News Stories - Page 53

For Borlaug Fellow Urtnasan “Uugii” Ganbaatar, the opportunity to work with University of Georgia wheat breeder and geneticist Mohamed Mergoum is opening up a world of growth. With her colleagues at the Institute of Plant and Agricultural Sciences, part of the Mongolian University of Life Sciences, Ganbaatar wants to implement the advanced breeding techniques used at UGA to improve her country's dominant crop.

In 1958, a carpenter named LC Powers built himself and his wife, Ruby Nell, a broiler house on their family’s land in northeast Georgia. The chicken house could hold 10,000 chicks, but there was barely enough electricity to power a few light bulbs in the open-sided building. The Powers’ great-granddaughter, Kylie Bruce, recounted her great-grandparents’ story at the groundbreaking for a new, technologically advanced Poultry Science Building.

Four experts at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Cooperative Extension have been recognized as members of the Fruit and Vegetable 40 under 40 Class of 2022. The list honors 40 early-career agricultural professionals for exemplary accomplishments, representing “the best in the industry.”

Widening interest in efforts to support pollinators has led to a name change for the Great Georgia Pollinator Census, which will become the Great Southeast Pollinator Census on Dec. 1. The census began as a statewide community science initiative in Georgia in August 2019, created and coordinated by Becky Griffin, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension community and school garden coordinator.

Youth involved with the Georgia 4-H Tech Changemakers program are bridging the digital divide and providing digital literacy education to improve workforce readiness skills in adults. The 2021-22 cohort surpassed previous record impact numbers by reaching 5,488 adults during the program year, working cooperatively to plan, implement and evaluate needs-driven educational programming in their local communities.

Gardening is often described as an art and a science. And while this suggests a degree of nuance to gardening, it is also quite true. Landscape design principles used to create an aesthetic garden space include color, form and balance, among others.

The Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm, operated by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, will soon be spreading holiday cheer with their December Nights and Holiday Lights event in Savannah. On select days from Nov. 25 to Dec. 24, visitors can view nearly 5 acres of the gardens lit up for the holidays.

No line of research is too big or small for Lewis Bartlett — literally. From mammoth extinctions to the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), he’s published on a wide range of topics during and since university. But bees have had his attention since childhood.

Does the stress of preparing for the holidays hit you like a sledgehammer? Are you Googling new recipes the night before the feast to find the perfect sides? Does a relative want Grandma’s cornbread stuffing instead of the Stouffer’s you had planned to prepare? Let’s face it: The holidays may look picture-perfect on social media, but in reality, they may not be so full of harmony and smiles.