Alabama blueberry farmers could soon start growing more...
Sign up for free below to receive College of Agriculture news and the latest issues of The Season Magazine.
Latest
Auburn Fisheries facilities help farmers battling supersized catfish
By Kelley Young Did you know that Alabama produces roughly 30% of the nation’s catfish? Catfish are farmed both on small, family-owned farms and in large-scale operations focused on the consumer market. Currently, the industry is battling the problem of fish who are...
Johnston, Touchette receive summer 2024 graduation honors
Two soon-to-be alumni of the Auburn University College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology received the highest honors the college can bestow upon graduates ahead of commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Aug. 3. Angela Touchette...
Promoting blueberry production in Alabama
As the U.S. celebrates National Blueberry Month in July, researchers in the Auburn College of Agriculture and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station are looking for ways to boost blueberry production in the state by introducing more profitable cultivars for both field and protected cultivation.
Agricultural economists’ simulator to weigh in on U.S. Conservation Reserve Program
Researchers at Auburn University aim to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions due to agriculture by modifying one of the world’s largest voluntary conservation programs: the USDA’s 25-million-acre Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Understanding the role of the soil microbiome in plant health
Soil scientist Audrey Gamble is working to improve sustainability of cotton production by improving soil microbial structure and function.
Graduate student designs smart gardening project for countries in crisis
Native Zambian Dorcas Lukwesa wanted to study agricultural sciences because of the seed her farming grandparents planted in her — a budding interest in food and nutrition she couldn’t ignore as she aspired to go to college outside her home country. Now a graduate...
Auburn University, Alabama Extension unveil historical marker recognizing Alfa centennial
Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System celebrated the Alabama Farmers Federation’s recent centennial celebration with the unveiling of a historical marker on Thursday, Feb. 17. The marker was erected at the Alfa Pavilion at Auburn’s Ag Heritage...
Man vs. Mosquito: Auburn researcher tackles age-old battle
By Mike Jernigan So, imagine you’re a female mosquito. You’re patiently circling, waiting to pounce, while your unsuspecting victim enjoys a picnic with no idea they have unknowingly been placed on your menu. Your multi-lensed eyes have confirmed what your carbon...
Conference to feature Southeast’s brightest agricultural minds
The College of Agriculture at Auburn University and its fellow land-grand universities throughout the Southeast are jointly hosting a conference next month to address the potential of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation in agriculture. Titled “Envisioning...
Auburn, HudsonAlpha researcher awarded fellowship to accelerate hop breeding programs
The beer industry has been steadily growing in the United States over the last decade, driven largely by the increased popularity of craft breweries. It is predicted to continue this growth with an estimated market value of $146 billion by 2025. To meet the growing...
Alabama Public Television to highlight extension program fighting hunger
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s Grow More, Give More initiative will be the focus of Alabama Public Television’s next installment in its “Spotlight on Agriculture” series at 9 p.m. Feb. 24. Grow More, Give More is a program through which home gardeners grow...
Parasite examined for its link to poor diet, obesity
With the obesity rate sitting at 36 percent and climbing, researchers are investigating factors contributing to the notoriously poor diet quality in the United States. One possibility might be a common parasite that causes impulsive decisions and changes risk...
Bonnie Plants Foundation gift to create Children’s Garden
The Transformation Garden in the College of Agriculture at Auburn University recently received a truly transformative donation. Bonnie Plants Foundation announced a multiyear donation to establish a new two-acre Children’s Garden and Pollinator Garden within Auburn's...
Layne honored for Transformation Garden, completion of leadership program
Auburn University’s Desmond Layne, head of the Department of Horticulture, has been honored by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, or APLU, for leading Auburn’s Transformation Garden project and his completion of the APLU’s Food Systems Leadership...
Research examines results of competing policies on healthy food choices
An Auburn University research project attempts to determine which approach best improves access to healthy food choices for food assistance recipients in the United States — more government benefits or more grocery stores. The study — authored by Joel Cuffey,...
Conference to address artificial intelligence in agriculture
Artificial intelligence (AI) support systems, automation and robotics have the potential to transform agriculture. A group of Southeastern universities is coordinating a conference to address this potential at Auburn University in the spring. Titled “Envisioning 2050...
Study shows ancient cities also dealt with toxic pollution
The negative impact humans can have on their own environment is constantly on full display, with climate change, land alterations and harmful algal blooms impacting people’s lives daily. But this isn’t an entirely new phenomenon, according to a recent study published...
Auburn’s PAR grants consider needs of Alabama farmers
Auburn’s Production Agriculture Research (PAR) grant program personifies the university’s land-grant research mission by communicating directly with Alabama’s farmers and addressing their most immediate needs. “The PAR grants program, more than any other, sets its...
College of Agriculture recognizes fall 2021 award winners & graduates
Two excellent students from Auburn University’s College of Agriculture have been selected as recipients of the college’s Dean’s Award and Student Marshal. The final selection was made by the scholarship committee. Below we also honor our Fall 2021 Graduates. DEAN’S...
Research finds improved soil test for phosphorus in water
In the quest to find a solution to one problem, agricultural research oftentimes finds answers to others along the way. Such is the case with researchers from Auburn University’s College of Agriculture, where scientists are working to ensure that waste or litter from...
“Agrivoltaic” research combines solar energy, food production
Auburn University researchers in the College of Agriculture’s Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department are participating in a new USDA project to optimize design for “agrivoltaic” systems — fields with both crops and solar panels — that will maintain crop...
Board of Trustees approves construction of Transformation Garden
At its September meeting, the Auburn University Board of Trustees agreed to designate 16 acres of campus space for the creation of the College of Agriculture’s Transformation Garden. The garden, which will be located between Lem Morrison Drive and Woodfield Drive,...
September Our Work Seminar to share work inside vertical farms
Students in the College of Agriculture at Auburn University who are interested in learning more about the innovative work happening in the college’s new vertical farms at the Transformation Garden can do so at the Our Work Seminar this month. Six times a year, the...
College, alumni club host 42nd annual Ag Roundup
The annual Ag Roundup, hosted by the Auburn Agricultural Alumni Club and the College of Agriculture at Auburn University, will return to campus on Saturday, Sept. 25, offering a special opportunity for agriculture alumni and friends to gather for a day of hospitality....
Training better scientists: College offers ample undergraduate research opportunities
Research opportunities for undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture are ample, and students are encouraged to take advantage of them prior to graduate school. Madison Dees needed a job. Rather than pursuing the usual part-time retail or service jobs for...
On the Horizon: What’s Next for New Alumni
From graduate school to risk management analysis, recent graduates from the college of agriculture have impressive plans for the future. Check out what these 11 recent graduates who were Ag Ambassadors for the college are up to next.Andie Altemeier (feature image...
Davis named director of Auburn’s National Poultry Technology Center
Auburn University biosystems engineer Jeremiah Davis has assumed duties as director of the Auburn-based National Poultry Technology Center, or NPTC.
Kloepper named Academy of Inventors Fellow
The National Academy of Inventors, or NAI, has named Joseph Kloepper, Alumni Professor of plant pathology in Auburn’s College of Agriculture, as one of its 2018 fellows.
John Canfield
John Canfield is a Ph.D. student in the Sociology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2019, he received his M.S. in Rural Sociology at Auburn University, where his research focused on the financialization of farmland in rural Illinois. His advisor was...
Meet Jennie Hargrove
Jennie Hargrove is a Youth Program Specialist with the Iowa 4-H Youth Development Program. In her role, she provides program, volunteer, and professional supports to seven county 4-H programs in south central Iowa. Jennie completed her B.S. in Family and Consumer...
Auburn weed scientist, colleagues tackle troublesome turfgrass weed
A team of university scientists from across the U.S. is waging a nationwide offensive against a dastardly weed that the turfgrass industry in Alabama and beyond deems Enemy No. 1.
Wilson, Duke honored with USDA teaching excellence awards
An Auburn University associate professor and a department chair soon to join the Auburn family were honored in November by the USDA’s Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ annual meeting in New Orleans.
Super Bowl bound: AU turf management junior to train under legendary sports field groundskeepers
2019 already is shaping up to be a super year for Wilson Morgan — a super year that starts with a trip to the Super Bowl.
‘ThanksforGiving to AU research’ recognizes visiting scholars, postdocs
The College of Agriculture held its inaugural “ThanksforGiving to AU research” breakfast on Nov. 20 to recognize visiting scholars and postdoctoral researchers and their contributions to the college.
Aided by students, Auburn scientist probes ideal weight for woolly pigs
The hum of wet/dry vacuums mingles with pig grunts and squeals as Auburn University animal sciences pre-veterinarian junior Maegan Reeves approaches the pen of a curly-haired Mangalitsa pig and sticks a vacuum hose into the feed trough.
Ag, Veterinary Medicine team up to offer Horse U and Horse Course Dec. 1
Auburn University’s College of Agriculture and College of Veterinary Medicine are offering two educational programs for horse enthusiasts Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018.
’98 Auburn CSES alumnus named Chinese university president
Zhaohu Li, an Auburn University College of Agriculture alumnus, has been named president of Huazhong Agricultural University, one of the top agricultural universities in China. The institution is located in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.
Fisheries’ DeVries, Dunham win 2018 faculty awards
Both professors in the College of Agriculture’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, are among the Auburn University faculty members campuswide who have received prestigious honors as part of Auburn’s 2018 Faculty Awards program.
Auburn aquatic ecologist partners in $2 million war on blue-green algae
Auburn University aquatic ecologist Alan Wilson and a team of biological, molecular and environmental scientists from three other U.S. institutions are taking on toxic cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae or pond scum, in a five-year, $2 million National Science Foundation project.
AU trustees OK Miller Center’s final phases; processing plant first up
Auburn University’s Board of Trustees has cleared the way for completion of the multi-unit Charles C. Miller Jr. Poultry Research and Education Center on the north Auburn campus, beginning with construction of an 18,800-square-foot poultry processing plant on the 30-acre site.
Economics of GMOs focus of Oct. 22 E.T. York Lecture
A University of California, Berkeley, economist will discuss the risks versus the benefits of genetically modifying foods and crops when he presents the Fall 2018 E.T. York Distinguished Lecture Monday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m. on the Auburn University campus.
Auburn fisheries to host aquaponics workshop Oct. 23-25
Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Business Institute will host a commercial aquaponics workshop
Duke named ag economics and rural sociology department chair, professor
Joshua Duke, currently professor of applied economics and statistics at the University of Delaware, will join the Auburn University College of Agriculture on March 1, 2019, as the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology chair and professor.
College of Agriculture, alumni to host 39th Ag Roundup Sept. 29
Auburn University’s College of Agriculture and Agricultural Alumni Association will co-host the 39th annual Ag Roundup Saturday, Sept. 29, at Ag Heritage Park.
Two in horticulture merit national awards
Mahnaz Kargar, a Department of Horticulture doctoral candidate working under the direction of professor Floyd Woods, won a second-place U.P. Hedrick Award during competition held as part of the American Pomological Society’s 2018 annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Rural sociology grad students win honors for M.S. theses
Auburn rural sociology graduate students Lindy Olive and James Patterson III claimed two of the three master’s thesis awards the Rural Sociological Society presented during its recent annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. As winners, the two received $2,000 cash awards.
Alabama Oyster Social raises $45,000 for oyster farming research, training
A 32-foot raw bar boasting 5,000 premium farm-raised oysters drew hundreds of oyster lovers to Ag Heritage Park earlier this year for the 2018 Alabama Oyster Social. In addition to emptying all 5,000 half shells, attendees also raised $45,000 to support Auburn University’s Shellfish Lab at Dauphin Island and, in turn, Alabama oyster farmers.