William Crepet, professor of plant biology, speaks at the 2013 Plant Biology Centennial Celebration. David Burbank photo.Hop yard takes root in Geneva [Cornell Chronicle 2013-07-08] – A new crop is brewing at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva. A one-acre hop yard was established June 30 as a research planting to bolster the hops revival in New York. And in other beer news, see also: Interest brews in reviving malted barley crop.
100 years of plant biology is celebrated [Cornell Chronicle 2013-07-03] – The two-day celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Department of Plant Biology featured lectures on the early history of botany instruction at Cornell which dates back to 1868; on the years of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock’s work in the department; on a discussion on plant biology’s role into the next century and a brief look at the state of the art research in the department today. Dr. Marcus McFerren, B.S. ’95, Ph.D. ’00, M.D. ’06, delivered the keynote, “A Journey Through Plant Biology: Botanical Medicine and All Its Warts.”In addition, graduate students in the field of plant biology gave tours of Cornell’s facilities to the more than 100 guests and alumni attending the celebration.
Allison Morrill ChatrchyanAgriculture and climate change meet at new institute [Cornell Chronicle 2013-06-28] – For farmers, a warming climate challenges fundamental decisions they have always made based on the certainty of the weather – such as when to plant various crops, which varieties to choose or what investments in cooling or irrigation infrastructure would make the most economic sense. They will soon have a resource to help them navigate the changes: the Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture. Allison Morrill Chatrchyan becomes its first director Sept. 1. “The institute grew out of a very real need to help farmers adapt to the marked changes in our climate that are already underway,” said Mike Hoffmann, director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. “Many current agricultural practices are based on long-standing assumptions about temperature and the length of the growing season that are no longer true.”
Mine seed banks to feed tomorrow’s world [Cornell Chronicle 2013-07-05] – With fewer than a dozen flowering plants accounting for 80 percent of humanity’s caloric intake out of 300,000 species, people need to tap unused plants to feed the world in the near future, claims Cornell plant geneticist Susan McCouch in the Comment feature of the July 4 issue of Nature.
