Impact
Farmworker Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Farmworkers are essential to our lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their work hasn’t stopped. In the latest episode of CALS’ Farms, Food and You podcast, guests share insights on the risks these workers face as they produce the food that’ll end up on our plates in coming weeks and months and on what NC State Extension, its partners and other state agencies are doing to help lower those risks.
Faculty Focus: Holland Wins International Maize Genetics Award
Congratulations to Dr. Jim Holland who recently received the international Maize Genetics Executive Committee’s 2020 L. Stadler Mid-Career Maize Genetics Award for his research on maize genetics. Dr. Holland has spent the past two decades studying the genetic variation of maize to improve its agronomic traits.
NC State Researchers Continue Improving Sweetpotatoes for Africa
Craig Yencho and his team recently received part of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue their work improving sweetpotatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The genomic tools developed through the three-year, $15-million-dollar grant will also improve sweetpotato breeding for North Carolina farmers.
Cross Pollination
A deepening partnership between NC State blueberry geneticist Hamid Ashrafi and North African small fruit scientist Ahlam Hamim is aimed at boosting blueberry industries in two very different parts of the globe. Hamim, a government scientist from Morocco, recently spent three months in Ashrafi’s blueberry genetics and genomics laboratory as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar. Hamim’s research at NC State grew out of an earlier trip that she made to the United States in spring 2018 as a USDA-FAS Borlaug Fellow.
You Decide: Could a Virus Take Down the Economy?
The question is whether the coronavirus that has hit China could send the world – and the U.S. – into a recession, or worse.
From Raleigh to Djilor: Dannica Wall and Poultry Farming in Senegal
Poultry Science PhD student Dannica Wall gave an eye-opening presentation on her time spent in Djilor, Senegal as part of the CALS SAIGE International Seminar Series. Wall was sent abroad through Farmer to Farmer, a USAID-funded program that seeks to increase agricultural productivity, sustainable farming practices, and strengthen existing institutions.
Algerian Cochran Fellows Visit NC State for Poultry Feed Production Training
For the first time, CALS Global Academy hosted an Algerian group for a Cochran training that focused on streamlining poultry feed production and growing capacity for agricultural research and international trade
New Chair Unites Two Colleges on the International Stage
The James W. Owens Distinguished Chair in International Economics, to be held jointly between the Poole College of Management and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will advance cross-college collaboration and the university’s international reputation. The chair was created with a generous gift from three-time NC State alumnus and former chair of the Board of Trustees Dr. James “Jim” W. Owens.
Ambassador Visit Highlights Partnerships Near and Far
As the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative continues to take shape, partnerships between VIB, a Belgian life sciences institute, and NC State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are growing.
Bosnian Faculty Visit NC State, Continuing the Connection
As part of an ongoing collaboration between NC State and Bosnia, three University of Banja Luka faculty members visited NC State to establish and build research connections.