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)
News from the Media
Cranberry Farmers Eye Solar Solutions
October 31, 2019
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
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)
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)
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)
