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David Mortensen profile

Penn State plant scientist appointed to National Organic Standards Board

12/20/16

David Mortensen, professor of weed and applied plant ecology in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, was appointed to the National Organic Standards Board by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Mortensen will serve a five-year term on the board as a farming systems ecotoxicology expert.

Cambodian Farmer harvests

Increasing sustainable food production could empower Cambodian women

2/24/16

A team of researchers, led by scientists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, will launch a project designed to improve nutrition and empower women in Cambodia by promoting their production and marketing of horticultural crops and rice produced via sustainable intensification practices.

People gatherd in an agricultural field, watching as one person digs into the soil.

Talk on perennial grains, cover crops will kick off cropping systems symposium

3/6/15

Sieglinde Snapp, a professor of soils and cropping systems ecology and associate director of the Center for Global Change at Michigan State University, will present a talk on March 27 titled “Cover Crops and Perennial Grains for Future Cropping Systems.” Her talk, which will take place at 12:20 p.m. in 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building, is part of the 2015 Sustainable Ag Seminar Series organized by the Sustainable Ag Working Group in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Organic crop research plots

New crop production guide aimed at helping farmers tap growing organic markets

2/26/15

If you are an organic-crop producer in the Northeast or a farmer interested in transitioning to organic, there is a new resource available to help provide the research-based information you need to be successful. The newly published Penn State Organic Crop Production Guide is among the most comprehensive university-produced guides in the country.

New recording explores capacity of Northeast US to meet food, bioenergy needs

5/22/14

A recent lecture that explored the capacity of the Northeast US to meet its food and bioenergy needs is now available as an online recording. The lecture, delivered by Christian Peters of Tufts University, was part of the 2014 Sustainable Agriculture Seminar Series organized by the Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Aerial agricultural landscape

Capacity of agriculture to meet food, bioenergy needs the topic of May 2 talk

4/25/14

Christian Peters, a crop and soil scientist at Tufts University, will present a talk on May 2 titled "Capacity of the Northeast to meet human dietary needs and the implications for sustainable food and bioenergy systems." The event is part of the 2014 Sustainable Agriculture Seminar Series organized by the Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Sustainable farmers to get pro bono legal advice from law students

1/17/12

Farmers who attend the 21st annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) will have the chance to get their top legal questions answered. Members of the Penn State Law Rural Economic Development Clinic will be available during the "Farming for the Future" conference being held at the Penn Stater Conference Center from February 1-4 to address issues ranging from farmland leases to CSA (community-supported agriculture) membership agreements.

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Penn State research on biofuel feedstocks will support new center

1/19/11

Penn State plant scientists will conduct research to explore the development of cropping systems for the production of renewable biofuels, as part of a newly announced center. The nonprofit Center for Sustainable Energy Farming was founded by Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif., a company that specializes in eco-friendly biofuel feedstock research and sustainable agriculture cultivation, production and distribution.

USDA, Penn State invest in training new farmers

12/22/09

With half of all current farmers in the United States likely to retire in the next decade, federal and state agriculture officials are looking for ways to encourage and assist the new generation of farmers that will produce the nation's food and fiber in the future. Two groups of researchers and extension educators in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have received grants exceeding $1.3 million to help newly minted ag entrepreneurs get started in the capital-intensive business.