News Stories - Page 98

Critical pesticide application training for pest control professionals and producers will go online for 2020. CAES News
Pesticide trainings stay virtual
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the Georgia Department of Agriculture are partnering to offer the Using Pesticides Wisely training program in a virtual format again this year.
UGA Extension and UGA Small Business Development Center are teaming up to offer a four-part agricultural marketing webinar series beginning March 8. CAES News
Marketing webinars
Farmers and agricultural producers have faced numerous challenges in recent years, affecting the day-to-day tasks of running their operations. Add in a global pandemic and a push toward direct-to-consumer sales, and sustaining an agribusiness can seem overwhelming.
Trap-jaw ants show remarkable diversity in the length of the jaw and how wide it opens. CAES News
Fast Snaps
Trap-jaw ants are famous for having one of the natural world’s fastest movements, and a new study led by a University of Georgia graduate shows that the core mechanism that allows this speedy movement evolved multiple times within a single ant genus, leading to the spectacular diversification of mandible shape each time.
Eric Cohen walks through his family's pecan orchard at Pecan Ridge Plantation outside of Bainbridge. The Cohens cleaned up downed pecan trees and planted new ones after the destruction of Hurricane Michael in 2018. CAES News
Growing Pains
It’s been a rough three years for Georgia pecan farmers, whose cash crop has been battered by a hurricane, a fungal tree disease, and a global pandemic — all in relatively rapid succession.
Blake Ertzberger, a financial planning major and student service provider in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, gets instruction from Joan Koonce, a FACS professor and UGA Extension financial planning specialist, as part of the VITA program at UGA. CAES News
Free Tax Prep
University of Georgia students are again helping Georgia taxpayers by offering free tax preparation services through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
Postharvest blueberries were tested under blue light to determine whether the light affected fruit quality or disease development. CAES News
Blue Light and Blueberries
The COVID-19 crisis has put supply chain issues at the forefront of food production and packaging concerns. Researchers at the University of Georgia investigated a potential solution for extending the shelf life of blueberries by exposing blueberries to blue light during storage.
Al Pearson, a member of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Board, and his wife, Mary Pearson, established the Dr. Maurice E. “Butch” Ferree Scholarship to support students majoring in horticulture in honor of Ferree, who retired in 1998 after 24 years with UGA Extension. CAES News
Dr. Maurice E. "Butch" Ferree Scholarship
As a peach and pecan producer in central Georgia, Al Pearson relied on the expert advice provided by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. In addition to the valuable counsel provided by Extension peach expert Maurice E. “Butch” Ferree, Pearson gained something unexpected: a lifelong friend.
Watermelon research at the UGA-Tifton campus. CAES News
Fusarium Rapid Test
Fusarium wilt, caused by a soilborne fungus, is one of the most damaging diseases of watermelons worldwide. Since it was discovered in 1894, it’s been a battle for producers to manage through crop rotation and chemical fungicides.
UGA Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) agents Leslie Weaver (left) and Carrie Vanderver produce the bi-weekly podcast Two Agents and the FACS to deliver "reliable, relatable and research-based" information to listeners. CAES News
The Basic FACS
Listening to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents Leslie Weaver and Carrie Vanderver on their new podcast, Two Agents and the FACS, is like sitting around chatting with friends — with the added benefit of learning something along the way.