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3 Benefits of Genetically-Improved Christmas Trees

N.C. PSI News

open area with desks and laboratory in the background

Feb 7, 2024

Incubator to Launch April 11

The North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative at NC State University will launch its startup company incubator in the Plant Sciences Building on Centennial Campus on Thursday April 11, 2024. The incubator,… 
Eli Hornstein in science lab in front of a computer.

Feb 7, 2024

Helping Startups Start Strong

The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s Startup Program provides expertise and resources to help emerging companies bring problem-solving agricultural technologies and services to the marketplace. 
A blue heron waits for lunch in the marshland area next to Lake Raleigh on Centennial campus.

Feb 2, 2024

New Publication Provides PFAS Answers

PFAS chemicals, sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals,” have been a big topic in North Carolina and the rest of the country in recent years, and often, it seems, there are… 
Group standing in a field with machinery behind them.

Feb 2, 2024

Checking Out the Bench Bots

As part of their work to beta test technologies to accelerate their adoption on farms across the state, the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative Agent Network got the chance to check out the Precision… 
Four researchers at a podium table.

Feb 2, 2024

Platform Directors Present at Commodity Conference

In the face of significant farmland loss in a fast-growing state, how will North Carolina agriculture and agribusiness continue to grow? Speaking at the 2024 North Carolina Commodity Conference in January,… 
Adrian Percy

Jan 11, 2024

Welcome from Adrian Percy

From the seed of an idea for creating solutions to the world’s biggest agricultural challenges, the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative has blossomed. At the state-of-the-art Plant Sciences Building laboratories… 
Christmas tree in the Blue Room of the White House.

Dec 18, 2023

Extension Teams Up with NC Family to Grow White House Christmas Tree

The towering Fraser fir that heralds the holidays in the Blue Room of the White House this year is a prime example of what can happen when NC State’s Christmas Tree Extension Team partners with the growers. 
Craig Yencho and Mercy Kitavi work with sweet potato samples in a lab in Nairobi, Kenya.

Dec 12, 2023

A Patented Winner

The National Academy of Inventors named NC State University’s Craig Yencho a 2023 fellow for his contributions to improved sweetpotato and potato breeding and genetics, with an impact reaching from North Carolina to Sub-Saharan Africa. 
N.C. PSI plant sciences initiative graduate students research learn from farmers and NC State Extension

Dec 12, 2023

Researching Agricultural Challenges on the Backroads

In the second annual N.C. PSI Backroad Tour, graduate students and postdocs from several colleges visited farmers and producers across the state. 
Christmas tree farm in Avery County just outside Newland.

Dec 1, 2023

3 Benefits of Genetically-Improved Christmas Trees

NC State researchers are working to develop “elite” Fraser fir trees that look better, grow faster and retain their needles longer.