In an already stressful and trying growing season, researchers at...
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station Articles
Latest
Understudied cotton is the focus of Auburn University research on seedling diseases
Cotton is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable plants in the world, with its heart-shaped leaves and branches that explode into powder-white fruit. But it’s also one of the more understudied field crops. “Previously, it was unclear where and which specific...
Flourishing forages: Alabama cattlemen’s secret weapon to diversified production
From the Coastal Plain to the Black Belt, Alabama cattle producers are utilizing forage systems to their advantage to meet the challenges of modern agriculture. Alabama ranks 17th nationally in beef cattle, according to the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association. Alabama...
Double Up Food Bucks Alabama: Making healthy eating a SNAP
Double Up Food Bucks Alabama is enhancing communities by making fresh local produce more affordable and accessible at select grocery stores and farmers markets. The...
Understudied cotton is the focus of Auburn University research on seedling diseases
Cotton is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable plants in the world, with its heart-shaped leaves and branches that explode into powder-white fruit. But it’s also...
Flourishing forages: Alabama cattlemen’s secret weapon to diversified production
From the Coastal Plain to the Black Belt, Alabama cattle producers are utilizing forage systems to their advantage to meet the challenges of modern agriculture. Alabama...
Auburn charts path for 21st century vision of U.S. aquaculture
Auburn University’s Aquaponics Working Group has a new vision for U.S. aquaculture, one that includes far more predictability and efficiency than today’s timeworn models of commercial fish production.
Auburn farmed-oyster study aims for safety on the half shell
Auburn University marine scientist Bill Walton, one of the driving forces behind the Gulf Coast’s up-and-coming off-bottom oyster-farming industry, has landed a $456,646 federal grant to help ensure that farmed oysters bound for the premium half-shell market are as safe as possible for human consumption.
Researchers work to ensure safety of local foods movement
The local foods movement continues to grow in the U.S., with an increasing number of consumers wanting to know where their food comes from, connecting with the families producing it, and buying products at farmers markets and through community-supported agriculture programs.
Agricultural research grants address cost, efficiency
Cost and efficiency are high on the list of concerns for Alabama farmers and equally high on the list of priorities for Auburn University researchers.
U.S. beekeepers lose four of every 10 managed colonies in 2017-18
AUBURN, Ala. -- The nation’s beekeepers lost 40 percent of their managed honey bee colonies between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018, an increase of almost 7 percentage points from the previous year’s total loss rate, results of an annual nationwide survey show....
National Poultry Technology Center leads way in industry innovation
Live poultry production in the U.S. is on the cusp of revolutionary changes, and Auburn University’s National Poultry Technology Center, or NPTC, is helping to ensure that producers are not left behind. “Efficiency is the key to everything we do,” said Gene Simpson,...
Gulf Coast REC wins commercial cattle producer award
The Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, or BCIA, has named Auburn University’s Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center in Fairhope its 2017 Commercial Producer of the Year.
Auburn University researchers study longleaf pine drought resilience
Longleaf pine ecosystems may be the key to creating more drought-resilient forests, according to a study that Lisa Samuelson, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station researcher and Alumni Professor in Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, is conducting.
Food Entrepreneur Conference held March 21-22 in Auburn
Current and aspiring culinary capitalists gained valuable insight on food safety, certification and business management during the Auburn University Food Systems Institute’s sixth annual Food Entrepreneur Conference in Auburn March 21-22. The institute is an Alabama...
Muntifering wins animal science society’s top award
The Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science will recognize Auburn University professor Russ Muntifering for his outstanding service to the livestock industry over his 38-year career when it presents him its 2018 Distinguished Service Award at a...
APT film series to feature agricultural research at Auburn
Auburn University research and extension will be a central focus of “Spotlight on Agriculture,” an upcoming Alabama Public Television documentary series about the state’s agricultural industry. The series will debut on APT Monday, Feb. 5, at 9 p.m. CST, but the Auburn...
Auburn research to help expand bioenergy markets
Auburn University researchers are hoping to reduce some of the risks and uncertainties of growing biomass crops with a project that focuses on the socioeconomic implications and public policy challenges of bioenergy market development and expansion. Biomass crops are...
College faculty, staff win honors in annual awards program
Thirty Auburn University College of Agriculture employees won top honors for their outstanding accomplishments and dedicated service throughout the year during the college’s 2017 faculty and staff awards program in Auburn in December. “These individuals have truly...
Auburn alumni group to honor Alabama agricultural leaders
The Auburn Agricultural Alumni Association will salute five Alabamians who have had a major impact on Alabama agriculture during its 2018 Alabama Agriculture Hall of Honor banquet Thursday, Feb. 8, at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and Conference Center. Three of...
Auburn's Bowen cited as Penn State agriculture's top alum
Auburn University plant pathology professor Kira Bowen’s major scientific accomplishments in the field of plant disease epidemiology have earned her two of the Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences’ highest honors: a 2017 Outstanding Alumni award and...
Alabama’s McMichen Farm breaks 100-bushel soybean barrier
By Eddie McGriff McMichen Farm has become the first farm in Alabama to make and break the 100-bushel soybean barrier with just more than 102 bushels per acre. The Cherokee County farm—located near Centre in northeast Alabama—has been in the McMichen family since 1842....
Auburn-developed vaccine could help prevent costly catfish disease
By Paul Hollis Auburn researchers will use an almost $321,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to field-test a novel vaccine that would effectively and economically control one of the most serious bacterial infections in the aquaculture industry today. Columnaris...
Grape cultivars evaluated at Sand Mountain
By Elina Coneva In a long-term research project, 11 grape varieties tolerant to a dangerous disease threat were planted and evaluated for their suitability to Alabama environmental conditions. The Pierce’s disease-tolerant American and French-American hybrid bunch...
Defending against brown marmorated stink bugs
By Derek Herscovici Alabama is home to many pests, and as of 2010 it was introduced to a new one, Halyomorpha halys, a.k.a. the brown marmorated stink bug, or BMSB. Whenever a new species is introduced, this presents the opportunity for research; for entomology grad...
NRCS funds to demonstrate and promote best irrigation practices in Alabama
By Paul Hollis The latest numbers tell the irrigation story: In Alabama, only 15 percent of the land currently available for farming is irrigated, a far cry from Mississippi’s 61 percent of cropland and Georgia’s 40 percent. Over time, that lack of irrigation...
Cutts recognized as UGA outstanding alumni
Auburn agronomist Trey Cutts, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences assistant professor and extension cotton specialist, is one of seven University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences graduates that the college’s alumni...
Auburn charts path for 21st century vision of U.S. aquaculture
Auburn University’s Aquaponics Working Group has a new vision for U.S. aquaculture, one that includes far more predictability and efficiency than today’s timeworn models of commercial fish production.
Auburn farmed-oyster study aims for safety on the half shell
Auburn University marine scientist Bill Walton, one of the driving forces behind the Gulf Coast’s up-and-coming off-bottom oyster-farming industry, has landed a $456,646 federal grant to help ensure that farmed oysters bound for the premium half-shell market are as safe as possible for human consumption.
Researchers work to ensure safety of local foods movement
The local foods movement continues to grow in the U.S., with an increasing number of consumers wanting to know where their food comes from, connecting with the families producing it, and buying products at farmers markets and through community-supported agriculture programs.
Agricultural research grants address cost, efficiency
Cost and efficiency are high on the list of concerns for Alabama farmers and equally high on the list of priorities for Auburn University researchers.
U.S. beekeepers lose four of every 10 managed colonies in 2017-18
AUBURN, Ala. -- The nation’s beekeepers lost 40 percent of their managed honey bee colonies between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018, an increase of almost 7 percentage points from the previous year’s total loss rate, results of an annual nationwide survey show....
National Poultry Technology Center leads way in industry innovation
Live poultry production in the U.S. is on the cusp of revolutionary changes, and Auburn University’s National Poultry Technology Center, or NPTC, is helping to ensure that producers are not left behind. “Efficiency is the key to everything we do,” said Gene Simpson,...
Gulf Coast REC wins commercial cattle producer award
The Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, or BCIA, has named Auburn University’s Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center in Fairhope its 2017 Commercial Producer of the Year.
Auburn University researchers study longleaf pine drought resilience
Longleaf pine ecosystems may be the key to creating more drought-resilient forests, according to a study that Lisa Samuelson, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station researcher and Alumni Professor in Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, is conducting.
Food Entrepreneur Conference held March 21-22 in Auburn
Current and aspiring culinary capitalists gained valuable insight on food safety, certification and business management during the Auburn University Food Systems Institute’s sixth annual Food Entrepreneur Conference in Auburn March 21-22. The institute is an Alabama...
Muntifering wins animal science society’s top award
The Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science will recognize Auburn University professor Russ Muntifering for his outstanding service to the livestock industry over his 38-year career when it presents him its 2018 Distinguished Service Award at a...
APT film series to feature agricultural research at Auburn
Auburn University research and extension will be a central focus of “Spotlight on Agriculture,” an upcoming Alabama Public Television documentary series about the state’s agricultural industry. The series will debut on APT Monday, Feb. 5, at 9 p.m. CST, but the Auburn...
Auburn research to help expand bioenergy markets
Auburn University researchers are hoping to reduce some of the risks and uncertainties of growing biomass crops with a project that focuses on the socioeconomic implications and public policy challenges of bioenergy market development and expansion. Biomass crops are...
College faculty, staff win honors in annual awards program
Thirty Auburn University College of Agriculture employees won top honors for their outstanding accomplishments and dedicated service throughout the year during the college’s 2017 faculty and staff awards program in Auburn in December. “These individuals have truly...
Auburn alumni group to honor Alabama agricultural leaders
The Auburn Agricultural Alumni Association will salute five Alabamians who have had a major impact on Alabama agriculture during its 2018 Alabama Agriculture Hall of Honor banquet Thursday, Feb. 8, at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and Conference Center. Three of...
Auburn's Bowen cited as Penn State agriculture's top alum
Auburn University plant pathology professor Kira Bowen’s major scientific accomplishments in the field of plant disease epidemiology have earned her two of the Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences’ highest honors: a 2017 Outstanding Alumni award and...
Alabama’s McMichen Farm breaks 100-bushel soybean barrier
By Eddie McGriff McMichen Farm has become the first farm in Alabama to make and break the 100-bushel soybean barrier with just more than 102 bushels per acre. The Cherokee County farm—located near Centre in northeast Alabama—has been in the McMichen family since 1842....
Auburn-developed vaccine could help prevent costly catfish disease
By Paul Hollis Auburn researchers will use an almost $321,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to field-test a novel vaccine that would effectively and economically control one of the most serious bacterial infections in the aquaculture industry today. Columnaris...
Grape cultivars evaluated at Sand Mountain
By Elina Coneva In a long-term research project, 11 grape varieties tolerant to a dangerous disease threat were planted and evaluated for their suitability to Alabama environmental conditions. The Pierce’s disease-tolerant American and French-American hybrid bunch...
Defending against brown marmorated stink bugs
By Derek Herscovici Alabama is home to many pests, and as of 2010 it was introduced to a new one, Halyomorpha halys, a.k.a. the brown marmorated stink bug, or BMSB. Whenever a new species is introduced, this presents the opportunity for research; for entomology grad...
NRCS funds to demonstrate and promote best irrigation practices in Alabama
By Paul Hollis The latest numbers tell the irrigation story: In Alabama, only 15 percent of the land currently available for farming is irrigated, a far cry from Mississippi’s 61 percent of cropland and Georgia’s 40 percent. Over time, that lack of irrigation...
Cutts recognized as UGA outstanding alumni
Auburn agronomist Trey Cutts, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences assistant professor and extension cotton specialist, is one of seven University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences graduates that the college’s alumni...