News Stories - Page 5

A multidisciplinary team of University of Georgia agriculture experts are working to determine causes and solutions to postharvest quality problems that have hit Georgia’s blueberry growers hard in recent seasons. Funded by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of Research and UGA Cooperative Extension, the project will address “major issues” with fruit quality, particularly in rabbiteye blueberries.

Registration is now open for the 2023 Georgia Ag Forecast, which will be held Jan. 27 at the University of Georgia Tifton Conference Center on the UGA Tifton campus and online. The annual seminar, offered by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Extension, shares the latest research and information from UGA faculty to help agribusinesses and producers prepare for the new year.

On a warm morning in mid-September, tractor-drawn peanut-digging equipment burrowed beneath the peanut vines on the first of Tift County peanut farmer Greg Davis’s fields. This is the day peanut producers — and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents and UGA peanut researchers — work all season for.

From year to year, many row crop producers rotate the crops they plant to reduce pest and disease pressure and to benefit the land, often alternating peanuts with cotton and corn. Peanuts in particular are considered an important cash crop for many farmers.

Whether they show up whole in a candy bar, are transformed into a sandwich spread or lend earthy notes to a spicy curry, peanuts are an important part of foodways in the U.S. and of cuisines from around the world. Georgia is the No. 1 peanut-producing state in the U.S., growing approximately 52% of the peanuts produced in the country in 2021, mostly in the state’s sandy Coastal Plain region.

Founded in 1989, the CAES Ambassador program is UGA’s oldest student ambassador group and focuses on student recruitment, student engagement and community outreach. Students with a major in CAES and at least two semesters of study in the college are eligible to apply and participate in the interview process, all with the goal of being selected to wear the program’s signature red blazer.

The University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health offers a unique opportunity for anyone interested in helping to preserve the state’s native ecology with its Georgia First Detectors Program. The next training for the program will be held at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on Sept. 30.

Say hello to Watson. A four-wheeled, phenotyping robot that operates autonomously or under human control, Watson is taking shape in Changying “Charlie” Li’s lab at the Phenomics and Plant Robotics Center (PPRC) on the University of Georgia’s Athens campus in collaboration with researchers in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Peanuts, although a major crop in Georgia, are a minor crop in the U.S., with only about 1.5 million acres planted. Due to its limited acreage, there are not many herbicides solely developed for peanuts. Emerging herbicide resistance is an increasing concern in peanut-producing states, and growers need more tools to combat pernicious weeds like Palmer amaranth.