Category: About One Health + Planetary Health

Sustainability Month: April at Cornell blossoms with events

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April is Sustainability Month at Cornell, and the campus will bloom with exhibits, lectures, a bike rally, a fun run, environmental fashion and learning how to keep this blue planet green: Michael Pollan, environmentalist and best-selling author, speaks on “Out of the Garden” April 27 at the 2017 Iscol Distinguished Environmental Lecture.…

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Veterinary College’s new tests detect tick-borne diseases

Veterinary College’s new tests detect tick-borne diseases

brown dog tick

Kent Loeffler/Provided Life stages of a brown dog tick.

Lyme borreliosis is the most common and widely known tick-borne disease, but Borrelia burgdorferi is only one of more than a dozen bacterial, viral and parasitic agents transmitted by ticks to animals and humans.

Laura Goodman, senior research associate at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center, has developed a new process using nanoscale technology that can detect multiple pathogens at once. She is now adapting this method to test different types of ticks for a large number of disease agents. A long-term goal of her research is to detect and discover newly emerging pathogens.

Blacklegged ticks (formerly known as deer ticks) are the most commonly collected ticks from dogs and humans in the Northeast. “The tests we have traditionally run on this type of tick are for the causative agents of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis,” Goodman said. The latter is caused by bacteria that infect white blood cells and can cause high fevers in people and animals.

“Our newly expanded panel includes assays for the causative agents of Babesiosis, Borrelia miyamotoi disease and Powassan virus disease. All of these agents have been detected in blacklegged ticks from New York state,” she said.

The Cornell AHDC Tick Evaluation Program accepts submissions from the public. It offers Goodman’s tests as well as identification of tick species overseen by board-certified veterinary parasitologist Mani Lejeune.

While it’s good to have better tests for tick-borne diseases, it’s best to prevent tick bites in the first place. Lejeune says that means year-round vigilance. Conduct regular tick checks on your family and pets in all seasons (including winter). If you own horses or other livestock, check them for ticks, as well.

When you find a tick, resist the temptation to hit Google Images. “Because there are so many different species of ticks, and such subtle differences in appearance, you really can’t rely on pictures on the web to identify them,” Lejeune said. “Not all ticks transmit all diseases,” Goodman added. “We need to know exactly what species it is so we can determine what tests are appropriate.”

For more information about tick testing, consult the AHDC website.

This article is written by Claudia Wheatley and was published in the Cornell Chronicle on March 22, 2017.

‘Meat and Greet’ fair brings farmers to local tables

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‘Meat and Greet’ fair brings farmers to local tables

Ox Creek Farm at Meat and Greet

RJ Anderson/Cornell Cooperative Extension Paul Batz, right, owner of Ox Creek Farm in Canandaigua, New York, greets potential customers at the 2017 Meat & Greet Farmer and Chef Fair.

When it comes to shopping for meat, more consumers are looking for products raised locally. Many of those consumers, however, have trouble connecting with nearby farms to satisfy their buying preferences. Looking to break down that barrier in upstate New York was the inaugural Meat & Greet Farmer and Chef Fair.

Held March 11 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, the event was a collaboration between Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Finger Lakes Institute. Also sponsored by the Meat Suite Project and Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty, the event brought together more than 20 farms and well over 100 consumers, including home cooks, professional chefs, restaurateurs and food distributors.

When Kyli Knickerbocker, co-owner of Firestone Farms in Livonia, New York, first heard about the Meat & Greet Fair, she was quick to sign on as vendor. In taking advantage of the networking opportunity – both with consumers and fellow farmers – she and her partner, Jake Stevens, appreciated having a much-needed forum to explain and promote their farm’s value-added agricultural practices.

“I think communities do a great job supporting local vegetable farmers,” said Knickerbocker, who raises beef, poultry and heritage breed hogs along with vegetables and herbs. “However, for whatever reason, consumers aren’t quite as confident taking the plunge to buy meat from local farms.”

Having a positive story and access to an audience, she said, is essential for overcoming that barrier.

“At our booth, we saw a steady stream of consumers from the area who wanted to hear about our pasture-raised livestock and our farm,” said Knickerbocker, also a high school math teacher. “It goes a long way when we’re able to explain and show the care we put into our animals and the sustainable practices we use, such as supplementing feed with scratched or bruised produce from our fields and local grocery stores, and how we work with local breweries and distilleries to reuse their spent brewer’s grain for cattle and pig feed.”

Event organizer Nancy Glazier, small farms specialist with CCE’s Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops agriculture team, has worked with Firestone Farms on a variety of projects, including sustainability measures and obtaining quality assurance certifications. She said the challenges Firestone faces are hardly unique.

“Producers do a great job of taking care of their animals and the day-to-day things, but marketing often does not always come naturally to those folks,” said Glazier. “But it is so important that farmers get out and let consumers get to know them. There is no one better positioned to tell an animal’s and farm’s story than the farmers themselves.”

Riesenberger at Meat and Greet

RJ Anderson/Cornell Cooperative Extension Chef Scott Riesenberger from Ravinous Kitchen at Ravines Wine Cellars in Geneva, New York, prepares fried duck and waffles as part of a cooking demonstration at the Meat & Greet Fair.

In addition to the display booths manned by farmers from around the region, the Meat & Greet Fair featured cooking demonstrations from four local chefs using products provided by event vendors. Scott Riesenberger, chef at Ravinous Kitchen at Ravines Wine Cellars in Geneva, who prepared fried duck and waffles using fowl from Ox Creek Farm in Canandaigua, New York, recently moved back to the area after 17 years cooking in and around New York City. He told the crowd that in culinary circles, duck from the Finger Lakes region is recognized as the best in the northeast.

That day marked the first time he had cooked with a duck from Ox Creek Farms. “It was a great opportunity for chefs like me to get exposed to new producers from around the area that we otherwise might not,” Riesenberger said. “My restaurant focuses on incorporating local ingredients into our menu, so making these connections is ideal.”

Despite being held on a snowy, bitter-cold day, organizers said the Meat & Greet exceeded all expectations. “Attendance was great and we got tremendous feedback on the networking aspect,” said Glazier, who spearheaded CCE’s efforts along with Marie Anselm, agriculture economic development specialist. “Driving the event’s success was the collaborative effort between CCE and the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. We at extension have the farmer connections and my co-organizer Sarah Meyer from the Finger Lakes Institute has a rich network of restaurants that she called on. It was a successful recipe.”

This article is written by RJ Anderson and was published in the Cornell Chronicle on March 28, 2017.

What Trump’s Climate Change Executive Order Means for the Future of Clean Energy

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By David Wolfe, professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, and chair of Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future Climate Change Consortium. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump is expected to release an executive order that rolls back Obama-era environmental protections. This plan should worry anyone who cares about the environment or…

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Researchers look for genetic clues to help grapes survive cold

Researchers look for genetic clues to help grapes survive cold

Chris Kitchen/University Photography. Al Kovaleski, a doctoral student in the field of horticulture, visits the Anthony Road Winery in Penn Yan, New York.

Months before northern vineyards burst into their lush summer peak, the delicate grape buds holding the nascent fruit in its tiny core must first withstand the freezing onslaught of winter.

Understanding how grape buds respond to subzero temperatures is of paramount concern to vineyard managers in New York and other northerly grape-producing states. Some of the more popular varieties used in the wine and juice industries can survive temperatures far below the freezing point of water. By a process known as supercooling, cellular mechanisms within the bud maintain water in liquid state down to around minus 4 to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the species. Beyond a certain low-temperature threshold, ice forms inside the cells, cellular functions cease and the bud dies.

Horticulturists have long relied on traditional methods to study freezing in plants. Now a researcher in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is using powerful technologies on campus to explore in new ways the cellular mechanics that allow grape buds to survive brutal cold. The research has implications for vineyard economics, especially as climate change opens more northerly land for cultivation and current growing regions experience more extreme weather.

Al Kovaleski, a doctoral student in the field of horticulture, is using the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) to create 3-D images of grape buds. The images produced at CHESS are providing a unique perspective as Kovaleski unravels the genetic underpinnings of supercooling in grape buds.

Supercooling is a dynamic process: Different parts within the bud freeze at different temperatures, and those levels and locations change based on the season. When seasonal temperatures plummet, the grape bud responds by expressing cold resistance genes as the cells marshal resources to survive.

“Regions within the bud have different behaviors related to cold resistance. We know there must be a genetic control of what’s going on as the bud responds to freezing temperatures,” Kovaleski said. “By identifying which genes are expressed at various times in the seasons, we can isolate those that are most active when temperatures are coldest and pinpoint the genes responsible for supercooling.”

Chris Kitchen/University Photography. Al Kovaleski inspects grape vines at Anthony Road Winery.

Plants that overwinter above ground have buds to protect the flower primordia and vegetative growing tips. The current understanding is that as ice forms in extracellular spaces, water leaves the cell until a point where no more can be lost for the cell to survive. At that point the supercooling process begins.

Now, Cornell researchers are teaming with physicists to visualize supercooling. Using the high-energy parallel X-ray beams produced at CHESS, Kovaleski is imaging grape buds by taking advantage of how X-rays scatter when passing through varying tissue densities within the bud. The scattering gives rise to phase contrast images, from which Kovaleski constructs digital images that allow him to visualize how water shifts. When combined with genetic sequencing data, Kovaleski can create a robust portrait of how buds react at the coldest temperatures.

The pursuit is not trivial. Winter freezes have been known to decimate grape crops, such as a cold blast in 2014 that wiped out around half of many winemaking varieties in New York, forcing growers to purchase grapes from outside the state. Subzero cold snaps routinely ravage vineyards across the Northeast, such as the “Christmas massacre” of 1980. In the Finger Lakes region, deep lakes that typically remain unfrozen during winter help maintain temperatures slightly warmer on the slopes around the lakes, opening these areas for grape growing. But even these protected regions are prone to devastating freezes.

Deepening the scientific understanding of supercooling provides grape breeders with insights to select the best breeding lines. By working with his adviser and Cornell grape breeder Bruce Reisch, Kovaleski is identifying genes responsible for cold hardiness. The data gives Reisch and other breeders the information to select individuals with the ability to survive colder temperatures while retaining the flavor and growing qualities demanded by consumers and vineyard owners.

“For a trait as complex as low-temperature survival, there is not likely to be a single gene that will impart cold tolerance to seedlings in the breeding program. But the more we understand the complexities of the genetic system, the better breeders will be able to improve cold tolerance,” said Reisch, professor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science and research leader of the Cornell-Geneva Grapevine Breeding and Genetics Program. “Al’s work is bringing much needed clarity to this field of research, with potential applicability to a wide range of perennial crops.”

According to Kovaleski, peaches and other fruit trees that supercool to survive winter could benefit from this fundamental science. If the same genes at work in buds also are active in green tissues, the genetic data might reduce the risk of spring frosts as well.

“By understanding the genes governing cold resistance in grapes, it’s possible that we can reduce the risk of winter kill and protect fruit crops crucial to the Northeast economy,” Kovaleski said.

Along with Reisch, Kovaleski is advised by Robert Thorne, professor in the Department of Physics; and Jason Londo, a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service’s Grape Genetics Research Unit.

This article is written by Matt Hayes and was published in the Cornell Chronicle on March 29, 2017.

Microalgae could play key role in relieving climate warming

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Microalgae could play key role in relieving climate warming

Marine microalgae

Charles Greene/Provided
Marine microalgae races through a “photobioreactor” at Cellana’s Kona Demonstration Facility in Hawaii.

Think better living through marine microalgae, as it may become crucial to mitigate atmospheric greenhouse gases, reduce carbon dioxide emissions from commercial agriculture and steady the global climate, according to Cornell-led research published in the March issue of Earth’s Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

“We must stabilize Earth’s mean global temperature,” said lead author Charles H. Greene, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences. “To attain these targets set by our agreements at the Conference of the Parties (COP21) meetings in Paris, we must reduce carbon dioxide emissions to near zero by mid-century and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in this century’s latter half.”

While some policy analysts and scientists believe that the COP21 agreement climate goals – holding the rise of the mean global temperature to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius – are unachievable, the researchers favor employing microalgae as a key solution.

“We believe these climate goals are attainable, but we must constrain carbon dioxide emissions rapidly and then start removing it from the atmosphere,” said Greene.

Although more solar farms, wind turbines and hydro systems are creating fossil-free electricity, Greene reminds us that aircraft and ships still require liquid fuels. In a green way, biofuels made from marine microalgae could wean industrialized society from carbon-based fossil fuels, according to this new report, “Geoengineering, Marine Microalgae and Climate Stabilization in the 21st Century.”

To make this biofuel, scientists harvest freshly grown microalgae, remove most of the water, then extract lipids for the fuel. The remaining defatted biomass is a protein-rich and highly nutritious byproduct – one that can be added to animal feeds for domesticated farm animals, like chickens and pigs, or aquaculture feeds for salmon and shrimp.

After consuming the algae-supplemented feeds, for example, chickens produce eggs with three times the omega-3 fatty acids.

Terrestrial plant production for biofuels – such as corn, palm and soy, for example – removes millions of acres of land from food production, even as the world grows more populated.

Microalgae grow faster than terrestrial plants, producing an equal amount of bioenergy or food in less than one-tenth the land area. Bioenergy and food production from marine microalgae can have positive impacts on climate and food security, while avoiding many of the negative environmental consequences associated with terrestrial plant-based options, Greene explained.

By replacing marine microalgae production for conventional, land-based agricultural practices, there will be less carbon dioxide emitted, which could achieve climate stabilization goals, he said.

Greene said significant research and development investments will be essential for the next decade to improve bioenergy and food production.

“As this technology ramps up to globally relevant scales during the coming decades, society’s prospects improve for meeting the COP21 climate stabilization targets, while simultaneously achieving energy and food security,” he said.

In addition to Greene, co-authors are Mark E. Huntley, visiting scholar, biological and environmental engineering; Léda N. Gerber, postdoctoral research associate in earth and atmospheric sciences; Ian Archibald, research scientist, Cinglas Ltd., Chester, England;  Joe Granados, University of Hawaii; Deborah L. Sills, Bucknell University; Colin M. Beal, B&D Engineering and Consulting, Lander, Wyoming; and Michael J. Walsh, Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts.

This article is written by Blaine Friedlander and was published in the Cornell Chronicle on March 28, 2017.

CICER brings China experts across campus together

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CICER brings China experts across campus together

Panle Barwick

Barwick

Shanjun Li

Li

 Cornell is an intellectual powerhouse of economic research on China, but until Oct. 1, 2015, when the Cornell Institute for China Economic Research (CICER) launched, experts on the Chinese economy at Cornell had no designated platform through which they could engage with others, including outside stakeholders such as researchers and policymakers. Now, CICER helps coordinate the efforts of scholars across campus and supports research to understand economic growth in China and its impact on the world economy.

CICER grew from conversations and collaborations between Panle Barwick, associate professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Shanjun Li, associate professor of economics in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. The two dreamed of creating a platform for Cornell economists to talk about China, but they needed funding. In 2015, they approached administrators who supported the idea and encouraged the two to push forward. The economics department, Dyson and the Institute for the Social Sciences contributed seed money allowing the institute to get up and running.

“We’ve received a lot of support from university leaders, especially President Rawlings; Chris Barrett, the deputy director of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; Ted O’Donoghue, the senior associate dean at Arts and Sciences; and Laura Spitz, the vice provost for international affairs,” Barwick says.

In 2016, CICER became a program of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Einaudi director Hirokazu Miyazaki says he’s excited about CICER not only because of its distinctive contribution to Chinese studies at Cornell, “but also because of its deeply transnationally collaborative orientation. Its innovative educational and policy-oriented activities will enhance the national and global impact of Cornell’s international studies.”

Li and Barwick say CICER’s core mission is as a research institute to conduct rigorous and impactful economic research on the most pressing social and economic issues in China. Second, it seeks to provide education and training to graduate and undergraduate students at Cornell. And third, it conducts outreach, using CICER’s research to improve policymaking in China.

For the first several years, CICER will focus mostly on research, developing sound and policy-relevant empirical findings (several papers are already near completion). With these findings in hand, CICER will spend more efforts on outreach in China, aiming to affect policy by offering research-based findings. Any influence CICER has will have a wide-ranging impact, Li notes, since China has such significant impact on other countries.

The five key CICER research areas are defined by their relevance to policy rather than to a field, explain Li and Barwick, and include rural development; firm activities and industrial dynamics; financial and real estate markets; international trade; and environmental and energy challenges.

Current research projects include the impacts of industrial policies in China; the dynamics of firm productivity and location choices; the causes, consequences and policy choices regarding air pollution; transportation policies and the housing market; and electricity sector restructuring.

For example, Li and Barwick have been exploring how environmental changes affect the local economy and health issues, using large data sets that cover most of China, including measures of air quality and water as well as high-frequency transactional data on local economies. “For example, what are the economic consequences of congestion and air pollution? These are big problems given the pace of China’s urbanization and economic growth. What are the effective policy options to address these challenges?” asks Li.

This summer, CICER will offer its first summer camp to college students from top universities in China. “The goal of the camp is to help participants make better-informed decisions about their future career, as well as introduce them to opportunities at Cornell for graduate study in business and economics,” Li says. The camp will feature lectures by prominent professors, workshops on graduate school life in the U.S., career options, and cultural and social issues in the U.S., as well as field trips to Washington, D.C., and New York City.

In addition to the summer camp, Barwick and Li would like to organize training programs in the future for Chinese officials. “Many important decisions are made by local officials,” says Barwick. “We want to bring them here and share how our research can help inform their policy decisions.”

This article is written by Linda B. Glaser and was published in the Cornell Chronicle on March 23, 2017.

Cornell inaugurates new seed systems initiative in Nepal

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I have been farming for the last 50 years. I have seen production dwindling slowly and steadily, erratic climatic conditions, bad seeds and lack of finance as key issues which have led to the fall of prosperity for farmers,” said Hari Baktha Dhakal from the Chitwan region of Nepal, one of more than 200 farmers who gathered for the inauguration of the Seed Systems for Nepal initiative Jan. 23

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