News Stories - Page 8

The University of Georgia Rural Engagement Workshop for Academic Faculty enters its third year with 12 faculty members working in partnership with units of UGA Cooperative Extension and Public Service and Outreach for grants to help solve rural challenges. The workshop is designed to help drive community-engaged research in rural Georgia communities.

Georgia is the nation's leading pecan-producing state — and University of Georgia researchers intend to keep it that way. Working with an international team of experts, four faculty from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have received a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture award for the second phase of a study to adapt one of Georgia’s top commodities, the pecan.

With so many options available, it can be challenging to know what plants to add to your home garden that will look beautiful and help the environment. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia are helping gardeners by selecting four Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year.

The University of Georgia ranks No. 2 among U.S. universities for number of commercial products to market based on its research, according to an annual survey conducted by AUTM. It is the ninth straight year UGA has ranked among the nation’s top five in this metric and seventh straight year among the top two.

The University of Georgia’s Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture has awarded eight seed grants to fund initial research for projects at the convergence of agriculture, engineering, computing and related areas of study. The grants, the first of their kind from IIPA, follow a strategic push by the university to improve its industry collaboration across fields of study and support foundational research to advance agriculture and economic development in the state of Georgia.

A multidisciplinary team of University of Georgia agriculture experts are working to determine causes and solutions to postharvest quality problems that have hit Georgia’s blueberry growers hard in recent seasons. Funded by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of Research and UGA Cooperative Extension, the project will address “major issues” with fruit quality, particularly in rabbiteye blueberries.