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Ripening in mid-winter. Taking root in old cotton acres. Growing organic in conventional farms. America's favorite berry is finding itself in places it's never been before thanks to research, creativity and a donation from the world's largest retailer.

Each of these new directions was grown from a $3 million donation from the Walmart Foundation to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's Center for Rural and Agricultural Sustainability, known as CARS. Last year's donation gave birth to the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative and would fuel 20 research projects in 13 states.

All of the innovations have one aim: to provide U.S. consumers with the freshest berries raised in the most sustainable way possible everywhere they're grown, from small family farms to cooperatives. It's no small target either. Strawberry production was valued at $2.4 billion in 2012, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service. And USDA says they are the fifth favorite fruit among American consumers, prized for its sweet taste and good-for-you versatility in the kitchen.

"At Walmart we support the issues our customers and communities care about most - sustainability being one of them," said Dorn Wenninger, Vice President of Produce and Floral, Walmart. "We're excited to help the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative enter Phase II where we'll see innovation at work in the fields. As a result, we'll have a better understanding of how to sustainably increase production and supply of one of our nation's favorite fruits."

A new $1.05 million donation from the Walmart Foundation is providing fuel for some of the researchers to prove their concepts in the field. From a competitive grants process, six projects working in nine states emerged to share $845,000 in funding from the new donation.

"If last year's work was all about exploration and innovation, Phase II moves the initiative 'From Demonstration to Implementation'," said Curt Rom, horticulture director for CARS.

In May, the project team members presented their research at a summit held at Fayetteville's Chancellor Hotel.

"There was an obvious energy in the room with the reports and the conference created strong synergy among the cooperators," Rom said. "This program has clearly made significant impacts that will continue to grow. I feel certain that we will see more, better, higher quality strawberries which have been sustainably produced locally, regionally, and nationally enter our markets."

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8161.htm.)
 

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The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's National Agricultural Law Center has received a $225,000 grant from USDA Rural Development to lay the groundwork for the development of local and regional food industry in the Arkansas Delta and to assist ongoing efforts in the Arkansas Delta.

The project will integrate with USDA's StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity Initiative, designed to address persistent poverty areas in Arkansas and other states.

This project will assist growers, entrepreneurs, and others in the food supply chain to produce, process and deliver locally grown foods to area markets and public food programs such as school lunches, said Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC). The project specifically targets Jefferson, Phillips and St. Francis counties and will help establish and support ongoing efforts in those and surrounding areas.

"These counties suffer from chronic high rates of poverty and unemployment," Pittman said. "The area is unique in that community leaders and stakeholders are very interested in further development of local and regional food systems that could offer long-term economic opportunities for producers and entrepreneurs."

Pittman said the grant will fund a multi-disciplinary effort that will team NALC with the Cooperative Extension Service and three other Division of Agriculture programs - the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability (CARS), the Institute of Food Science and Engineering and the Arkansas Food Innovation Center.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8167.htm.)

 

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Larry Purcell uses kites and a balloon to fly cameras over research fields to study drought tolerance in soybeans. Here, he launches a 9-foot delta wing kite designed for moderate winds.

A kite's no toy to Larry Purcell.

Following in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, Purcell flies kites in the name of science.

Purcell, holder of the Altheimer Chair for Soybean Research for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is trying to understand the mechanisms that allow some plants to tolerate drought better than others. The Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board supports his research project.

One of the keys was to measure the temperatures of plants under specific conditions of moisture, weather and other factors. "The plant canopy is cooler when water is available," Purcell said. "The plants get warmer when water becomes scarce."

The cooling is the result of transpiration, Purcell said, the mechanism by which plants draw water from the soil, transport it through the plant and evaporate through stomates, tiny holes in the leaves and stems that enlarge or shrink to control movement of moisture and gases. When water is scarce, evaporation is restricted and the plant's temperature rises.

Research has shown some soybean plants remain cooler than others under drought conditions. "The cooler plants have some mechanism that allows them to use water more efficiently," Purcell said.

"Some soybean genotypes do not wilt as quickly because they conserve water in the soil, providing a reserve during a drought," Purcell said.

"Other plants use deeper rooting to draw water from deeper strata in the soil. Both traits allow a plant to continue active growth, which results in water evaporating from the leaves."

Purcell has identified molecular markers for these genetic traits and has discovered that those same molecular markers are associated with higher yields.

Early work on drought tolerance required measuring temperature and rating the color of the plants from the ground. It was a painstaking process of walking through each field during mid-day when weather conditions might be most consistent.

The problem, Purcell said, was that atmospheric conditions often changed before he could record the data from a field. The sun changed position and the temperature would rise as the day progressed. In addition, wind speed could change or clouds might roll in and cause inconsistent temperature readings.

The result was that measurements he took at 11 a.m. were not comparable to those he recorded at 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Purcell needed a way to rapidly record data from thousands of soybean plants under the same ambient conditions.

The answer was aerial photography. "Aerial sensing allows us to measure an entire field at once," Purcell said.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8171.htm.)

 

Cynthia Edwards, right, deputy secretary of the Arkansas Agriculture Department, and volunteer Amanda Machada peel carrots used to make spaghetti sauce for the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance's Arkansas Gleaning Project.

 

Cynthia Edwards, deputy secretary of the Arkansas Agriculture Department, donned hair net and sterile gloves in July to make tomato sauce for the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.

Edwards joined alliance members at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's Food Innovation Center to make the sauce, which will be sold through Arkansas retail outlets to raise money for the Arkansas Gleaning Project.

Jean Francois Meullenet, head of the Division of Agriculture's department of food science, said the Arkansas Food Innovation Center was created to provide commercial food processing facilities and research-based expert assistance to help both entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations start locally based food systems and industries.

Michelle Shope, director of food sourcing and logistics for the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, said the Arkansas Gleaning Project uses produce left in farmers' fields after harvest to stock food pantries located around the state. Edwards said the Arkansas Agriculture Department provided a grant to help support the project.

"The Agriculture Department supports the Gleaning Project because it helps fight food insecurity in the state using food that is grown right here in Arkansas," Edwards said. "I wanted to participate in the program and see it in action."

"We want to help make it a sustainable program in which Arkansans help fellow Arkansans beat hunger," Edwards said.

Edwards added that the Arkansas Agriculture Department also supports the Arkansas Food Innovation Center's work helping entrepreneurs start up local food industries. "Working there was a chance for me to see a great partnership in action," she said.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8163.htm.)   

  

 

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Curt Rom

Curt Rom, University Professor of horticulture in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Bumpers College and interim dean of the Honors College at the University of Arkansas, has been elected president of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences.

The organization is the largest professional and science society devoted to horticulture. It publishes three academic journals - Journal of the ASHS, HortScience and HortTechnology. The mission of the group is to promote scientific research, technology development, outreach and education regarding horticultural plants and crops.

Rom, who is also director of the Bumpers College honors program, began his three-year term as president of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences on July 31. His term begins with a year of service as president-elect. After a year as president he will serve his third year as chair of the board. Previously, he has served as vice president and board member, and treasurer and chair of the finance and investments committees, among other leadership positions within the society.

(See full article at http://newswire.uark.edu/articles/24774/rom-named-president-of-american-society-for-horticultural-sciences.) 

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Jason Apple, Mike Looper and Charles Rosenkrans from the Department of Animal Science have been appointed to positions with the American Society of Animal Science.

Looper, department head, was elected president of the society and will serve a three-year term as president-elect in 2014, president in 2015 and past-president in 2016.

Apple, a professor who focuses his research on meat quality, was elected president of the Midwest Section and will serve a three-year term beginning this year.

Rosenkrans, a professor whose research includes animal toxicology, was elected to serve as secretary-treasurer for the Southern Section. He will become president of the section in 2017.

(See full article at http://newswire.uark.edu/articles/24676/animal-science-trio-appointed-to-american-society-of-animal-science-positions.)    

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Students and faculty in the University of Arkansas poultry science department received prestigious awards at the 2014 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting held July 14-17 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Walter G. Bottje, a professor and physiologist with the department, received the Zoetis Fundamental Science Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in basic disciplines (genetics, genomics, immunology, molecular, cellular and developmental biology, physiology, poultry health and proteomics), and was presented with a prize of $1,000 and a plaque provided by Zoetis, an animal health company.

Guillermo Tellez of the John K. Skeeles Poultry Health Laboratory research staff received the Frank Perdue Live Poultry Food Safety Award. This award is presented for research in food safety that makes a sustained impact on decreasing potentially harmful pathogenic organisms delivered to the processing plant that have been shown to come from breeder and/or live operations. The $3,000 award and plaque is given only in even-numbered years.

The PSA Early Achievement Award for Research was given to Lisa R. Bielke, also a research scientist at the John K. Skeeles Poultry Health Laboratory. This award is given to recognize the distinctive achievements of PSA members in the early stages of their careers in poultry research. She received $250 and a plaque provided by the Poultry Science Association.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8165.htm.)

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Michael Kidd

Michael Kidd, director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and head of the department of poultry science for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, was named the 2014 Industry Leader of the Year by The Poultry Federation (TPF) - Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma - during the 55th Annual Poultry Festival.

The award has been presented since 1955 and recognizes the outstanding achievements of poultry and egg executives and their contribution to the industry. Presenting the award this year were the TPF Board of Directors and Marvin Childers, president.

Kidd is a poultry science graduate from the University of Arkansas and was a recipient of the Arkansas Feed Mill Scholarship. He has a master's degree from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He has been a lab tech for Hudson Foods, a research director and research manager for Nutri-Quest, has consulted in over 30 countries, and has more than 355 peer reviewed manuscripts. He has served as president of the Poultry Science Association and department head at the department of poultry science at Mississippi State University.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8145.htm.)  

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Three faculty members in the agricultural education, communications and technology Department at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have received top honors from the American Association for Agricultural Education. A fourth faculty member in the department has been installed as the organization's national president.

The faculty receiving recognition from the professional society are:

* Don Edgar, associate professor, who received the Outstanding Early Career Award;
* Don Johnson, professor, who received the Distinguished Researcher Award;
* George Wardlow, professor and department head, who was inducted as an AAAE Senior Fellow;
* Donna Graham, professor, who was installed as AAAE president for the current year at the society's annual meeting May 19-23 in Snowbird, Utah.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8136.htm.)

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Left, Terry Howell, then president-elect of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, presents Dr. Lalit Verma with the James R. and Karen A. Gilley Academic Leadership Award.

Lalit Verma, head of biological and agricultural engineering for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has been honored by American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers for his leadership.

Verma was honored with the James R. and Karen A. Gilley Academic Leadership Award at the ASABE meeting held in July in Montreal. The award was established in 2011 to recognize academic excellence through service as a department head or chair.

"This recognition has a special significance for me as it recognizes the critically important role of an academic department head/chair of agricultural and biological engineering in a higher-learning institution committed to the land-grant mission," Verma said.

(See full-article at http://www.uaex.edu/media-resources/news/august2014/08-05-2014-Verma-Award.aspx.)

Lloyd Warren

Lloyd O. Warren, 98, of Fayetteville, who served as a longtime faculty member in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and as director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, died June 22.

"We appreciate his years of service to the state, the Division of Agriculture and to the agriculture industry in his work as professor and in his 10 years as director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station," said Dr. Mark Cochran, vice president-Agriculture and head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

"He went from horse days to the Space Age days of agriculture in his lifetime," said Rick Cartwright, associate director-Agriculture and Natural Resources for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Cartwright knew Warren, first as an employer, and then as father-in-law. "Before the internet, he had this concept that he really believed that if you found something and were sure of it, you communicated quickly and professionally to the end users."

Cartwright also said Warren "enjoyed 4-H and had very clear memories of it."
As a youth, Warren was very competitive.

"Like many rural youngsters at that time, and still today, he was exposed to scientific agriculture through 4-H, growing prize chickens for the county fair," Cartwright said. "His hens took second prize the year he was able to compete, and he always believed they would have won first if the family had not had to eat the rooster the Sunday before the fair, literally out of necessity.

"Afterwards, he noted that it was probably a good thing for the hens that they laid eggs or they might have been next," Cartwright said.

Warren was born Dec. 27, 1915, in Fayetteville, the son of Elliott and Nona Warren. Survivors include his wife of 72 years, Ruby Warren, daughters and sons-in-law Michele and Roy Lang of Hot Springs, Denise and George Jones of Littleton, Colorado, and Lynette and Rick Cartwright of Little Rock; brother Charles Warren of Englewood, Colorado, sisters Helen Murphy of Fayetteville and Velma Brown of Rogers; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren, as well as several nieces and nephews.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8146.htm.) 

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