agronomy

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Widely accepted vision for agriculture may be inaccurate, misleading

2/22/17

"Food production must double by 2050 to feed the world's growing population." This truism has been repeated so often in recent years that it has become widely accepted among academics, policymakers and farmers, but now researchers are challenging this assertion and suggesting a new vision for the future of agriculture.

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For the Bay: Chesapeake nutrient imbalance must be addressed

1/18/11

The problem plaguing the Chesapeake Bay is widely known and obvious, according to a crops and soils expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. But after decades of trying to save the famous estuary by spending billions of dollars on pollution-control measures, we have made a lot of progress but we still have a long way to go to solve the problem.

New grant to support integrated pest management in Pennsylvania

6/17/10

The Pennsylvania IPM Program recently received a multi-year grant to continue its mission to reduce pesticide use in agricultural and urban settings. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes for Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA), will help PA IPM further its extension and outreach efforts to promoted integrated pest management practices that are economical and protect human health and the environment. The program will work with in both rural and urban areas to provide technologies, resources and educational opportunities across the state.

Doctoral candidate to present agronomy seminar

4/6/09

PoHao Wang, Ph.D. candidate in agronomy, will present "Fine Mapping of the Maize Unstable Factor for orange1, a Novel Epigenetic Modifier and Its Role in Epigenetic Gene Regulation," at 12:20 p.m. on Friday, April 17 in 101 ASI Building. The presentation is an Agro/Soil 590 Seminar in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. For more information call 865-6541.

Pennsylvania farmers buck trend, will plant more corn in 2008

5/2/08

Farmers across the country are expected to plant 8 percent fewer acres in corn this year than last, but Pennsylvania farmers will plant 1 percent more corn than last year, according to a crops expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Nationwide, corn growers intend to plant 86 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2008, notes Greg Roth, professor of agronomy. Despite the decrease, corn acreage will remain at a historically high level as the corn price outlook remains strong, due in part to the continued expansion in ethanol production. Last year's corn acreage was the highest since 1944.

Pseudorabies in PA Rabies

12/1/04

There are some 7,600 pig farms in Pennsylvania, containing from a few to 12,000 pigs. Lancaster and Lebanon counties have the densest pig populations and the biggest problem with the swine virus called pseudorabies; there, between 1992 and '94, 91 herds were under quarantine for pseudorabies infection.

Pasture-ized Poultry

5/1/03

"Grazing is good.” That could be a cow talking. But Heather Karsten, assistant professor of crop production and ecology, says that when pastures are managed carefully, the whole agroecosystem benefits.

Feeding the World

5/1/02

"At some point, you have to come down to a fundamental assumption that humans are ingenious," said Bill Easterling. "Historically, they've found a way to use resources so that those resources are rarely depleted."

Easterling identifies himself as an optimist. So the conclusion of his lecture last January, on the effects of global warming on food security, sounded uncharacteristically pessimistic: "There will still be hungry people around in 50 years."

Our Role

5/1/02

The Inuit of Sachs Harbour in Canada's High Arctic have no native word for "robin." Yet they saw one last summer. Inland, they saw lightning too, a southerly phenomenon so rare in the far north that it sent the musk oxen into stampede. The harbor ice was odd as well: too thin for the curling match scheduled each July.

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