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 […]
UF/IFAS Highlights Precision Agriculture During Gator Day at the Capitol
As orange and blue blanketed the Capitol for Gator Day, folks from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) presented about advancements in agriculture technology to the Senate Agriculture Committee. IFAS also provided free samples of various oranges and orange juice, along with a new grapefruit that has been taste-tested to […]
USDA Awards Grant to UF for Food Safety in Shared-Use Kitchens
The U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced 28 grants to address the needs of new farmers, small to mid-sized farms, small processors and small fresh fruit and vegetable wholesalers. NIFA’s Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) facilitates the integration of the Food Safety Modernization Act food safety guidelines into […]
Scientists Close In on Explaining Confounding Predator-Prey Cycle
Scientists have long known that snowshoe hare populations follow a 10-year boom and bust cycle. But what drives this cycle has fascinated ecologists for more than a century. In a new study, scientists from the University of Florida and other institutions in the United States and Canada analyzed four decades of field data to reveal […]
Florida Strawberry Festival’s Featured Fruit Comes From UF/IFAS Research
When you hear the words “Plant City,” what comes to mind? Strawberries, probably. As thousands of people come here for the annual Florida Strawberry Festival in February, many will eat various types of the fruit. They may be surprised to learn that University of Florida scientists toil in nearby labs and fields to develop the […]