CAFE Corner

Fall 2019

Gourds Mean Fall They may be a warm-season crop, but gourds are often identified with autumn. One of the oldest cultivated crops, people have long grown gourds for their utility and beauty.

Spotlight: Akinbode Adedeji International influences have positioned Akinbode Adedeji, known as “Dr. Bode” to his students, to make an international impact.

New Opportunity Students interested in a career where they help individuals and families improve their financial well-being can now major in consumer economics and family financial counseling within the college.

STEM Scientists Collaborate to Stem Stalk Lodging Stalk lodging, when a stem snaps prior to harvest, is a serious problem in most grain crops, resulting in annual yield losses of approximately 20%. That is a significant number when faced with feeding a rapidly growing global population

Carey Brown: Seize the Moment College students are encouraged to not let opportunities pass by. Carey Brown, ’01, certainly did not.

Students Help Revitalize Communities How a community views itself can often be revealed through its built environment. “One thing I heard a lot in Harlan was, it doesn’t cost anything to sweep your front porch,” said Ryan Sandwick, extension program manager in the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky.

Magnificent Mums, Maximum Profits Kevin Cornett began growing chrysanthemums to fill a need at the local farmers market in Clay County. On his Maple Crest Farm, his family raises beef cattle, grows vegetables, shows dairy goats and even makes value-added products for the farmers market, so the idea of growing fall flowers didn’t seem unreasonable.

Grain and Forage Center of Excellence Opens Princeton Facility The Grain and Forage Center of Excellence officially opened its new facility in September, with researchers, farmers, and dignitaries on hand for the celebration.

Spring 2019

Education Within Reach When fall classes get underway, more folks can stay at home to pursue an advanced education.

Day Camp Helps Children Feel Safe Sometimes children have a difficult time figuring out where to turn for help in unsafe situations.

Building Trust in a Closed Society Not the type of people to stand by when they identify a need, UK equine extension specialist Fernanda Camargo and Hardin County 4-H agent Bonnie Jolly teamed up with equine veterinarian Pedro de Pedro to improve equine health within Hardin County’s Amish community.

Be Fit with FitBlue Family and Consumer Sciences extension recently launched FitBlue, a multifunctional mobile app aimed at improving Kentuckians’ health and well-being.

Camping Around the Calendar In Kentucky, 4-H camping is not just a summertime activity. The state’s four regional camping facilities offer opportunities for education and exploration year round.

The Power of Memory Carlos Rodríguez López is delving into how plants use memory to respond to their environment. López joined CAFE’s horticulture faculty almost a year ago. With a new grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he is continuing research he conducted in Australia.

Hemp: New Crop, New Risks University of Kentucky plant pathologists have identified a new disease that has the potential to be a major setback to the state’s growing hemp industry.

Spotlight: Lynne Rieske-Kinney As soon as she walks in the room, forest entomology professor Lynne Rieske-Kinney says, “I love my job.” Her enthusiasm for healthy forests and protecting trees from invasive insects is contagious.

Tune in to Water Streams and rivers are the primary driver of Kentucky’s great biodiversity and much of its economy.

Tracking a Killer Among the ridges and hollows of Eastern Kentucky, a killer is loose. Cancer.

Fall 2018

Farm to Farm Table It can’t get much fresher than this. The college's Horticulture Research Farm added real meaning to “Farm to Table” by serving up food this past summer that never left the farm to begin with.

Kentucky Master Naturalists Kentucky Cooperative Extension joins 41 other states in offering the Master Naturalist program, an opportunity to advance education, research, and outreach efforts dedicated to the conservation and management of natural resources.

Campus Greening The landscape around several Jefferson County inner-city public schools is looking a whole lot better than it used too. That's thanks in part to students in a Landscape Architecture class in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Chris Sass, assistant professor in the department, teaches Design with Plants, a 300-level course.

Hand in Hand for Health Farmers and wellness programs are working together in a unique program that provides employees with cash vouchers that can be used to subscribe to community supported agriculture programs. The program could potentially reduce employer health care costs and absenteeism rates.

Prime Berries with Plasticulture Using a plasticulture system to grow strawberries on raised beds with black plastic mulch and drip tape, another grower has managed to extend his production season.

Spotlight: Michael Goodin Plant Pathology Professor Michael Goodin’s office is crammed with the usual texts and papers, but also with a multitude of coffees and teas acquired during his frequent travels.

4-H Gives Back Ready, willing, and able describe the nearly 600 young Kentuckians who tackled various community service projects throughout Lexington and surrounding counties as part of 4-H Teen Conference this past summer.

Back to the Table Families are returning to the dinner table due to an Owen County Cooperative Extension Service program. Judith Hetterman, Owen County family and consumer sciences extension agent, began offering Recipes for Life in 2009 to teach students how to read recipes and cook. Funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–Education, the program has evolved, and fifth-graders now learn how to prepare and serve a five-course formal meal.

Kentucky Spirits Research Institute: A Signature Kentucky Partnership A collaborative research and workforce development effort between Kentucky’s flagship university and one of the state’s signature industries, the new Kentucky Spirits Research Institute will help ensure that Kentucky remains the innovation capital of the distilling industry, not merely the bourbon production capital.

Spring 2018

The Ag Mag is Going Digital This spring issue of The Ag Magazine will be the last print version, but rest easy.

Wheat Field Schools: Timely and Specialized Growing any crop is a risky venture, and there are times when even experienced producers second-guess their decisions.

The Proof is in the Poop Equine veterinarians need an easy way to identify and count parasite eggs in fecal samples. With the Poop2Proof app, they have results in less than five minutes.

CAFE Grants & Contracts Our reputation for cutting-edge research means CAFE grants continue to grow.

Hall of Distinguished Alumni 2018 Inductees The College of Agriculture, Food and Environment inducted five new members into its Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the highest honor the college confers.

Spotlight: Lori Garkovich Growing up, Lori Garkovich moved about every five years before landing in Missouri for high school and college. In 1976, she joined UK's faculty, and after 42 years, the professor in Community and Leadership Development will be retiring at the end of this semester.

Westward Ho Beef Integrated Resource Management was first in-troduced to Kentucky in 1981. Since then it has evolved, but the goal remains: to help Kentucky cattle producers improve the management of their cowherd through better record keeping, leading to more profitability.

Drones Over Africa The hum of drones overhead is a welcome sound to people in Benin interested in improving agriculture and reducing poaching. The sound, and the relief it could po-tentially bring, come courtesy of UK doctoral student and native son, Abdelaziz Lawani.

Adulting 101 If you need a blueprint for moving out of your mom's basement, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension has it—#Adulting 101, a pilot program that teaches life skills to an audience from high school through young adult.