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The Stockbridge School of Agriculture’s Om Parkash Dhankher and Baoshan Xing were recently featured at the annual meeting of CANVAS, which represents 13,000 certified professionals from the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, the Soil Science Society of America and the Agronomic Science Foundation.

Dhankher, professor of molecular biology and phytoremediation, presented a report he co-authored at the behest of Congress on how to keep the national food supply safe from metal contamination in soils. Dhankher and his colleague Jason White, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, presented their report at a special symposium they organized for the meeting, which was held in November in Salt Lake City.

The symposium, funded by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, was titled “Mitigating Toxic Elements of Contamination in Foods: Bridging Knowledge Gaps.” Leading academic and industry specialists gave presentations on strategies for reducing arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in food crops, preventing contamination between soil and shelf, and the challenge of passing regulations to safeguard food quality and safety.

Xing, Stockbridge director and University Distinguished Professor, also presented the Donald L. Sparks Distinguished Lectureship in Soil Chemistry at the CANVAS annual meeting. In his invited special lecture, titled “Microplastics: Environmental Processes and Health Implications,” Xing demonstrated the prevalence of microplastics in the environment and discussed their far-reaching consequences for both ecosystem integrity and human health.

More information about Dhankher and Xing’s research can be found on the Stockbridge School’s website.