National Farmers Market Week celebrates the vital role farmers markets play in our nation’s food system. Across the Land-Grant University System, Cooperative Extension programs are helping these markets serve as engines for economic opportunity, food access, and community well-being. Supporting veterans entering the agriculture industry University of Idaho Extension’s Harvest Heroes program provides military veterans with hands-on farming experience, mentorship, and business training as they explore careers …
From Hive to Habitat: How Land-Grant Universities are Protecting Bees
Bees are essential to our food systems, pollinating many of the fruits, vegetables, and other crops we rely on every day. However, pollinator populations face growing threats, from pests and disease to habitat loss and environmental stress. Across the country, land-grant universities are stepping up to meet these challenges. Through cutting-edge research, on-the-ground Cooperative Extension, and strong community partnerships, land-grant experts are developing …
A Season of Gratitude
As family and friends gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a perfect moment to reflect on the many hands that make our holiday meals possible. Across the land-grant university system, researchers, educators, and Extension professionals work year-round to ensure American families have access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food. From seed to your plate (and even the fridge and back to …
Researchers Studying Avian Disease Resistance and Immunity Win National Award for Outstanding Collaboration and Impact
ST LOUIS, Mo., Sept. 16. — At the Joint agInnovation and Extension Awards Ceremony, Dr. Chris Ashwell and Dr. Jason Hubbart received the 2025 Excellence in Multistate Research Award on behalf of a multistate team working to understand the genetic bases of immunity and resistance to avian diseases. Avian diseases such as avian influenza, Marek’s disease, and Newcastle disease cause …
Research, education improve livestock health
Livestock producers are continually searching for the best management strategies to protect animal health, which is essential to productivity and profitability as well as the animal’s well-being. Maintaining healthy animals also protects human health. Here are a few examples of how land-grant universities are contributing: When the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) threatened domestic poultry in Oregon, Extension responded rapidly with …
Sustainable solutions to bee health
Bees provide essential pollination for many of the nut, berry, fruit, vegetable, and seed crops grown in the U.S. To supplement wild bee pollination, farmers often rent managed honey bee colonies. Demand is skyrocketing, but catastrophic die-offs are threatening the supply of healthy honey bee colonies. Parasitic mites, pathogens, pesticide chemicals, nutritional deficits, and environmental conditions have contributed to the …
Mitigating the impacts of agrochemicals
Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other agrochemicals are used on farms to protect crop yield and quality and in urban and residential settings to control pests and weeds. Despite important uses, agrochemicals can leach into soil and groundwater or flow into surface waters, where the chemicals can adversely affect human and environmental health. Agrochemicals can also accumulate in edible organisms, creating …
Managing controlled environments efficiently
In controlled environmental agriculture, plants are grown inside a greenhouse or other type of enclosure where growers can maintain optimal growing conditions, such as light, temperature, humidity, water, and nutrients. In the northeastern climate, controlled environments play a vital role in year-round production, but growers need more information about how to fine-tune their environments to achieve optimal plant growth and …
Safer, more sustainable pest management
Managing pests is essential to healthy, safe and productive agricultural, urban, residential and natural areas. However, chemical pesticides can cause air and water pollution and unintended harm to nontarget organisms. Exposure to pesticides has also been linked to human health problems. In addition, many pests eventually develop resistance to commonly used chemicals, rendering them ineffective. Researchers at land-grant universities across …