News Stories - Page 176

With spring approaching, blueberry farmers focus on maximizing their 2018 yields, which means finding new ways to deal with pests like gall midge and spotted wing drosophila. To help these growers stay on top of potential pest problems, University of Georgia integrated pest management (IPM) researchers hosted a spring field day in Alma, Georgia, on Feb 21. Over 70 regional farmers from several southwestern Georgia counties, such as Bacon, Clinch, Appling and Pierce, attended the half-day event.

It’s 11 a.m. on Thursday, during the Georgia General Assembly’s spring session, and people from all over the state start to the fill the wide hallways of the Georgia Capitol in downtown Atlanta.

To avoid disaster due to subfreezing winter temperatures, leaky pipes and uninvited rodents, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist Wes Porter recommends that Georgia growers inspect their irrigation systems before planting their crops this spring.

Beginning March 1, Robert N. Stougaard will be the assistant dean of research for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He will be responsible for the overall supervision of the college’s seven research centers and farms and three major agricultural experiment stations located across the state.

Judges selected 33 products to compete in the final round of the University of Georgia’s 2018 Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest in Atlanta set for March 20. The contest is the state’s premier proving ground for small, upstart food companies as well as time-tested products. This year’s finalists represent all corners of the state and the best of Georgia’s diverse culinary heritage.

A $198,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-sponsored Conservation Innovation Grant will support ongoing University of Georgia research on cover crops and the effects of those crops on water quality and availability for row crop production.

A team of researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and ArunA Biomedical, a UGA startup company, have developed a new treatment for stroke that reduces brain damage and accelerates the brain’s natural healing tendencies in animal models.

Once a top agricultural commodity in Georgia, the Southern pea’s presence in the state is now minimal. Growers are reluctant to plant the crop due to a tiny weevil, the cowpea curculio.

The key to managing Exobasidium leaf and fruit spot disease in blueberries, which makes the fruit unmarketable, is one application of lime sulfur approximately two weeks prior to bud break, according to Jonathan Oliver, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension fruit pathologist.