News from the Media
UMass Extension Entomologist Tawny Simisky on Periodical Cicadas with The Garden Lady (WCAI/WBUR)
After 17 years underground, periodical cicadas in Mass. crawl out this spring
Crops, cows, and solar panels? Why farmers are harvesting sunlight.
Clean Energy Extension's research focused on agrivoltaics, or dual-use solar panels, was highlighted in a recent Christian Science Monitor article.
‘A beautiful time of the year’: New state foliage map helps residents, tourists make autumn plans
Rich Harper, Extension Professor of urban forestry, was quoted in an article discussing a new state foliage map that helps residents and tourists plan their autumn trips.
New Analysis Tools from UMass Amherst Can Help Farmers Make Informed Choice on ‘Agrivoltaics’
For UMass researcher, fall apple season is about more than picking
UMass Amherst Extension Fruit Team Leader Jon Clements, explaining the history of the EverCrisp apple variety, seen growing at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard. It's a product, in-part, of the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA) - one of several varieties tested at Cold Spring and available for Massachusetts orchards to grow.
How apple farmers are thinking about climate change this fall
Massachusetts has more than 80 pick-your-own apple farms. But warming weather is hurting apple and fruit crops across New England.
Al Rose, co-owner of Red Apple Farm, and Jon Clements, an educator with the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass, talk about this year's apple season and how they're thinking about climate change's impact on future crops.
Fall coincides with increase in yellowjacket interactions, experts advise
Tawny Simisky, CAFE's Extension Entomologist specializing in woody plant entomology, was quoted in the Greenfield Recorder article 'Fall coincides with increase in yellowjacket interactions, experts advise.'
New Pest Alert for Cape Cod
Earth Matters: Conserving Nature's Perfect "Villain"
Earth Matters column by Christine Hatch, Swamps, stewardship and conservation.
What does it mean to care for a forest in the Anthropocene era- especially a swamp, the perfect story villain?
"I used to think that in order to conserve nature, we had to wall it off and protect it from all outside influences, especially our meddling human selves. I thought that left to its own devices, the natural world would restore itself to balance. Unfortunately, not only was I mistaken in that notion, but also..."
What to Make of this Summer’s Dual Cicada Brood Emergence
Tawny Simisky, entomologist, UMass Extension's Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program, provides an update on the emergence of cicada broods XIII and XIX, and the messaging that pest management professionals and landscape professionals can share about these periodical visitors.
Good & bad local bugs
GCC prof Brian Adams w/ UMass Entomologist Tawny Simisky: good & bad local bugs
Chasing Color: Cranberry station research bears fruit for industry
Around this time of year, cranberries are a traditional and cherished addition to the holiday table—andUMass researchers are working to ensure that these beloved burgundy gems will thrive for generations to come.
The Forest And The Trees: Western Mass’ Solar Siting Problem
Dwayne Breger, extension professor of Environmental Conservation and director of the UMass Clean Energy Extension, is quoted in an article on locating solar farms in forests. He says the field of solar energy has evolved from grassroots installations to installations backed by corporations. “As the market has now unveiled itself in fury, in the 2000s and 2020s and so forth, not just in Massachusetts but around the country, once again capitalism has taken over and we’ve got the big players that are just crowding out everyone else,” Breger said.
Researchers Develop Grassroots Framework for Managing Environmental Commons
A team of sustainability scientists, led by senior author Ana Quiñónez Camarillo and co-author, Timothy Randhir, have developed a community-based framework to help assess and respond to ecological threats. The framework is based on the local perception of threats, consequences, and solutions (TCS) which are easier to understand than "extremely theoretical scientific frameworks," Randhir says. “One of the biggest issues facing international sustainability efforts is that smaller, less economically developed countries often don’t have the resources to conduct nuanced, in-depth surveys of local people and the local environment in the threatened area,” says Quiñónez Camarillo.
Plant Nurseries Aid Climate-Driven Spread of Invasive Species
New UMass Amherst research is the first to precisely map how plant nurseries exacerbate the climate-driven spread of 80% of plant species. Bethany Bradley, professor of environmental conservation and senior author of two recently published papers, says one of the major hurdles in addressing the threat of invasive species is determining when and where a species crosses the line from being non-native to invasive.
'False Springs' Force Massachusetts Growers to Adapt
Susan Scheufele, production agriculture leader at UMass Extension, says warmer and wetter weather is creating a false spring. Farmers “might start to see more bacterial diseases or diseases that we think of as more southern or mid-Atlantic diseases,” she says.
Maine Apple Growers Hurt by 50% Loss, Insurance Inequities
Jon Clements, Extension Fruit Educator, is quoted in a story on Maine’s worst apple harvest in over a decade. “Crop insurance is a safety net. It’ll never make up for having a good crop,” Clements says. “And like any other type of insurance, it’s not mandatory. Some growers just don’t buy crop insurance.”
Cranberries Remain Massachusetts Top Food Crop; The UMass Cranberry Station is One Reason Why
The UMass Cranberry Station is essential in supporting the commonwealth's top food crop. Despite challenges, like fruit rot, early frost, and record rainfall, Massachusetts farmers grew 200 million pounds of cranberries last year. The research facility in Wareham provides invaluable research to growers, helping them overcome such challenges. The station is critically important to the cranberry industry,” says John Mason, president of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association.