Wildlife Conservation engages in applied research and provides information, educational materials and programs based on current research to promote wildlife conservation including efforts to better understand the impacts of roads and highways on wildlife and ecosystems and to develop and evaluate techniques for mitigating those impacts.
UMass Extension
The free, online, self-paced, interactive program was created to help early childcare educators, foodservice staff, volunteers and parents understand the importance of reducing the risk of food safety related to fresh fruits and vegetables for young children. The program includes five units: Farm to Preschool Benefits, Fresh Produce and Foodborne Illness Risks, Food Safety Basics for the Classroom and the Kitchen, Food Safety and Gardening Activities, and Food Safety on Field Trips to Farms and Farmers’ Market. Printable resources such as Best Practices
"Since the 1980's, the cities of Lowell and Lynn, Massachusetts have become home to large numbers of former refugees from Cambodia. Lowell is home to the second largest population of Cambodians in the United States. More than half of all Cambodian Americans live below the poverty line and a significant number are at high risk for food insecurity and hunger. Food insecurity has been associated with depression, poor micronutrient intake, and obesity among women of reproductive age.
The proposal team of the Universities of Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Cornell aim to help stabilize the forested land base by working to ensure that a significant proportion of FFO lands are passed from one generation of landowners to the next with minimal amount of forest conversion and parcelization. The research component of this project will use landowner interviews and a mail survey to better understand how FFOs make decisions about the future of their land.
Massachusetts has over 1,000 growers producing greenhouse crops in 12 million square feet of protected growing space (2002 Census of Agriculture). Most of Massachusetts’ greenhouses are heated with either fuel oil or liquid propane. While there are no firm figures available, we estimate that total use of fossil fuels for greenhouse heat is equivalent to nearly 1 million gallons of fuel oil, with emissions in the range of 22 million pounds of CO2 annually.
Many small and medium producers and processors are affected by the recent implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulation as the existing training does not address how to determine compliance and assumes that small and medium food processors (SMPs) begin training with a base level of food safety knowledge that many SMPs do not have. This project develops accessible, scale-appropriate, motivational mixed-media content to provide SMPs with the information they need to better understand how to implement Preventive Controls (PC) in their food businesses.
Demand for fresh, local greens in winter is limitless, and production is not nearly meeting demand, representing a huge opportunity to increase financial sustainability of individual farms and food systems. Currently, there is a gap in knowledge across our region about occurrence, biology, and management of downy mildews of winter greens, and we are lacking for modern, efficient leafy greens production systems. These two factors are limiting farm revenue and profitability, and limiting consumer access to fresh, local greens year round.
Improving management of cucurbit diseases, especially cucurbit downy mildew (CDM), has been consistently identified by growers and processors in MA as a major research priority in the past ten years. In 2004, new strains of CDM arrived which had overcome resistance that was then standard in all cucumber varieties and adequately controlled the disease.
Research Project Year: 2014
Low fruit and vegetable intake is recognized as a significant risk factor for poor health outcomes including an increased risk of overweight and obesity and subsequent co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake serves as a protective factor against obesity and chronic disease. The overall goal of this project is to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in a target community by integrating expertise in Agriculture, Food Access, and Nutrition Education programming.
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