CFAES students made a strong showing at Ohio State’s recent Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, winning four firsts, two seconds, and two thirds in five of the event’s 18 categories.
Month: March 2019
‘Together, we share a long-term vision’
In an announcement made yesterday, March 20, the Columbus-based Nationwide Foundation is contributing $7 million to support CFAES’ “vision of a modern land-grant institution with a mission to sustain life.”
Big trees on campus
Ohio State’s Columbus and Wooster campuses have each earned the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA recognition—and CFAES’ tree-mendous plant people helped.
“Trees on campus provide so many ecological benefits,” said Kathy Smith, forestry program director for CFAES, in a story published today on our CFAES Stories website. “They’re an integral part of a sustainable campus.”
Grow your own lettuce
Interested in growing your own greens? Early spring is a good time to start. Lettuce can tolerate cool soil and weather, writes Master Gardener Volunteer Faye Mahaffey in a piece published by OSU Extension’s Brown County office, “so you can plant seeds in a well-prepared seedbed as much as 4 weeks before your last frost date.”
Further, if you have limited space or mobility, you can easily grow lettuce in pots, compact salad boxes, and raised salad tables, too.
Ohio’s last frost date ranges from the first week of May to the first week of June, depending on where you live. See when yours is.
Learn more about CFAES’s Master Gardener Volunteer program. (Photo: Getty Images.)
He works for the soil, farmers, the planet
Here’s another reason to celebrate Ohio Agriculture Week, March 10-16:
CFAES’ Rattan Lal, esteemed soil scientist in the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), recently achieved an unusual triple crown, winning the prestigious World Soil Prize, World Agriculture Prize, and Japan Prize in the span of about four months.
How do you spell farming success?
Here’s another reason to celebrate Ohio Agriculture Week, March 10–16:
Every year, more than 100,000 farmers, their families, their friends, and other agricultural professionals—enough people to fill Ohio Stadium—go to CFAES’ Farm Science Review. There, they visit more than 600 exhibitors from CFAES and industry, who share their latest research findings, new tractor models and other farm equipment, harvesting demonstrations, and more.
It’s a celebration of agriculture in Ohio, a way to keep improving the industry, and also includes activities geared to small farms and conservation.
Read a wrapup of last year here. See a photo feature on last year’s Review-goers here (anyone you know?). Visit the Review’s website here.
Pictured is the world’s largest Script Ohio, done in soybeans, created last year near the site of the Review using GPS-guided “smart planting.”
Is more, heavier rain the new norm?
Weather extremes like those seen last year in Ohio, including more rainfall, heavier downpours, and warmer temperatures, will likely become the norm rather than the exception, says CFAES climate specialist Aaron Wilson. He says farmers in the state may need to make adjustments to deal with the extra water. Read the story.
On March 26, Wilson speaks on the topic in Shelby.
How to put your soil health in clover
Wilmington College in southwest Ohio plans a two-part Cover Crops Symposium on Thursday, March 21. The college’s Agriculture Department, CFAES’ OSU Extension outreach arm, and the Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District are the sponsors.
18,000 ways Ohio farmers are helping water
Here’s another reason to celebrate Ohio Agriculture Week, March 10–16:
At last count, nearly 18,000 farmers and others have successfully completed Ohio’s Fertilizer Applicator Certification Training. Provided by CFAES’ OSU Extension outreach arm, the state-required training shares science-based ways to keep nutrients in a field, where they work to feed crops, and out of water, such as Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico. Phosphorus and nitrogen are two of those nutrients.
Filter removes up to 75 percent of phosphorus
CFAES scientists are testing a filter that could take out up to 75 percent of the phosphorus in farm field runoff.
Why it’s important: Phosphorus in farm field runoff is a driver of harmful algal blooms, such as those plaguing western Lake Erie. Reducing that phosphorus could limit the blooms and by doing so help improve water quality.