Florida Watermelons: Crops in the Ground, Uncertainty Abounds
Today, as fruit and vegetable farmers in South Florida decide what to do with produce once destined for now-closed schools and restaurants, watermelon farmers in North Florida have recently finished planting their crops. Given the uncertainty around the market for fresh produce, the decision to plant came down to economics, said Mark Warren, agriculture agent for […]
From Robots to Drones, Agricultural Innovation Is Rapidly Changing
“Precision agriculture,” “artificial intelligence.” It sounds like content for a science fiction movie or TV show. But we’re not talking about “The Avengers” or “Star Trek.” These scientific innovations present us with real-world applications for farms in Southwest Florida and globally. Further, they signify something special to several of our scientists at the University of […]
UF Plant and Soil Diagnostic Labs Essential to Florida Agriculture, Economy During COVID-19
In the time of COVID-19, plants still get sick, and the soil that nourishes them needs care. The health of plants and soil is critical to agriculture, an industry designated an essential service in response to the pandemic. That’s why when many American universities have transitioned to online-only and their employees adapt to working from […]
Risk Thresholds for Lance Nematodes in Turfgrass
University of Florida nematologist William Crow, Ph.D., takes a close look at the relationship between lance nematodes and turf health, and how nematicides factor in. Lance nematodes (Hoplolaimus species) have long been recognized as pests of golf course bermudagrass. Despite this, very little research effort has focused on identifying how much damage these nematodes cause […]
Dr. Fredy Altpeter to Be Presented the 2020 Distinguished Scientist Award
Dr. Fredy Altpeter, professor of agronomy at UF/IFAS, will be awarded the 2020 Distinguished Scientist Award at the World Congress on In Vitro Biology. The Society of In Vitro Biology established the Distinguished Scientist Award in 2014 to recognize outstanding mid-career scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of in vitro biology and/or […]
A Burp Could Improve Climate Crisis
Nicolas DiLorenzo bottles cow burps and measures them for methane. That’s not as low-brow as it sounds. Cows’ role as greenhouse gas emitters burst into the popular consciousness with the much-reported release of draft Green New Deal talking points that singled out cows as climate culprits. It galvanized a larger debate over the impact of […]
Viruses Might Help As Biocontrol on Asian Citrus Psyllids
University of Florida scientists are working toward establishing a new biological method that may help farmers control the insect that transmits the deadly greening disease into citrus trees. Greening is present in about 95 percent of the citrus trees in Florida, so by using a virus that may kill the insect, growers may be able […]
How the Tip of Florida Became a Tropical-Fruit Paradise
The Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Florida—or TREC, as it’s known to local farmers—is nearly as far south and east as you can go in the United States before you hit saltwater. Perched on a narrow strip of land between the peat marsh of the Everglades and the mangrove forest of Biscayne Bay, […]
UF Scientists Are Trying to Prevent the Next “Coronavirus” in Florida
University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers, Kwang Cheol Jeong, Ph.D., and Samantha Wisely, Ph.D., are looking at the zoonotic potential of feral swine. These animals carry the pathogen that causes brucellosis, the most frequent wildlife disease that infects humans. If they also carry disease that can spread to domestic pigs or […]
Entomologist to Present History of Vegetable Pests, Points to Collaboration
About the time Hugh Smith was a graduate student in entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, his academic department was housed on the top floor of McCarty Hall in Gainesville. Steinmetz Hall, the department’s current location, was a construction site. Now, about 30 years later, Smith is a vegetable entomologist for UF/IFAS, and […]