Browse Field Crops, Forage and Turfgrass Production Stories - Page 5

When it comes to taking care of a lawn — whether at home or on a golf course — proper watering makes the difference between a beautiful landscape and a muddy mess. Knowing when and where to water turfgrass can be a tricky process, but thanks to a group of researchers at the University of Georgia and Rutgers University, lawn irrigation could soon be much easier to handle.

All over the world, farmers are aging and young people are moving to more urban areas for economic opportunities. Leaders wonder what factors push young people to abandon agriculture and whether technology or other tools can make farming a more attractive option for the next generation. Next week, researchers from the University of Georgia and Virginia Tech will present early findings from research exploring those questions in Senegal, where a team surveyed more than 1,000 peanut-growing households to explore challenges among peanut producers and learn the main reasons why young people turn away from agriculture.

A decade ago, University of Georgia plant scientists David and Soraya Bertioli were living and working in Brazil when they began to wonder about peanut plants they encountered in different corners of the world with an astounding ability to withstand fungal diseases without the use of fungicides. The Bertiolis wondered if these different plants might all have something in common. Did they owe their natural resistance to a single genetic source?

For nearly 50 years, turfgrass researcher Wayne Hanna pursued his professional goals at the University of Georgia, first with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), then as a full professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

While aphids aren’t a direct threat to cotton plants, they can carry a persistent virus that is difficult to control and can cause significant losses in one of Georgia’s most important crops.

The Summer Olympics may be in Japan this year, but Team USA was on home turf when they took the field for today’s Opening Ceremony. The Japan National Stadium’s field is currently sodded with TifSport bermudagrass, developed in south Georgia. One of many grass varieties created and tested at the University of Georgia’s Tifton Campus, TifSport is a dense, medium- to fine-textured grass bred to withstand the high traffic sports fields see while tolerating herbicides.

It is said that if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. For Alfredo Martinez-Espinoza, this has come true through his work as a plant pathologist with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. His passion and hard work have been recognized with the American Phytopathological Society’s (APS) 2021 Excellence in Extension award.

Samantha Wegener enrolled at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus after earning her associate’s degree in biology from the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort, South Carolina. It was during her last semester in Beaufort that Wegener was introduced to the world of plant breeding.

As the face of the American farmer changes, so do some of the methodologies, technologies and results. This is no different for the young ranchers trying to get started in the business or starting new roots away from the family farm. The reality is that many of us have jobs and homes away from the farm and run cattle on land that we don’t see every day, sometimes only once a week if we’re lucky. Considering this situation I understand why, after talking about the benefits of managed grazing, I often get the long looks that say, “That sounds good but it won’t work for me.”

The wild relatives of modern peanut plants have the ability to withstand disease in ways that modern peanut plants can’t. The genetic diversity of these wild relatives means that they can shrug off the diseases that kill farmers’ peanut crops, but they also produce tiny nuts that are difficult to harvest because they burrow deep in the soil.