News Stories - Page 2

When the University of Georgia Bulldogs step between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, the grass on Dooley Field needs to look perfect. More importantly, though, it needs to help safeguard the health of athletes who compete on it. Gerald Henry plays a big role in the latter. The UGA Athletic Association’s endowed professor in environmental turfgrass leads a research team in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences committed to creating sports fields that look good and perform well to limit the occurrence of injuries.

More than 650 turf industry professionals, golf course superintendents and local homeowners gathered at the University of Georgia Griffin campus on Aug. 7 for the 2024 Turfgrass Research Field Day. Participants learned about turf-related issues from College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences researchers and UGA Cooperative Extension specialists from all three of the university's campuses.

The University of Georgia Plant Center is a collection of faculty and scientists from across multiple campuses who share common interests in plant science. From basic science in plant biology and genomics to highly applied projects in genetics and plant breeding, researchers run the gamut of plant-based research. More than 60 faculty are affiliated with the center, hailing from seven departments across four colleges and schools and three separate campuses in Athens, Tifton and Griffin.

Pearl millet, an annual grass used for grain and forage, can be a good food source for honey bees and hover flies, according to a recent study. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service and University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences researchers studied the impact of pearl millet as a source of insect food by surveying insects collecting and consuming the sucrose-rich pollen of this crop.

At the end of a 35-year career with the University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Associate Dean for Extension Laura Perry Johnson reflects on the journey that has taken her from her home on the farm to a lifetime of helping farmers. Johnson, affectionately known as “LPJ,” recently shared some of the lessons she has learned from a lifetime in agricultural education.

At the University of Georgia Tifton campus, the new Tifton Integrative Precision Agriculture Research, Education and Demonstration Laboratory will be the first of its kind in the Southeast to provide state-of-the-art collaborative spaces, top-of-the-line autonomous equipment and job training for the next generation of agricultural leaders. The $3 million project will include a working lab, electronic labs and office spaces to increase collaboration among graduate students, scientists and industry.

Six University of Georgia faculty and staff members are being honored for their commitment to public service and outreach. These honorees have made significant career-spanning contributions to UGA’s public service mission through scholarship, service-learning opportunities for students and campus leadership. All have created a legacy of extraordinary impact through special projects and long-term achievements to propel a better quality of life for the people of Georgia.

Stanley Culpepper has dedicated the length of his career to supporting farmers in their mission to feed and clothe the world. For the past 25 years, Culpepper has been a weed science specialist for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and a College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty member. Recently his job has become increasingly complex as mounting challenges around the availability of pesticides — primarily herbicides — have taken center stage in agricultural production.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service have broken ground on a new state-of-the-art research facility housing the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory and the Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit. the UGA Tifton campus, the research facility will include a new, 31,000-square-foot building housing university and ARS employees working on climate-smart agricultural research.