Last month, eight BYUI students and faculty members from the Applied Plant Science department traveled to Phoenix, AZ to meet with over 3900 other people from 56 countries for the annual agronomy and soils meetings. The meetings are a culmination of the Student Mentored Research program supported by the department. During the summer, students conducted supervised research on plant and soil-related topics on the BYUI Hillview Farm, statistically evaluated the data, then prepared posters summarizing the findings. Students were able to present their posters during the competitive poster session and two of our students won second and third place in their divisions. Nice job students! |
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Applied Plant Science is an all-encompassing major, you learn how to arrange flowers, landscape, and identify plants. Along with that some students choose to learn how to care and assemble their equipment. Brother Maughan teaches the small engines and compact equipment classes where students can learn the basics and more details about certain equipment. The small engines class is for anyone and everyone who wants to learn how to care for, assemble, dissemble, and troubleshoot engines. No experience required! This skill is very helpful not only to mechanics but to everyday lawnmower users. Students work in groups as well as on their own to fix, clean, and assemble new and used engines. This class is very useful for future jobs and future home life. Compact equipment is a little more complicated class. It is a project based class where students get to choose any type of equipment less than 50 horsepower and work on it for the semester. Some students work on go-karts, tractors, snowmobiles, and various other equipment. In this class they also work and learn about electrical, power trains, and hydraulics found on compact equipment. In these classes students learn about the mechanics of the machinery they will be using. The classes do get pretty entertaining. Some days they pull out the grill and just have hamburgers! Majoring in Applied Plant Science always has more perks than just receiving an education. There are many different rooms in the greenhouses here at BYU-I, there’s the jungle room and the plant shop but have you ever wondered what was in that room across from the Plant Shop? It the Hydroponic Greenhouse, this room is full of hydroponically grown tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and recently strawberries. So what is hydroponics, why is that different from regular growing procedures? We interviewed Jared Adamson, the manager over the hydroponics greenhouse, to shed some light on the subject. Traditionally plants get their nutrients from the soil but hydroponics is the use of water to provide the plant nutrients. At our greenhouse we use pearl light for our plants, it basically is there to stabilize the plant but it doesn’t hold any nutrient value, the water is where all of the nutrients are coming from. For hydroponic plants we supply water to the plant, and the extra water is drained off and recycled to be used again, it is very efficient and echo-friendly compared to traditional planting. Jared Adamson, the manager over the hydroponics greenhouse, loves working with these plants and loves creating a place to see real time food production here at BYU-I. Jared is an agronomy major and got this job by sitting next to the previous manager in a class. He loves the people he works with and the warm and exciting environment, and of course he loves tomatoes. This greenhouse is a great place to see food grow and be distributed, it’s a cool example of agriculture mixed with technology. Everyone is free to come and see and experience the hydroponics greenhouse, just don’t eat the fruit from the plants. The produce is used here in the university kitchens and sold to students. If you would like to purchase some of the produce they are sold at the Plant Shop, Plant Booth on Fridays and at the farmers markets. Brother Spackman’s Intro to Plant Science class (APS 122) went on an all-day field trip on March 23 to see what Idaho has to offer the Applied Plant Science students. They first traveled up to Jarome Idaho to visit Moss Greenhouse where they learned how the Moss family started the business and have kept it going for 64 years. (http://mossgreenhouses.com/history/ check out the story on their website) The next stop on their trip was to the College of Southern Idaho Fish Hatchery. There the students learned about the sturgeon and trout spawned there. Some students even got to pet the giant sturgeon fish. After stopping for subway sandwiches, the class went to the last stop of their trip, a dairy farm. At the Ackerman dairy in Murtaugh the students learned about the different feeds, different cows, and saw the process of milking the cows. While eating cheese and drinking milk, the students left for home, they had a wonderful day. February 8-13 was the Biennial California Ag Trip. Ag and Hort students loaded up early Monday morning with Bro. Willis and Bro. Nelson and headed to Chico, California to visit with big-time, big-producing farm operations. One of the highlights of the trip is going to AgReserves, Inc groves of tree nuts and seeing up close how almonds and pistachios (in Wasco) and walnuts and prunes (Chico, CA) are grown and harvested. “AgReserves, Inc. is a multi-national, multi-corporate company that operates investment farms and ranches throughout the world. The California Operations Segment, one of the company’s business units, consists of two farming operations: almonds and pistachios in Wasco, CA and walnuts and prunes in Chico, CA. as well as processing facilities in both Wasco and Chico, CA.” Thursday Feb. 18, there is a University Forum. It will be held at 2pm in the Taylor Chapel. Dr. Keith L. Smith, former Associate Vice President for Agricultural Administration, the Director of Ohio State University Extension, and Associate Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University, will be presenting on "Challenges of Feeding the World/ The Wonderful World of Agriculture." Let's show him some support as fellow plant scientists and attend. Following information from http://www2.byui.edu/DevotionalsandSpeeches/: His responsibilities at OSU Extension included overseeing an 800 member faculty and support staff who design and deliver educational programs to more than 11 million citizens of Ohio, focusing on agriculture and natural resources, family and consumer sciences, youth development and community development. He oversaw the entire operation of the Extension organization, including budget development and management, legislative contacts on resources and programs, personnel policy development, and coordination with other agencies. As Associate Vice President for Agricultural Administration, Dr. Smith extended his duties beyond the college as he interacted with the university and community at large as a representative of the Vice President. In his role as Associate Dean, he was involved with allocation of funds, selection, promotion, and remuneration of Extension personnel, and provided leadership in both program and policy development. A native of Utah, Dr. Smith received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Agricultural Education from Utah State University, and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Education from Iowa State University in 1980. Dr. Smith began his career as an agriculture science teacher in Brigham City, Utah, followed by two years as a vocational agriculture teacher in Orem, Utah. He then joined the Utah Cooperative Extension Service as a county agent and later moved to Iowa State University as an instructor and Extension associate while working on his Ph.D. He then went to OSU as Extension Leader for Personnel Development and Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education. He later became Associate Director for Extension. Dr. Smith is now an emeritus professor in the department of Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership at OSU. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and papers and has served on copious university, college, professional, regional and national committees. Dr. Smith was nominated and received the National Distinguished Service Ruby Award. He also served as chair for the national Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, and participated as a fellow in the Kellogg Food Systems Leadership Institute – a training ground for future high-profile leaders in the university setting. Brother Smith has served as a primary teacher, gospel doctrine teacher, Bishop, Stake President, Area Authority Seventy and currently serves in the Ohio Columbus Mission presidency and teaches Institute at The Ohio State. The Agribusiness Management Society would just like to send out a reminder that it is once again time for the biennial California Ag Trip!
The 2016 trip will be Monday, February 8th, through Saturday, February 13th. We will be traveling on a bus down to the Central Valley of California, where we will get an in-depth look of some of the most productive and fertile Agricultural ground in the country! On this trip, we will be visiting numerous Farms, Ranches, and Agribusinesses. Included among the planned visits will be farms for numerous crops, including Carrots, Almonds, Pistachio’s, Walnuts, Citrus, and Grapes. We are also planning to visit a Hog Farm, a Dairy, and a Fertilizer plant. Throughout the visits, we will meet numerous people who work in the industry, and will have many great opportunities to network! We will also be attending the Tulare International Ag Show, which is the largest annual agricultural show of its kind, with 1,500 exhibitors displaying cutting-edge agricultural technology and equipment on 2.6 million square feet of show grounds. This trip is always a hit. Seats are limited, so be sure to sign up soon. It is only $150* to go, and previous attendees say that it is worth every penny! This is a school excused absence! For more information, contact a member of the Agribusiness Management Society Presidency. To sign up for the trip, log into Career Navigator and search for Job ID #51457. You will need to submit a resume at the point of application, so be sure a copy of your resume is uploaded under your Documents tab. A short essay is also required. If you have any trouble with Career Navigator, please contact Career Services at 208.496.9824, or email them at [email protected]. *The $150 covers the hotels and transportation, and most meals will be provided. Any additional costs should be minimal, and will be at your individual discretion (i.e. snacks, etc.) |
AuthorThe Agronomy, Crop, Soil Science, and Agriculture TechnologyPrograms provide excellent connections with local and international Agricultural companies doing research through the farm on campus, as well as coordinating internship and employment opportunities throughout their network in the industry. Employment opportunities for students with a background in Agriculture are excellent. Archives
December 2016
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