Through a partnership with the Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola, or FHIA, an agricultural research facility in La Lima, Cortés, Honduras, Penn State food scientists are studying how plant cultivars, climate, soil and processing methods influence flavor and aroma characteristics of cacao beans, and how consumers might respond to those characteristics.
Estrogens in treated wastewater that find their way into temporary wetlands known as vernal pools persist for weeks or even months, according to researchers, who suggest that persistence may have implications for these critical aquatic habitats.
Faculty in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are spearheading an initiative that will provide selected doctoral students with the opportunity for extensive study in the emerging field of agricultural microbiome research.
The Penn State Berkey Creamery took home a slice of the glory in the Cheese Competition held during the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg last month.
Agroforestry could play an important role in mitigating climate change because it sequesters more atmospheric carbon in plant parts and soil than conventional farming, according to Penn State researchers.
To meet increasing consumer demand for heritage-breed turkeys to be the centerpiece of holiday and other meals, researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are studying methods producers can use to raise the historical birds.
In the big woods of Pennsylvania's Northern Tier, the home range of the average white-tailed deer is more than twice as large as that of a deer in urban or agricultural areas of the state. Penn State researcher Duane Diefenbach documented that phenomenon early on in his work, but it did not occur to him it might be representative of many different mammal species around the globe.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue paid a visit to Penn State's University Park campus on Jan. 24 as part of a tour through Pennsylvania to unveil the Department of Agriculture's legislative principles as Congress prepares to enact a new five-year farm bill.
For the second year in a row, representatives from the Penn State Agronomy Club, a student organization in the College of Agricultural Sciences, took first place in the National Forage Bowl competition.
While the overprescribing of opioid-based painkillers may be the main driver of the increased abuse of opioids in rural America, it may be more complex than that. Economists say that other factors, including declining farm income, extreme weather and other natural disasters, may affect a crisis that is killing thousands of citizens and costing the country billions of dollars.
Manuel Llinás, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Jason Rasgon, professor of entomology and disease epidemiology, have participated in the formulation of an updated research agenda for global malaria elimination and eradication.
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has been awarded funding from the U.S Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture for programs to help prevent fatalities and serious injuries associated with farming and to provide assistance to individuals farming with disabilities.
Small-holder farmers in Kenya have the capacity and desire to play a major role in the scale-up of biofuel production from agroforestry, according to a Penn State forest economist, who led a study in the East African country.
The Penn State Grape and Wine Team supports the growing grape and wine industry through cutting-edge research and outreach that addresses grape and wine production and quality challenges, with particular emphasis on Pennsylvania and the eastern United States.
Food safety practices that Americans take for granted — washing hands with soap, refrigeration, and not cutting raw meat and vegetables on the same surface without disinfection — are not widely practiced in other places around the world, and researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences want to change that.
Penn State Extension specialists work with numerous food manufacturers — small and large — in Pennsylvania and surrounding states through online and on-site seminars covering commercial food safety, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and many other topics. Among the companies they recently have worked with is Uncle Charley's Sausage Co.
Limiting a much-needed resource could pit pathogens against one another and prevent the emergence of drug resistance, say researchers.
Using a network of up to 60 citizen scientists, a team of Penn State researchers will assess the levels of endocrine-disrupting compounds in the Susquehanna River next year, and in turn empower those volunteers to become part of the solution to water-quality problems related to emerging contaminants.
Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have received a three-year, $950,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to develop a suite of organic management options for three of the most challenging mushroom pests.
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has named Kira Bowen, professor of plant pathology at Auburn University, and Bruce Bugbee, professor of environmental plant physiology at Utah State University, as 2017 Outstanding Alumni.
A new study of methane emissions from livestock in the United States — led by a researcher in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences — has challenged previous top-down estimates.
For more than a century, plant geneticists have been studying maize as a model system to understand the rules governing the inheritance of traits, and a team of researchers recently unveiled a previously unknown mechanism that triggers gene silencing in corn.
Penn State startup company Phospholutions was one of 20 startups to participate in Association of Land Grant Universities' first-ever University Innovation Showcase, to help inform Capitol Hill staffers about the impact of research on economic development, held last weekend in Washington D.C.
The Cheese Club was founded in 2013 by animal science students with an interest in dairy science. Since then, involvement fairs and word-of-mouth advertising have helped club members reach students from across the University who share their love of cheese.
A nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support Penn State researchers in determining best management practices for organic beekeeping by comparing organic and chemical-free to conventional management systems. The funding comes from the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Leftovers from holiday meals — if not properly handled, including prompt refrigeration — can lead to foodborne illness, according to a food safety specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
Mushrooms have more ergothioneine and glutathione together than any other food. Both of these are important antioxidants that previous research has linked to anti-aging treatments and strategies. Researchers are also exploring whether the antioxidants play a role in brain health.
Farmers can see sustainability principles in action with just a few mouse clicks, thanks to an interactive "virtual farm" web site developed by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Extension, in partnership with the project's lead, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University and the Dairy Innovation Center.
As populations of the invasive spotted lanternfly explode — and the state-imposed quarantine area in southeastern Pennsylvania expands — researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are looking for solutions to help stop the insect's spread and save agricultural crops from serious damage.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A fungal parasite that infects ants and manipulates their behavior to benefit the fungus' reproduction accomplishes this feat without infecting the ants' brains, according to a study led by Penn State researchers.
