The Environmental Professionals Network, a service of CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources, is co-hosting the Ohio Public Interest Environmental Law Conference on Sept. 13 in Columbus. The theme of the event is “Environmental Justice and Equity for All.” “Throughout the day,” the event’s website says, “you’ll hear from speakers sharing stories of past injustices—and the legal actions taken to fix the problem.” Registration is $10 but is free for college students. Learn more.
On Campus
A focus on students of water and fish
Suzanne Gray, assistant professor of aquatic physiological ecology in CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources, recently earned the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture 2019 Educator Award. The award, its website says, recognizes individuals “whose efforts represent the very best in agricultural higher education.”
Gray, who studies and teaches about fish and how water quality changes affect them, is a previous winner of Ohio State’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. She’s pictured here in 2014 with students at the Olentangy River.
Read our 2018 Q-and-A with Gray. (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)
Her zombies help students learn plants
CFAES horticulture technologies professor Laura Deeter recently won an Educator of the Year Award from the software company Instructure. And one of the reasons was … zombies.
Come see, enjoy the good trees do
Around the world, planting billions of trees could possibly help in solving the climate crisis. On Wednesday, Aug. 14, in CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum, you can see, walk among, and enjoy the shade of trees that are already helping. Join us.
What makes hemlock forests special—starting with hemlocks
Discover the Hocking Hills’ hemlock forests—and the things that make noise in the night in those forests—on the next A Day in the Woods (and part of a night). It’s this Friday, Aug. 9. (Photo: Hocking Hills State Park, Getty Images.)
One humdinger of a bird walk
On Saturday, Aug. 10, CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum in Wooster is holding a free public bird walk. You can see and learn to identify birds, such as the ruby-throated hummingbird shown here. And you can also see what the birds have to say about the arboretum’s plants and ecosystems. “One of the most useful things that birds can indicate,” an EnvironmentalScience.org webpage called “Birds as Environmental Indicators” says, “is overall habitat quality.” (Photo: Getty Images.)
Hear the latest in algal bloom science
The fourth annual Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science conference, featuring new findings on algal blooms and multiple speakers from CFAES, is set for Sept. 12 in Toledo.
Find full details and register. The deadline to register is Sept. 4. (Photo: Lake Erie algal bloom, Jeff Reutter, Ohio Sea Grant, via Flickr.)
‘Train a farmer, feed a nation’
A recent edition of CSA News, a magazine published jointly by three agriculture-related U.S. professional societies, features the efforts of Warren Dick, CFAES emeritus professor of soil science, in starting a new agricultural university in food-insecure Ethiopia.
Deeper details on diversification tour
By Casey Hoy, Agroecosystems Management Program, CFAES
Small and medium-sized farms have a tough time competing with larger farms when it comes to economies of scale. Yet the number of small farms has more than doubled in the last few years in Wayne County, the home of CFAES’ Wooster campus and its Mellinger Research Farm.
Working at the Mellinger farm, CFAES researchers are studying how smaller farms can maximize their unique strengths by diversifying their production and markets, a strategy termed economy of scope and an alternative to expanding the size of their farm.
All about small, diversified farming
CFAES’ 324-acre Mellinger Research Farm, whose roots go back two centuries, hosts an Agricultural Diversification Research Tour from 6–8 p.m. Aug. 21. Featured will be topics such as scales of diversification and markets; ecosystem services in diverse systems; ecosystem and landscape pressures on small farms; diverse vegetable production; oilseed crops; and pastured poultry and chicken tractors. Find the full list of topics and speakers.
Admission to the event is free and open to the public. Find the farm at 6885 W. Old Lincoln Way near Wooster. (Photo: Flax, grown as an oilseed crop, in bloom at the Mellinger farm, CFAES.)
Update (7-31-2019): For more information, read “Deeper details on diversification tour.”