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Training for Afghanistan
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CALS instructor Beth Button gives soldiers a lesson in food safety. Click photo for more images.
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CALS is playing a key role in a Wisconsin National Guard effort to help restore Afghanistan's farmland.
A National Guard Agribusiness Development Team, headed by CALS alum Colonel Darrel Feucht BS'85, leaves for Afghanistan in early 2012 for a one-year tour to help farmers in volatile Kunar province more effectively farm and herd.
In late July the 58-member team--which includes another CALS graduate, James Schmitz BS'06--took a 40-hour "Agricultural Extreme 101" prep course organized by CALS' Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Arlington Agricultural Research Station. "It's an excellent program that's tailored to where we're going. It's a lot of information, but it's been of tremendous value," reported Feucht during training. "Best of all, we've been given resources here that we can call upon while we're there if we run into issues we need to solve or troubleshoot." For more information, see CALS news and an article in the Portage Daily Register. We also interviewed Feucht in Grow magazine earlier this year. |
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See You at the State Fair Aug. 10
|  Yes, there will be cream puffs--but also tasty opportunities to celebrate CALS' food contributions to Wisconsin, including Babcock Hall ice cream, a cheesemaking demo and an educational farmers market stand featuring our state's many specialty fruit and vegetable crops, from cranberries to potatoes to sweet corn. It's all part of UW activity on the State Fair's Central Mall on Wednesday, August 10, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bucky Badger and the UW Marching Band will be on hand. And UW-Madison is running a school supply collection drive--don't forget to donate! More info here.
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From Uganda to NOLA
|  Jenna Klink BS'07 (far left in photo, with CALS biochemistry professor James Ntambi on right) is a key figure in the summer cover story of Grow magazine. She and fellow students were inspired to found the nonprofit Village Health Project to help rural Ugandans with clean water and other health needs after visiting Uganda with a CALS study abroad program.
But Klink's life after CALS has been equally exciting--and just as important in terms of public service. She earned a master's degree in public health at Tulane University and serves as a program evaluator with the Louisiana Public Health Institute. "My time with Village Health Project taught me that I'd like to work in public health," Klink says. New Orleans became her chosen city after she did some post-Katrina recovery work there. "New Orleans needs just as much help as some Third World cities," Klink says.
Has the city recovered much since Klink arrived in 2007? She notes little progress in some crucial areas: crime, longstanding race and class inequities, blighted properties and government services. "But I have seen small improvements," Klink says. "The St. Charles streetcar is running--one of the only forms of public transport in the city--a lot of money has been pumped into community health centers, almost all of the housing projects have been renovated and turned into mixed-housing units, there are a lot of new schools that have created some good competition, and in the past few months, a city recycling program was started."
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Clean Water for Africa
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Sheri (Nelson) Sutton BS'09 has a big job serving as director of communications for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. But it's her work as founder of the nonprofit WaterDrops of Hope that earned her a feature story in a recent edition of Agri-View. Her organization sells reusable water bottles and uses the proceeds to build wells in parts of Africa where people struggle to find clean water. Each $20 bottle purchase, Sutton says, provides three people with clean water for five years--and on average, a well can be built for for every 270 bottles sold. Sutton, a life sciences communication grad, credits CALS for giving her the website, PR and marketing tools to start WaterDrops of Hope.
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Brown Lawns are Green in Summer, CALS Prof Tells "The Wisconsin Gardener"
|  Your lawn's turning brown--what should you do? Try doing nothing, advises CALS soil science professor Doug Soldat. "It's not dead," Soldat told "Wisconsin Gardener" Shelley Ryan in a recent episode on water conservation. "The leaves die off and turn brown, but the plant did not die. When the rains return in the fall, that grass will come back strong as ever." And in the meantime, leaving it alone saves water. Click here to watch the clip, which includes other useful lawn care tips.
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Urban Horticulture Fun at West Madison Research Station Aug. 20
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Get some late summer gardening inspiration on Saturday, August 20, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Urban Horticulture Day, held at CALS' West Madison Agricultural Research Station. You can get answers to any gardening problems, sample fresh produce, and tour one of the area's most extensive collections of flower and vegetable varieties--including many that haven't yet appeared in seed catalogs. The morning starts with a beginners' bird walk with Extension wildlife specialist David Drake. Directions and more information here.
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Get Ready to "Fire Up!" Sept. 10
|  Register now for the WALSAA Football Fire-Up and silent auction held at the UW Foundation parking lot (1848 University Ave., Madison) on Saturday, September 10, 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., prior to the Badgers v. Oregon State Beavers game. The event includes appearances by Bucky Badger, the UW Badger Band and UW Cheerleaders. And it's for a great cause--the silent auction raises money to award scholarships to CALS outstanding sophomores and outstanding students within the Farm and Industry Short Course program.
Contact WALSAA at 608-438-1994 or admin@walsaa.org for tickets and other information, including volunteer opportunities.
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