Agriculture Commons^™

Clover Root Curculio (Sitona Hispidulus F.), Kaitlin Rim, Steven Price, Ricardo Ramirez

All Current Publications

The clover root curculio is an important agricultural pest in forage production systems. Adult beetles feed on the host plant leaves while the damaging larval stage feeds on the roots below ground. Heavy larval feeding has been associated with reduced stand establishment, disruption of nutrient and water uptake, increased secondary plant pathogen infection, decreased winter plant survival, delayed green-up, and reductions in forage quality and yield. Due to the hidden nature of eggs and larvae in the soil, CRC has been overlooked and damage is often misdiagnosed as nutrient deficiencies or pathogens. Historically, applications of chlorinated hydrocarbons, carbamates, and organophosphates …

Why Stress Management Strategies Work, Jennifer Viveros, David G. Schramm

All Current Publications

Stress is a universally-experienced phenomenon. Although there are myriad causes, the methods of effectively managing the stress are generally the same. Why do these strategies work though? This fact sheet addresses this question, citing what research has found about why these commonly suggested stress management strategies work. They are divided into physical, mental, and social categories of stress relievers.

An Apple A Day? Eat More Fruits And Vegetables, Cindy Nelson, Makendra Goff

All Current Publications

This fact sheet gives ideas for increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet each day.

An Alternate Method For Setting Codling Moth Biofix, Diane G. Alston, Marion Murray, Richard Heflebower

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes an alternate method for setting codling moth biofix that was found to be effective for Utah's fruit production regions. The fixed-biomix method is simpler to implement and easier to explain to growers and crop consultants and can be accessed on line.

European Cherry Fruit Fly Rhagoletis Cerasi (Linnaeus), Lori R. Spears, Diane G. Alston

All Current Publications

European cherry fruit fly (ECFF) is a new invasive cherry-infesting pest from Europe. It was first detected in the U.S. in New York in 2017. This fact sheet describes it and includes life history, plant hosts, damage symptoms, monitoring, and management.

Climate Of The Weakly-Forced Yet High-Impact Convective Storms Throughout The Ohio River Valley And Mid-Atlantic United States, Binod Pokharel, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, Jonathan D. Meyer, Robert R. Gillies, Yen-Heng Lin

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The 1-in-1000-year precipitation event in late June 2016 over West Virginia caused tremendous flooding damage. Like the 2012 mid-Atlantic derecho that blacked out much of the DC area, similar events can be traced to small, mid-tropospheric perturbations (MPs) embedded in the large-scale ridge pattern. Under this “weakly-forced” pattern, severe weather outbreaks commonly occur alongside eastward propagating MPs acting as a triggering mechanism for progressive mesoscale convective systems, which move across the central and eastern US. Forecasting of such weakly-forced yet severe weather events is difficult in both weather and climate timescales. The present diagnostic analysis of the MP climatology is …

High Tunnel Cut Flower Peonies In Utah, Tiffany Maughan, Larry Rupp, Maegen Lewis

All Current Publications

This fact sheet presents general peony production information, basic high tunnel management guidelines for peonies, and preliminary data comparing peonies produced in a high tunnel to the open field.

Swine First Aid, Basic Care, And Common Diseases In Show Hogs, Flip Booklet, Karah Nay, Dennis Worwood, Kerry A. Rood

All Current Publications

This flip book provides guidelines for swine first aid, basic care, and common diseases of show hogs.

Rocky Mountain Trefoil Beef, Kailie Leggett, Roslynn Mccann, Jennifer W. Macadam, Juan J. Villalba

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes Rocky Mountain trefoil beef and how researchers at USU are exploring the use of tannin-containing legumes as a method fr finishing cattle to address environmental and efficiency concerns associated with the most common current beef production systems.

Tart Cherries In The Garden, Sheriden M. Hansen, Tiffany Maughan, Brian Barlow, Brent Black

All Current Publications

Tart cherry (Prunus cerasus), also known as sour cherry or pie cherry, is an excellent addition to home orchards that is often overlooked. Trees can easily be tucked into landscapes and can provide an abundant supply of cherries for freezing, drying, canning, juicing, and preserves. Several cultivars are available for selection and may be purchased on semi-dwarfing rootstocks to help trees maintain a manageable size. Trees generally grow well in Utah climates and conditions and are relatively easy to maintain and prune. Potential insect and disease problems are minimal and include Powdery Mildew and Western Cherry Fruit Fly. …

Ensuring Adequate Vitamin D Intake Among Infants And Children, Alicia Kunzler, Mateja R. Savoie-Roskos, Carrie Durward

All Current Publications

This fact sheet explains what vitamin D does, why a child might need more vitamin D, and three ways to increase levels of vitamin D in the body: through diet, sunlight, and supplementation.

Constructing Shade Structures: Small Area Vegetable And Fruit Production, Dan Drost, Tiffany Maughan

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes shade structures to protect fruit and vegetable production from sunburn. It includes descriptions of individual row shade, small field shade, high tunnel shade, shade structure kits, shade cloth, material and tools, and suppliers.

Effects Of Stand Structure, Browsing, And Biophysical Conditions On Regeneration Following Mountain Pine Beetle In Mixed Lodgepole Pine And Aspen Forests Of The Southern Rockies, Kristen A. Pelz, Frederick W. Smith

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) co-occur in the southern Rocky Mountains (USA), where mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae) has caused extensive lodgepole pine mortality since the late 1990s. Both species excel in post-disturbance high-light environments, but lodgepole pine has generally been thought to establish poorly on undisturbed seedbeds, and aspen suckering may be inhibited by intact aspen overstory. We ask whether lodgepole pine and aspen will regenerate in sufficient quantities to revegetate these forests. We visited a random sample of aspen and lodgepole pine stands across the affected landscape …

Aspen Recruitment In The Yellowstone Region Linked To Reduced Herbivory After Large Carnivore Restoration, Luke E. Painter, Robert L. Beschta, Eric J. Larsen, William J. Ripple

Aspen Bibliography

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) recruitment during the 1980s–90s was suppressed by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis) herbivory on winter ranges in the Yellowstone region, and saplings (young aspen taller than 2 m) were rare. Following the 1995–96 reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus), browsing decreased and sapling recruitment increased in Yellowstone National Park. We compared aspen data from inside the park to data collected in three winter ranges outside the park. For most areas, the percentage of young aspen browsed annually was 80–100% in 1997–98, decreasing to 30–60% in 2011–15. Sapling recruitment was inversely …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

The semester has started! PSC 4900 is the Student Organic Farm practicum class, and this year’s students and some of the farm team met for our first class on Monday. Dr. Jennifer Reeve teaches the class and will be back at the end of September after mater­nity leave. This month Dr. Melanie Stock will lead the class in sampling the soil for next year’s farm field, calculating required nutrient ammendments, spreading compost and testing the irrigation system for the fall cover crop.

Meanwhile, the team is maintaining the fall crops, harvesting and preparing for the grand finale Harvest Festival coming …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Fall crops are coming up, and they’re amazing. We started digging up the potatoes today and it is so crazy to see how many potatoes can grow from planting a chunk of potato with a couple of eyes on it! Some of these plants have two pounds of potatoes growing off of them. The pumpkins are already enormous, and the butternut squash are still ripening but are really good-sized already. The melons are taking longer than expected, but look great. Our one warm-season failure seems to be the eggplant- but watch them produce like crazy now that I’ve said that. …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

We’re getting ready for volunteer season! We’re so thankful to our regulars who have been so much fun to have on the farm, and whose work has been a huge contribution to the farm’s success this summer. Now we’re getting back to lovely mornings and evenings, and are going to plant vegetables that have to over winter, clean up our perennial berry patches, repair and winterize the hoop houses and other farm structures, prep the field for cover crops, etc. - all while making sure our baskets are abundant and selling veggies at the farm stand and at the USU …

Early Events In Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection: Viral Entry, Sang-Im Yun, Young-Min Lee

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne zoonotic flavivirus, is an enveloped positive-strand RNA virus that can cause a spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from mild febrile illness to severe neuroinvasive disease. Today, several killed and live vaccines are available in different parts of the globe for use in humans to prevent JEV-induced diseases, yet no antivirals are available to treat JEV-associated diseases. Despite the progress made in vaccine research and development, JEV is still a major public health problem in southern, eastern, and southeastern Asia, as well as northern Oceania, with the potential to become an emerging global pathogen. In …

Usu Student Organic Farm, Usu Student Organic Farm

USU Student Organic Farm Newsletter

Six weeks until the first frost date means we are done planting. We put in some beets and radishes today just on the off chance they’re ready in time for the final week of CSA shares (38 and 40 days to maturity, respectively). Otherwise, we’ve got fall broc­coli and kohlrabi in the ground, a new asian green called Shungiku (see the recipe be­low), rutabaga, fresh kale, and lettuce starts planted and on the menu for September.

Opportunities And Challenges Involved With A Large-Scale Private Enterprise Focused On Improving Food Security In Semi-Arid Regions Of Ethiopia, Anthony Richards

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In 2009, Morrell Agro Industries (MAI) was formed in Ethiopia with the mission to end famine in the country through growing imported dryland wheat varieties from the western United States. MAI entered into a lease agreement with the Ethiopian government for 25,000 ha of land in semi-arid brushland in the Oromia region. The Beltu farm was established at the location for seed multiplication and demonstration of the dryland initiative concept. From the first harvest in July of 2010 several challenges arose that prevented the success of the dryland seed initiative. From high intensity short duration rainfall events on Vertisol soils, …

Rangeland Weed Control And Pasture Rejuvenation, Linden Greenhalgh, Jerry Caldwell, Burt Staples

All Current Publications

The purpose of this fact sheet is to show how rangeland pastures can be rejuvenated through weed control, fertilization, reseeding, and improved management practices.

Fresh And Easy: How To Make Pureed Baby Food, Shayla Shearer, Mateja R. Savoie-Roskos, Carrie Durward

All Current Publications

This fact sheet tells how to safely prepare and store pureed baby food so it is nutritious, convenient and less expensive than store bought baby food.

Trichloroethylene Groundwater Contamination In Tooele Valley, Utah, Linden Greenhalgh, Jon Fenske

All Current Publications

The objective of this fact sheet is to provide an overview of the history and occurrence of groundwater contamination, primarily by Trichloroethylene (TCE), in Tooele Valley, Utah.

Market Goat First Aid, Basic Care, And Common Diseases In Show Goats, Flip Book, Karah Nay, Deric Despain

All Current Publications

This flip book gives information on first aid for market goats as well as basic care and common diseases and treatments in show goats.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Management For Fruits And Vegetables In Utah, Lori R. Spears, Diane G. Alston, Marion Murray

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), an invasive agricultural and nuisance pest from eastern Asia. It includes information on how to identify, feeding injury, monitoring, management, and chemical control.

Proper Care And Management Of Common Health Concerns With 4-H Goat Projects, Karah Nay, Deric Despain

All Current Publications

The purpose of this fact sheet is to give youth and their parents a basic guide of what signs and symptoms to watch for to prevent illness or death. It includes instructions on how to take vitals, how to assist the veterinarian when called, the compiling of materials for a first aid kit, proper antibiotic administration, vaccinations, and preventive practices that the youth can implement while caring for their animal.

El Ajo En El Huerto, Dan Drost, Celina Wille

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

El Cilantro En El Huerto, Colt Miller, Dan Drost, Celina Wille

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

Tomates En El Huerto, Dan Drost, Celina Wille

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

Higher Education: How Parents Can Support Their Children, Celina G. Wille

All Current Publications

This fact sheet gives tips on how parents can support their children in the process of understand and evaluating college and career opportunities in higher education.