Connections Newsletter : Winter 2018 Achievements Edition

Aquaculture

  1. Aquaculture Research Achievements

    By: Hanping Wang, PhD, Senior Scientist

    Yellow Perch Breeding: A large numbers of neo-male broodstock of yellow perch with a female genotype have been created, using the superior neomale broodstock, fast-growing all-female yellow perch populations have been produced. The large numbers of superior neomale broodstock from this project enable us to produce commercial-scale of all-female monosex yellow perch. Growth performance test of the all-females vs. mixed-sex group in tank system was conducted in Piketon Research Station. By the end of the

  2. Two aquaculture books completed in 2017

    By: Hanping Wang, PhD, Senior Scientist

    The first book, Sex Control in Aquaculture, is being published by Wiley and Blackwell in the summer of 2018 after two years of planning, correspondence, coordination, and writing, The book has around 910 pages and 2 volumes. The Editor-in-Chief is Dr. Hanping Wang, Principal Scientist at the Ohio State University South Centers. Co-editors were Dr. Francesc Piferrer of Spain and Dr. Song-Lin Chen of China. Joy Bauman, Sarah Swanson, and Jordan Maxwell assisted in English editing and chapter coordination.

    The first

  3. Aquaculture Boot Camp-2 (ABC-2) Achievements and Impacts 2017

    By: Hanping Wang, PhD, ABC Program Director/Senior Scientist and Jordan Maxwell, ABC Program Coordinator

    The Ohio Center for Aquaculture Research and Development (OCARD) at the OSU South Centers received its second project funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop and operate Aquaculture Boot Camp (ABC).  This ABC-2 is a program for training new and beginning aquaculture farmers in production techniques and business development skills in Ohio and adjacent states. OSU is the first aquaculture program to receive this type of project

  4. Comprehensive Outreach and Training Program to Expand Development of North Central Region Aquaculture

    By: Matthew A. Smith, Extension Aquaculture Specialist, The Ohio State University; Nicholas Phelps, Assistant Professor and Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center Director, University of Minnesota; Alex Primus, Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota

  5. Industry and Researcher Round Table on the Future of Food Fish/Shrimp Production in Ohio

    By: Matthew A. Smith, Extension Aquaculture Specialist

    Approximately 40 people joined Ohio State University’s (OSU) round table to discuss aquaculture in Ohio the Thursday night before the OAA/OCAFS annual meeting in late January 2018. OSU asked several southern region researchers to be present to offer a different perspective to Ohio farmers on aquaculture production in the U.S. over the last few decades. Production experts, Dr. Les Torrans (USDA ARS) and Dr. Craig Tucker (USDA ARS), and aquaculture economist Dr. Carole Engle (Engle-Stone Aquatic$) were active in

Business

  1. Endeavor Center and Business Development Network Achievements

    By: Ryan Mapes, Business Development Network Program Leader and Endeavor Center Manager

    Endeavor Center

    2017 has been another successful year for the OSU Endeavor Center business incubator. The center operated at a 100% occupancy rate for most of the year.  During the year we had a couple partners leave but were fortunate to have new partners ready to come on board to fill the vacated offices.  State Street Laboratories is the latest business to become an Endeavor Center partner.  The Endeavor Center also partnered with the African American

Cooperatives

  1. CFAES Center for Cooperatives: Collaboration Creates Greater Impact

    By: Ivory Harlow Cooperative Development Specialist, CFAES Center for Cooperatives

    Among draft horses, Belgians are reputed to be the strongest and most capable. A single Belgian draft horse can tow 8,000 pounds. More impressive is what two can do together; a team of two draft horses doesn’t just double- but triples pulling power to 24,000 lbs!

    Like a team of draft horses, The CFAES Center for Cooperatives combined forces with industry, government and association partners to achieve great things in 2017. Collaboration created greater impact through

Horticulture

  1. 2017 Highlights of Fruit Research Projects and Extension Programs at South Centers

    By: Gary Gao, PhD, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor

    Our team had a very good year in both research and extension in 2017. We conducted several successful Extension programs at OSU South Centers in Piketon. We also participated in many regional, statewide, national and international programs. In 2017, Dr. Gary Gao authored or coauthored and published 13 fact sheets, one Extension bulletin, and five refereed journal articles. We received a new grant from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and USDA to work on blackberries, hardy figs and hardy kiwis (

  2. $5 million in annual new harvest ale sales using Ohio hops being brewed in Ohio

    By: Brad Bergefurd, Extension Horticulture Specialist

    Ohio Craft Brewers asked Brad Bergefurd if farmers in Ohio grew hops as they were seeking local suppliers of fresh hops to expand the diversity of locally produced brews using Ohio hops. These new brews include high value Wet-hopped harvest ales never produced in the past. Seeing this agriculture opportunity for Ohio, as a project PI and co-PI, Horticulture Extension Specialist Brad Bergefurd acquired Ohio Department of Agriculture and USDA Specialty Crop Block grant funding partnering with faculty in the

  3. Research leads to 4 month longer Ohio Strawberry harvest season and $5 million in annual sales

    By: Brad Bergefurd, Extension Horticulture Specialist

    Thanks to funding from the Ohio Fruit Growers Society, the Ohio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and Development Program, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the Ohio strawberry harvest and marketing season expanded from a historical 3 week harvest season to a 5 month harvest and marketing season. New production techniques researched and taught by the OSU South Centers Specialty Crops program provided the basis for this extended season.

    In an effort to

Marketing

  1. OSU Extension Direct Food and Ag Marketing Team 2017 Summary Report

    By: Christie Welch, Program Manager and Team Leader

    Direct Food & Ag Marketing Team focus:

    The team is focused on providing training, education, and technical assistance to Ohio’s food producers and marketers. The goal of this assistance is to help these small businesses increase their effectiveness and thereby their profitability. This should translate to healthier farms, food producers, and the communities where they reside and increase access for consumers to locally produced foods.

    In 2017 the team provided many trainings

Nutrition

  1. Pike County Nutritional Sciences Field Day, The Story of the Strawberry

    By: Dan Remley, MSPH, PhD, Assistant Professor and Field Specialist of Food, Nutrition, and Wellness

    According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings, Pike County ranks 88 out of 88 counties. The rankings are based on obesity rates, health behaviors, healthy food access and other socio-ecological determinants of health. Pike County also ranks low in terms of students who complete post-secondary education training. Many of Pike County’s health problems mirror those of the larger Appalachian region and are attributed to socio-ecological

SWBR

  1. Lijun Cai visits the Soil Team

    Lijun Cai, a Research Associate in the Sustainable Agricultural Technology Institute of the Jiamusi Branch of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China, visited the Soil, Water and Bioenergy Resources Program in late 2017. She has been working at the academy since 2014. Her field of research interests are: Sustainable agriculture; Cover crop; Conservation tillage; Soil health; and Semi-dwarf soybean breeding.

    She was a short-term scholar studying recent developments in U.S. sustainable agricultural management practices, including the most recently developed analytical

  2. USDA-Capacity Building, NCR-SARE Partnership, and CRDF U.S.-Ukraine collaborative research grants

    By: Rafiq Islam, PhD, Soil, Water, and Bioenergy Resources Program Director

    Several program specialists and scientists at the Ohio State University (OSU) South Centers have received USDA-Capacity Building, NCR-SARE Partnership, and CRDF US-Ukraine collaborative research grants in recent months.

    The Ohio State University joined in a collaborative partnership with Central State University (CSU) through a project ($592,493) funded by the USDA National Institutes for Food and Agriculture under the 1890 Land Grant Institution Capacity Building Program.

  3. Soil health and environmental analytical services at OARDC-Piketon Soil, Water, and Bioenergy Resources Lab

    By: Rafiq Islam, PhD, Soil, Water, and Bioenergy Resources Program Director

    The OARDC-Piketon Soil, Water and Bioenergy Resources Lab at The Ohio State University South Centers has recently started to provide soil health, air quality and greenhouse gas emission, water quality, plant, manure, fertilizer and chemical, and other environmental analytical services to clientele. The lab facility includes more than 2,500 sq. feet of analytical space for receiving, storing, processing, and analysis of various samples.

    The analytical equipment includes: Microbial