Ag in the 21stAgriculture has always been about innovation. Long before the ancient Greeks decided the four natural elements were earth, air, fire, and water, people were harnessing all four in an effort to create ecosystems that would sustain them.
Center for Crop Diversification: A Regional Specialty Crop ResourceAgriculture and horticulture extension agents across Kentucky often receive phone calls from growers asking them what they should plant. It’s a broad question that depends on a lot of factors, but in the end, the agents often point the growers to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Center for Crop Diversification website.
Mountain Women Mean Business“When you grow up here, you think you’re successful if you get out,” Kristin Smith said of Eastern Kentucky. Growing up on a Whitley County farm, Smith believed that. After she graduated from college, she got about as far away from Eastern Kentucky as she could—as a missionary to China.
Fall 2018
Allies in the Battle of the "Bulge"Facing a daunting statistic of more than 40 percent of the population classified as obese, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension and College of Public Health professionals took on the task over the past four years of building community coalitions to shrink the waistlines of nearly half their clientele.
Blue Water FarmsA monitoring site sandwiched between the end of a soybean field and a rural Western Kentucky
two-lane road is a perfect example of a successful research partnership.
The site is part of a 10-year project led by Brad Lee, soil scientist in the UK Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. In the study, called Blue Water Farms, UK researchers conduct large, field-scale evaluations of best management practices in nutrient retention for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Fighting Back from ExtinctionOnce the dominant tree in the hardwood forests of the eastern United States, rising to 100 feet and numbering in the billions, the tale of the American chestnut's tragic, swift decline and the human fight to bring it back from ecological extinction is one of science, volunteerism, and determination.
Spring 2018
CAFE Goes to School“We're able to take a really complex, in-depth project and incorporate high school students, so they can broaden their scientific knowledge and also make a meaningful contribution to important research.”
−Lou Hirsch
Maple FeverAs the first break in daytime temperatures hits Eastern Kentucky in late winter, sap rises in the area's many red and sugar maples, and maple syrup season begins in earnest. If a group of producers has their way, the Bluegrass State will be known for something other than horses, bourbon, and basketball; it will be maple syrup country, as well.
Ready and (more than) AbleEach fall, college freshmen leave their homes to come to the University of Kentucky with the goal of furthering their education and making a better life for themselves.
