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News from the Media

  • Small Businesses Put Food Safety First

    November 18, 2019

    Amanda Kinchla, University of Massachusetts associate extension professor, led a USDA pilot program in New York entitled, "Food Safety First!" for small business entrepreneurs about how to prevent food safety problems. (Lancaster Farming 11/7/19)  

  • Researchers Dicovering New Ways to Improve Food Using Nanoparticles

    November 14, 2019

    D. Julian McClements, Distinguished Professor in food science, comments that researchers have found new ways to improve food using nanoparticles. “There has been a revolution in the design of food-grade microparticle and nanoparticle delivery systems,” he says. (Chemical & Engineering News, 11/13/19)

  • Climate Change May Make Massachusetts More Hospitable to Pests

    November 12, 2019

    Stephen M. Rich, microbiology and director of the Laboratory of Medical Zoology, comments in a news story about climate change and how it has an impact on pests, including ticks.  (Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/10/19)

  • Plants Get Creative to Fend off Foraging Insects

    November 12, 2019

    Jennifer Van Wyk, post-doctoral research associate, biology, is lead author of an article reporting that some plants may trap pollen in their fuzzy leaves as a way of luring pollen-loving insects that then defend the plant against other predators. (Inside Science, 11/7/19)

  • UMass Study: Invasive Grassess Contributing to Wildfires Across U.S.

    November 6, 2019

    There is widespread news coverage of a first national-scale analysis where ecologists at the UMass Amherst, (lead author, post-doctoral student, Emily Fusco, along with colleagues at the University of Colorado-Boulder), report that across the United States, invasive grasses can double the number of fires. ( SierraClub 11/18/19; KTSA (San Antoino) 11/6/19; NOVA, Voice of America, New York Times, The Boston Globe Jackson Hole News and Guide, KSBY-TV 6 [Calif.], 11/4/19; News Office release)

  • Cranberry Farmers Eye Solar Solutions

    October 31, 2019

    Plummeting cranberry prices and the country's ongoing trade wars have America's cranberry industry eyeing a possible new savior: solar power. Some cranberry farmers in Massachusetts are proposing to build solar panels above the bogs they harvest each fall. ( Star Tribune, The Seattle Times, Herald-Whig [Illinois], 11/27/19) Wisconsin State Farmer 10/21/19;  The Washington Post; Chicago Tribune; WTOP; NECN; Reading Eagle [Penn.]; The Herald News [Fall River]; 10/30/19, Fox Business; Christian Science Monitor; Daily Hampshire Gazette; Portland Press Herald [Me.]; USA Today; 10/30/19)

  • Local Legislators Visit UMass Solar Energy Farm

    October 23, 2019

     A local solar energy equipment supplier spoke to legislators at UMass South Deerfield farm on how to integrate solar power with active local farms. (Recorder 10/23/19; WWLP-TV 22, 10/21/19

  • This Fungus Mutates. That’s Good News if You Like Cheese.

    October 22, 2019

    John G. Gibbons, food science, says the discovery of how a fungus evolves into edible mold that is the key to making French cheeses such as Camenbert shows both how a favorite food item evolved and how fungus can be manipulated without genetic engineering. (New York Times 10/15/19; Yahoo! News 10/16/19)

  • Crabapple Trees Attacked by Apple Scab and Leaf Splotch

    October 21, 2019

    Nicholas J. Brazee, UMass Extension, says there are two fungi that are attacking crabapple trees in the area: apple scab and leaf blotch. He also says they are both difficult to control but not fatal to trees.  (Daily Hampshire Gazette 10/18/19)

  • Cranberry Market Seeks to Develop New Products, Hilary Sandler Comments

    October 10, 2019

    Ocean Spray wades into new waters with a line of cranberry-based tea tonics and oat milk elixirs. Hilary Sandler, director of the UMass Cranberry Station, a research laboratory weighs in. (Globe 10/10/19)

  • Deep Soils Have Dual Role In Global Carbon Cycle: Keiluweit Reports

    October 9, 2019

    UMass Doctoral student, Mariela Garcia-Arredondo, with her advisor, biogeochemist Marco Keiluweit, UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and others, report how their new model is designed to predict how deep soil carbon responds to environmental change and to offer a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling soil carbon storage at depth. (Scienceblog 10/8/19)

  • Climate Change Impacts on Invasive Species: Bradley Presents at North American Confernce

    October 3, 2019

    Bethany A. Bradley, environmental conservation, comments in a news story about how climate change is having an impact on the spread of invasive species in the region.  (Times Union, 10/2/19)   

  • Foliage Changes Discussed by Richard Harper

    October 1, 2019

    Richard W. Harper, environmental conservation and UMass Extension, explains why foliage changes colors in fall as days get shorter.  (WWLP-TV 22, 9/28/19)

  • Young Farmers Fulfill Dreams of Working the Land, UMass Amanda Brown Quoted

    September 26, 2019

    An article about young farmers in Franklin County quotes Amanda Brown, director of the UMass Student Farming Enterprise Program and the Stockbridge School of Agriculture’s Agricultural Learning Center. She says the learning curve for first-time farmers is steep and she advises new farmers to spend a couple years learning by working for a good established farmer.  (Recorder 9/20/19)

  • Springfield Public Schools Expand Partnership With UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program

    September 25, 2019

    Springfield Public Schools, working with its dining service management company, Sodexo, will use their USDA grant funds to build five to seven new teaching gardens at schools. They’ll also expand parental involvement in partnership with the Springfield Food Policy Council and UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program. (Gazette 9/23/19)

  • Raising Green Beef: How Cattle, Dairy Farmers are Becoming Environmentally Friendly

    September 21, 2019

    Article on environmentally-friendly dairy farming practices quotes Extension Professor Masoud Hashemi, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, on the historical move from use of nitrogen-fixing legumes to the application of artificial fertilizers and the resulting danger of contamination of water bodies and underground sources of water. (Daily Hampshire Gazette, 9/21/19)

  • Rejuvenating Tired Soil

    September 20, 2019

    UMass Extension help utilized in effort to rejuvenate soil for new community garden in Greenfield. (Greenfield Recorder, 9/20/19)

  • Model Created for NASA to Predict Vitamin Levels in Spaceflight Food

    September 16, 2019

    A team of food scientists led by Hang Xiao and Timothy Goulette have created a mathematical model for NASA to use in predicting degradation of vitamins in spaceflight food. This will allow for more efficient scheduling of resupply trips.  (AstroWatch 9/17/19; Pharmacy Industry Reports, 9/18/19; Phys.org, 9/12/19; News-Medical.net, Lab Manager, 9/13/19; News Office release)

  • Julian McClements Discusses Popularity of Plant-Based Foods

    September 9, 2019

    David Julian McClements, Distinguished Professor in food science, discusses the growing popularity of plant-based foods and meat substitutes. (WGBY, 9/4/19)

  • MassDEP: No Danger to Public After Sulphuric Acid Leak, Danylchuk Weighs in

    September 4, 2019

    COLRAIN — The state Department of Environmental Protection said there is no danger to the public accessing the North River or the downstream Deerfield or Connecticut rivers following a sulphuric acid leak that resulted in a fish kill over the weekend. Andy Danylchuk, associate professor of fish conservation at UMass Amherst, comments. (Recorder 9/4/19)

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