News Stories - Page 12

The quest for the perfect pumpkin each fall doesn’t start at the local patch. In fact, it starts up to 10 years prior for researchers like University of Georgia plant geneticist Cecilia McGregor. McGregor leads breeding efforts in the selective pumpkin variety called the 'Orange Bulldog', following the retirement of the program’s founder, horticulturist George Boyhan.

While the University of Georgia and the University of Florida are longtime rivals on the football field, both land-grant universities share a commitment to growing future leaders in agriculture and natural resources. In fact, there is a lot of “cross-pollination” between UGA and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The gardens JoHannah Biang imagined creating when she was an undergraduate student were filled with ornamental flowers and trees, lush and beautiful, nourishing to the soul. Now, as a doctoral student and long-time manager of UGArden, University of Georgia’s student-run farm, Biang is an integral part of creating and sustaining an operation that has put food on the plates of thousands of underserved individuals and families in the greater Athens area.

Animal geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam, a University of California Cooperative Extension biotechnology specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis, is the keynote speaker for the 2022 D.W. Brooks Lecture and Awards, to be held Nov. 8 at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel.

Traditional agriculture is highly weather dependent, and many producers of high-value crops are shifting over from field production to controlled environment agriculture. That is where the University of Georgia’s Marc van Iersel comes in.

Every pet owner has probably asked their pet “What do you have in your mouth?!” at least once or twice — it’s an essential part of pet ownership. That’s why responsible pet ownership also includes knowing what houseplants or common flowers may be dangerous — or even fatal — to your pets.