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Founders' garden opens
A founders' garden was created to celebrate the people who made Cold Spring Orchard a reality more than 40 years ago. The orchard is a farm, roadside stand, and research facility for fruit growers and agricultural students. Plaques within the new garden honor the late Franklin W. Southwick, professor of pomology, and the Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association, which bought the orchard in 1962 and donated it to the university.
Five landscape architecture graduate students designed the garden and began its construction. When completed, it will feature a bluestone patio surrounded by an arbor, a gravel picnic area, and benches inspired by apple crates.
Related links
UMass Amherst Cold Spring Orchard |
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Forget the fish oil and have more ice cream
Blueberries are high in antioxidants, and easy to increase in your diet given their great taste. But try upping your omega-3s, and the first spoonful of fish oil you take may very well be your last.
Food scientists are tackling this problem by creating ways to integrate healthy components into everyday food products that we all enjoy. Imagine scooping out a dish of your favorite ice cream, knowing that it's chock full of omega-3s (but has none of the fishy taste.)
The challenge is stabilizing the component so it delivers the same health benefits when it's eaten in a processed food, like ice cream, as when it's eaten from the raw source or taken as a supplement.
Innovative Food Solutions, a new initiative in the Department of Food Science, is creating collaborations that are up to the task. Scientists there are creating industry alliances to help move their discoveries from the lab to the grocery store shelf. They're also partnering with medical researchers who will measure the results and ensure that the same health benefits are actually being delivered. Seed funding for the new project was provided by the UMass Science and Technology Initiatives Fund.
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Department of Food Science |
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Massachusetts Center for Agriculture
Where can Massachusetts green industry professionals go to find out if they need a water permit or help with soil testing? How can they find information about complying with state laws and regulations? Help is just a click away at www.masscenterforag.org. The website, set up in a question and answer format, is easy to navigate. Select a topic, whether water regulation, bees, or trees, and a list of the most common questions is shown. Answers, written by UMass experts, get the facts across quickly.
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Massachusetts Center for Agriculture |
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Turf building completed
On November 1st, the ribbon was cut for a new building that will support on-site turfgrass research and enable more students to get hands-on experience. The 3,000 square-foot building houses a research lab, a conference and meeting space, and an equipment repair facility. The lab will greatly streamline research, as experiments will no longer require scientists to go back and forth between the site and on-campus labs.
"We're ramping up the quality of our research to better serve the turf industry here in New England," says Associate Dean Steve Goodwin. The new building is part of a larger initiative to make the UMass Amherst turf program nationally competitive at the top levels.
Related links
Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences
UMass Amherst Turf Program |
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