Vance Whitaker toils day and night to develop the tastiest, best-looking, aromatic strawberries a consumer would want. Yummy enough for a nutritious snack or to help flavor a cake or pie just in time for National Strawberry Day on Feb. 27.
Now that the American Association for the Advancement of Science has selected Roger Kjelgren as a Leshner Fellow, he hopes to increase participation in urban food and water security.
After 100 years of assertions about the roots of citrus, a global group of scientists – including a University of Florida professor – has traced the evolutionary history of Florida’s signature crop up to 8 million years ago in the Himalayas of Southeast Asia.
Before you achieve complete couch-potato status this Winter Olympics, take a cue from the dietary habits of the athletes you see onscreen, says a dietitian with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. As we watch the Winter Olympics on TV this month, we get a daily reminder of the human drama of athletic competition. But there’s another side of sports that the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension teaches through Florida 4-H.
Shiroma Sathyapala, a forest health and protection officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, will give the lecture. Her topic is: “Invasive species, climate change, plantation forestry, timber consumption and trade are changing the definition of forests. Can the Southeastern U.S. lead the way?”
Whether it’s trade agreements, labor, water supply or how to manage post-Irma, growers are trying to make the best decisions for their business, said Spiro Stefanou, chair of the UF/IFAS food and resource economics department, which organizes the conference.
As an example of their work at the conference, researchers incorporated new models for crops like the cereal tef and cassava, which are typically grown in developing countries, said Jim Jones, a UF/IFAS professor of agricultural and biological engineering.
UF/IFAS Extension faculty suggest limiting intake to about 2 tablespoons – about 180 calories. They also suggest buying peanut butter that is just ground peanuts with a hint of salt and one that doesn’t contain the partially hydrogenated fat and added sugars.
Three University of Florida scientists will use the grants to study ways to help growers cope with the disease, including research on genetic editing that may produce potentially resistant fruit and trees.
Obesity has grown into a serious health issue worldwide, especially in Western countries. In the U.S., more than one-third of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the 2010 National Council on Disability report, 35 million households in the U.S. in 2007 had one or more people with some kind of disability, representing 32 percent of all American households.
Jan. 10, which is National Cut Your Energy Costs Day, serves as a reminder of how we can reduce those costs. By following some simple suggestions, we can save money on our energy bills by following easy tips, says a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences expert.
“The forest industry is one of the largest agricultural commodity groups in Florida in terms of total economic contributions, similar in size to environmental horticulture,” said Christa Court, a UF/IFAS assistant scientist in food and resource economics and a co-author of the report.
Laura Reynolds and Carrie Adams will measure their success by plant survival and by how plant establishment changes the environment, whether that’s measured by improved water quality, sediment stabilization or fish use.
“While interesting by itself, it more importantly shows scientists the tradeoffs that can exist across body parts,” said Christine Miller, a UF/IFAS associate professor of entomology and co-author of both new studies. “It also provides fundamental knowledge on the ways that animals can compensate after injury.”
“From what I’ve seen, we’ve got some reasonably tolerant scion/rootstock combinations that growers should be taking a look at as short-term solutions to living with greening until true HLB-resistant trees are developed,” said Michael Rogers, director of the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center.
Sweet sorghum is not just for breakfast anymore. Although sorghum is a source for table syrup, scientists see a future in which we convert sorghum to biofuel, rather than relying on fossil fuel.
A system known as Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) could be crucial to Florida growers, UF/IFAS researchers say.
It’s one thing to offer students fruits and vegetables for school lunch; it’s another for them to actually eat them. Children who attend schools with Farm to School programs eat more fruits and vegetables, new University of Florida research shows.
The 1,000-page, 21-chapter book begins with the history of plant propagation and then leads into the principles and practices of seed, vegetative and tissue culture propagation.
Termites that feed on a well-known bait for one day are eventually doomed, which is good news for those who want to protect their property from the destructive pest, a University of Florida entomologist says.
The tool, known as the Strawberry Advisory System (StAS) uses data such as temperature and leaf wetness to tell growers when to spray fungicide to thwart botrytis and anthracnose fruit rots.
University of Florida, citrus growers to celebrate a 100-year partnership.
Florida has the most invasive species of any state in the country, and half of the insects, reptiles, arachnids and crustaceans imported into the United States come through Florida ports, University of Florida experts say. So, UF/IFAS has teamed up with government agencies to create a program to teach the public how to identify these insects before they become prolific.
Here are hints to avoid food-borne illnesses from a holiday meal.
Whether they’ve faced problems with pests, pathogens, soils, water or natural disasters, growers have turned to scientists at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center for answers for the past 100 years.
A University of Florida professor known for his work in using computer models to predict crop yields has been named to a newly formed global leadership panel for the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Program, also known as AgMIP.
If you drink too much tea, scientists are concerned you might get sick from dental fluorosis in children or skeletal fluorosis in adults. The situation can be aggravated if water used for brewing tea contains high amounts of fluoride.
Growers will get to see first-hand the work they have heard so much about as that research comes alive when UF/IFAS opens up the Citrus Research and Education Center for lab tours and visits to the center's grove research sites.
Cutting food waste, becoming a food entrepreneur and eating on a budget if you're a foodie. These are just some of the fearless forecasts from UF/IFAS experts, as they predict food trends for 2018.
UF/IFAS signed an agreement with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture so their scientists can work together to fight hunger in Africa.
Zhifeng Gao, a UF/IFAS associate professor of food and resource economics, led the study with his former doctoral students, Meng Shen and Lijia Shi, in which researchers wanted to know whether color helps draw consumers’ attention to information on food labels and impact their preference for food attributes. Researchers compared red labels with blue ones.
The environmental horticulture industry, or the “green industry,” includes landscaping, nurseries, greenhouses, wholesale and retail distributors and allied manufacturing.
UF/IFAS food and resource economics assistant professor Brandon McFadden and Purdue University agricultural economics professor Jayson Lusk conducted their research to find the best ways to communicate whether a food has GM ingredients. This research has implications for which foods consumers will buy, McFadden said. To gauge consumers’ willingness to pay for food labeled as GM vs. non-GM, researchers conducted a national survey of 1,132 respondents.
Most recently, scientists with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences discovered some novel pathogens that may damage Florida tomatoes. Their findings could be critical to keeping Florida’s $437 million-a-year tomato industry strong. Thanks to their early findings, the industry faces no immediate threat.
UF scientists synthesized and examined data from prior studies that had looked at how many pathogen-carrying mosquito species made their homes in forested lands vs. non-forested lands in 12 countries worldwide, including the United States.
As the large, invasive Burmese python eats its way through south Florida’s mammals, the mosquitoes in the area have fewer types of animals to bite. Now, more mosquitoes are drawing blood from a rat that carries a virus dangerous to humans.
A team of researchers at the universities of Florida and Wisconsin-Madison will use the grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to pinpoint genes that could improve plants’ ability to access nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth.
Spread the word – or, in this case, the peanut butter! You can donate unopened jars of peanut butter to hungry Panhandle families from Oct. 1 through Nov. 22, through the Peanut Butter Challenge, a project coordinated by UF/IFAS Extension faculty and volunteers.
Sea Grant is helping lobstermen by quickly locating the traps lost during Hurricane Irma -- a move that will help an industry worth $150 million in the Keys.
University of Florida entomology professor Jeffrey Bloomquist was honored with the American Chemical Society International Award for Research in Agrochemicals, an award that recognizes a lifetime of achievement in agrochemical research.
Researchers and Extension faculty suggest resetting uprooted palms and trees only after they have been examined for safety and deemed worthy of replanting. For hardwood trees, if a majority of major anchor roots have been fractured, it is unlikely that such trees will successfully reestablish themselves, and they will likely fail in future storms. Uprooted trees and palms in good condition should be replanted as soon as possible and watered frequently.
Hurricane Irma left a lot of standing water in the yards and homes of Florida residents. So, a University of Florida researcher suggests steps for making sure your home doesn’t become a haven for mosquitoes. Some mosquito species can lay up to 200 eggs at a time, so it’s critical to empty cups, birdbaths, pots or anything else on your property that has standing water.
Researchers will use the NIH grant to study whether they can harness an unusual type of immune cell in pigs to treat and prevent influenza viruses in animals and humans.
Fungal diseases are increasing in animals, which might have serious consequences for wildlife living in a hotter world, said a University of Florida scientist. A new study published in the international journal Scientific Reports shows that fungal infections reduced the heat tolerance of frogs by up to 4 degrees Celsius.
Nan-Yao Su, a globally recognized entomologist who invented the technology behind the termite-baiting system Sentricon®, has won a University of Florida Foundation Term Professorship.
Imagine camping in the deep woods. You’d want a tent with mesh that prevents bugs – even those as small as gnats – from entering into your wildlife hangout. That’s the idea behind “Citrus Under Protective Screens,” or CUPS, which helps keep away a pin-head-sized insect that causes citrus greening, University of Florida scientists say.
If you’re yearning for a better-tasting tomato juice, University of Florida scientists are in their labs, working on satisfying your palette. Essence, usually extracted from a plant to add flavor or provide a scent, according to a new UF/IFAS study, can be used to improve juice flavor.
Imagine mom and dad already have five children and are too busy, or lack the financial resources to raise more children. Sometimes, older siblings must assume some parental duties. That’s also what happens with some subterranean termites, and it results in millions of termites surviving and eating your property.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right