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Hemp is a versatile crop used to make a wide variety of products from textiles and rope to insulation and biofuels. Farmers across the country are increasingly growing the crop since the 2018 Farm Bill allowed for its legal cultivation, although production has dropped off since the initial spike in 2019.
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When Lindsey Purcell admires a tree – and as the Purdue University urban forestry specialist, he does that a lot – age comes before beauty.
“I don’t play favorites,” Purdue’s urban forestry specialist insists. “However, I do prefer the veteran trees, which have a history. Who doesn’t love big trees?”
The final Friday of April is the traditional date to celebrate Arbor Day and an ideal time to hear from Purcell, who before coming to Purdue in 2008 was a forestry supervisor and city forester for Indianapolis.
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“When it comes to lawn care, spring is one of the most important seasons for cool-season grasses like those found in most of Indiana,” said Cale Bigelow, a professor of horticulture at Purdue University specializing in turf science and ecology. “With a little intentional effort, you can make a big impact on the health of your yard for the rest of the year.”
Bigelow answered several frequently asked questions about spring lawn care.
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On April 22, the College of Agriculture honored some of the year’s most outstanding students, faculty and staff during the annual Spring Awards Banquet. The virtual event was a collaborative effort between the Purdue Agricultural Council and the Office of Academic Programs.
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Milk, meat, fresh cheese, vegetables, fruit and more packaged into a single box are helping Indiana families survive job loss, higher food prices and other pandemic-related events affecting food availability.
As part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaborated with distributors to package and transport fresh produce, dairy and meat products to food banks, community and faith-based organizations.
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The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL), based at Purdue and Cornell universities, has announced a funding opportunity aimed at reducing foodborne illness in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean through research projects led by U.S.-based Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). FSIL is one of more than 20 Innovation Labs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. This Request for Applications (RFA) will fund research to support data-driven food safety policies and practices to address microbial and chemical food hazards.
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Knowing policy is good; understanding procedure is even better. Aim high, but a low batting average is likely. And expect the unexpected – early and often.
Those were among the insights provided by four agricultural economists, fresh from high-level tours in Washington, D.C., who spoke to a virtual audience for the James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture on April 16. The Department of Agricultural Economics’ signature annual event began in 1975 to honor Snyder, a professor and researcher. Department Head Jayson Lusk moderated the discussion.
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Purdue University’s College of Agriculture is partnering with nine other major academic units to collect non-perishable items, cash and online donations for its annual Food Finders Food Bank, INC food drive.
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In a contest created to develop novel applications for soybeans, it’s hard to beat a 98% soybean crop stimulant that improves soybean growth.
In the 27th annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition, Cai Chen, Nate Nauman and Emmanuel Alagbe topped six other teams to claim the $20,000 prize. The competition, sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance, encourages Purdue student teams to create new products or materials from soybeans.
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Purdue University research, often published in scientific journals, became analytical ore that grateful industries mined and refined, profitably.
“We stood back as professors and watched. ‘Ooh, that’s great – they used our stuff!’” says Christian Butzke, a professor and associate head of the Department of Food Science. “A few decades later you think, ‘They took what we developed – and there’s nothing coming back to us other than a pat on the back and a handshake?’”
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By Brian Wallheimer Any trip to Mars, likely to take a year or longer, will require astronauts to grow at least some of their own…
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In high school, Bryanna Nelson assumed she had “too much enthusiasm for too many things” to narrow her academic focus. But after hearing about opportunities in agricultural education, she noticed “the field took all my personal interests and combined them into one.
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For thousands of years, humans have altered — often negatively and inadvertently —microbial communities in a quest to improve agricultural crops. In recent years, knowledge…
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A first-generation college student, Schull double-majored in biological engineering and natural resources at Cornell University, where a professor encouraged them to follow their research interests to Purdue. Schull is a programmer and hydrologist whose research focuses on water resource management using a food-energy-water nexus framework.
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Each year the Purdue Academic Advising Association (PACADA) recognizes two individuals who demonstrate outstanding academic advising practices and qualities. This year, for the first time since the award’s inception in 1988, both recipients are from the same college and the same department—the College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics.
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Madelyn Zimmerman, Milford, Ind., began her 4-H story in the third grade with a limited agriculture background. Now, 12 years later, Zimmerman is the 2021 4-H Youth in Action Pillar Award for Agriculture winner, Indiana’s first, and a passionate advocate for agriculture education and inclusion.
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