53).

‘It’s a great opportunity for farmers to diversify’

OSU Extension’s Amanda Douridas talks about growing hops in a recent press release:

“Because growers can grow hops on a couple of acres, it’s a great opportunity for small landowners or farmers who want to diversify. It’s a big investment in terms of money and time, but it’s also a growing market and can be a great opportunity if people are prepared for it.”

Ohio’s booming microbrewing industry means a strong demand for locally grown hops, says Douridas, who’s helping organize a July 29 CFAES workshop on how to get started in growing the crop.

‘There are things we can do to be better and more effective teachers’

president drake videoHow to sustain great teaching? Ohio State President Michael V. Drake, M.D., who started June 1, speaks on teaching at a research university such as Ohio State, and on tapping into research on teaching to further improve that teaching, yesterday on his first visit to CFAES’s Wooster campus. Watch (1:50).

‘People really do want to know where their food is coming from’

dean mcpheron videoCFAES Dean Bruce McPheron talks about agriculture’s impact in Ohio and the growing interest and opportunities in local foods yesterday on CFAES’s Wooster campus, part of a visit by new Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake, M.D., and the university’s Roads Scholars tour. Watch (1:36).

On the road (to sustainability) (and more)

President Drake visitCFAES welcomed Ohio State’s new president, Michael V. Drake, M.D., center, and the university’s Roads Scholar tour today to its Wooster campus. The annual two-day tour is a chance for faculty and administrators to see Ohio State’s locations and impacts around the state. Scientists such as Casey Hoy of CFAES’s Agroecosystems Management Program, right, talked about their work. “Speed meetings” also featured sustainability-related CFAES efforts in biofuels, local food systems (local farmers shared what they’d grown), environmental quality, and biobased products and energy.

Report details chemicals at drilling site fire

Rick Reitzel of WCMH-TV, Columbus, interviewed Julie Weatherington-Rice, adjunct assistant professor in CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, for a story about last month’s fire, and the chemicals now being reported as being involved, at a hydraulic fracturing well site in southeast Ohio. Watch.