April 22, 2019
Dan Stearns, J. Franklin Styer Professor Emeritus, who served as the inaugural professor and program coordinator of the landscape contracting program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, recently was named Outstanding Educator of the Year by the National Association of Landscape Professionals during its annual conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
April 3, 2019
Compounds produced by sorghum plants to defend against insect feeding could be isolated, synthesized and used as a targeted, nontoxic insect deterrent, according to researchers who studied plant-insect interactions that included field, greenhouse and laboratory components.
April 2, 2019
Dairy farmers in the Northeast can improve water quality and boost the profitability of their operations by changing the timing and method of applying manure to their fields in the fall, along with planting rye as a cover crop between corn crops — or by double-cropping rye and corn, according to Penn State researchers.
March 27, 2019
A new report issued today (March 27) shows how U.S. farmers — facing a surge of weather events and disease outbreaks — can increase production and revenues with innovations produced by federally funded agricultural research, including studies performed in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
March 26, 2019
Mark Guiltinan, J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is the recipient of the 2018 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research.
March 25, 2019
Jessica Yaeger, a plant science major with a horticulture option, has been named the 2019 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year, an award sponsored by Greenhouse Product News and Nexus Greenhouse Corp.
March 1, 2019
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has named Jayson Harper, professor of agricultural economics, as interim director of the college's Fruit Research and Extension Center, effective March 1.
February 22, 2019
Penn State remains committed 164 years after its founding to providing an agricultural education — no matter where its students live.
February 6, 2019
Widespread adoption by dairy farmers of injecting manure into the soil instead of spreading it on the surface could be crucial to restoring Chesapeake Bay water quality, according to researchers who compared phosphorus runoff from fields treated by both methods. However, they predict it will be difficult to persuade farmers to change practices.
January 25, 2019
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized six faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2018.
January 18, 2019
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In discovering a mutant gene that "turns on" another gene responsible for the red pigments sometimes seen in corn, researchers solved an almost six-decades-old mystery with a finding that may have implications for plant breeding in the future. The culmination of more than 20 years of work, the effort started when, in 1997, Surinder Chopra, professor of maize genetics at Penn State, received seeds from a mutant line of corn. At the time, Chopra was a postdoctoral scholar at Iowa State University, and he brought the research with him when he joined the Penn State faculty in 2000.
January 16, 2019
This past summer, Izaiah Bokunewicz, a plant sciences major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, had a unique opportunity to advance his knowledge of food security and global hunger by participating in a prestigious program sponsored by Land O'Lakes.
December 19, 2018
Faculty in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are spearheading an initiative that will provide selected doctoral students with the opportunity for extensive study on gender and its relationship to agricultural production.
December 18, 2018
Harvester ants that eat weed seeds on the soil's surface can help farmers manage weeds on their farms, according to an international team of researchers, who found that tilling less to preserve the ants could save farmers fuel and labor costs, as well as preserve water and improve soil quality.
November 28, 2018
In the culmination of more than a decade of research on root traits conducted by Penn State plant scientists, about three tons of seed for common bean plants specifically bred to thrive in the barren soils of Mozambique will be distributed there Dec. 11.
November 19, 2018
Lost Creek Golf Club in Juniata County is unusual because a high quality, extremely productive wild trout stream runs through it, and Penn State turfgrass scientists recently developed a nutrient management plan for the course to protect the creek.
November 13, 2018
By temporarily silencing the expression of a critical gene, researchers fooled soybean plants into sensing they were under siege, encountering a wide range of stresses. Then, after selectively cross breeding those plants with the original stock, the progeny "remember" the stress-induced responses to become more vigorous, resilient and productive plants, according to a team of researchers.
October 26, 2018
Three students from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences traveled to Hartford, Connecticut, in September for the annual meeting of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
October 25, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Dollar spot — the most common, troublesome and damaging turfgrass disease plaguing golf courses — is becoming increasingly resistant to fungicides applied to manage it, according to Penn State researchers. An aggressive and destructive disease caused by the fungal pathogen Clarireedia jacksonii, dollar spot overwinters in plant tissues, often re-emerging in multiple epidemics throughout the year over the spring, summer and fall. The symptoms on highly maintained, closely mown turf typically consist of small patches of bleached plants that are unsightly and can affect playability of putting greens or fairways.
October 12, 2018
A fall favorite of residents from Centre County and beyond, the Penn State Horticulture Show, will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 20 and 21 at Penn State's University Park campus.
October 3, 2018
Registration is open for the second Northeast Cover Crop Council Conference, which will be hosted by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Nov. 15-16.
September 25, 2018
Curtis Frederick really digs potatoes. And that's a good thing considering that the 2009 graduate of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is enjoying a career as a senior agronomist at Sterman Masser Inc., a large, family-owned potato company, in Sacramento, Pennsylvania.
September 21, 2018
The State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Apple Program recently awarded nearly $233,000 in funding to support new and ongoing fruit research and extension projects in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The grants will support projects aimed at enhancing pest management, production efficiency and fruit quality.
September 21, 2018
Mark Guiltinan, professor of plant molecular biology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, recently was named the J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany. The Styer Professorship is intended to supplement departmental support for outstanding faculty and further the scholar's contributions to teaching, research and service.
September 13, 2018
If the majority of dairy farms in Pennsylvania fully adopt conservation best-management practices, the state may be able to achieve its total maximum daily load water-quality target for the Chesapeake Bay, according to researchers.
August 28, 2018
Zachary Dashner, a doctoral student in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, was one of 17 recipients chosen by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, or FFAR, to receive the inaugural FFAR Fellow Award.
August 27, 2018
Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are among an interdisciplinary team dedicated to elevating Hondurans — especially women — by teaching them how to diversify their farm operations to improve family diet and income, while advancing gender equality.
August 21, 2018
The Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council recently established three graduate fellowships in the College of Agricultural Sciences in honor of three alumni of the turfgrass program.
August 20, 2018
Dylan Schoemaker's desire to grow as a student and a leader served as the springboard for him to dive into the many opportunities provided through Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. One of those pursuits is his appointment as campus ambassador for Agricultural Future of America.
August 9, 2018
Hannah Hunsberger, a senior majoring in plant sciences, traveled to Ireland this past spring as a student in an embedded course that examined how the country and its agriculture were affected by the Irish Potato Famine of 1845.
