The Campaign for Delaware:
Positioning the University
for the Challenges Ahead
The work of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is distinguished by an almost seamless blend of teaching, research, and extension. Both undergraduate and graduate students are highly involved in faculty research projects. Faculty members work directly with industrial partners to transfer research results and develop new technologies. Extension educators engage in classroom teaching and applied research in addition to their work in the community.
At the College, the power of these three interrelated pursuits is brought to bear on some of the central challenges confronting our nation’s largest industry: How to maintain high yields while conserving the soil. How to fight agricultural pests without degrading our water supplies. How to preserve food without altering taste or nutritional value. Our work touches virtually every aspect of food production.
The work of Jim Glancey, associate professor of bioresources engineering, is a model of research partnership in action. His interest is precision farming—using computers to maximize harvest and minimize inputs. In collaboration with engineers from New Holland and FMC Corporation, Glancey has developed a self-adjusting harvester that uses an electronic eye to follow the contours of the ground, thus increasing harvest efficiency. Alumnus Ed Kee, now a Cooperative Extension vegetable specialist, is testing the design on the College’s 126-acre Warrington Farm in Hollyville, Delaware. Glancey and his partners are also working on an industrial waste spreader that will automatically match the application of nutrients from the spreader to the variable fertility requirements within a field. The result of these partnerships is a win-win situation: increased profitability for farmers, processors and industry, as well as better stewardship of the land.
Extension specialist Joanne Whalen is working hard to bring Delaware’s growers the benefits of integrated pest management, or IPM. By demonstrating how to monitor the abundance of pests in the field and the conditions that encourage their growth, she has enabled farmers to more effectively target their pest control efforts. Reducing pesticide applications through IPM methods saved Delaware vegetable farmers more than $40,000 in 1997 while benefiting the environment as well. Whalen’s work utilizes the research of faculty like Judith Hough-Goldstein, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Applied Ecology, and her students. Her research on the Colorado potato beetle has resulted in new strategies for controlling a devastating insect pest. Meanwhile, undergraduate intern David Baker has conducted research in the College’s Botanic Gardens that will help establish IPM guidelines and practices for the region’s ornamental horticulture industry.
Food science professor Dallas Hoover’s research on food safety and processing involves finding new ways to defeat dangerous bacteria and promote beneficial ones. With his team of graduate and undergraduate students, Hoover has pioneered the use of high-pressure pasteurization in the United States, testing its effects on products ranging from baby food to salsa. He is also investigating the use of bifidobacteria, common intestinal bacteria that can inhibit the growth of harmful varieties, as an additive to dairy products.
True to the saying that we cannot live on bread alone, the College’s impact on the quality of life extends beyond food production. We are also making strides in such areas as natural resource management, wildlife conservation, and ornamental horticulture. Work in these areas helps ensure that our world remains a biologically diverse, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing place to live. For example, professor of entomology and applied ecology Roland Roth has collected data on the population, habitat, and nesting behavior of the wood thrush for nearly 30 years, making his study the longest-running migratory bird study in the Western Hemisphere.
The prestigious Longwood Graduate Program in Public Horticulture Administration is a one-of-a-kind cooperative venture between the College and the world-famous Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The interdisciplinary program gives students broad experience in managing public gardens, including fund-raising and financial management, personnel management, curatorship, garden design, educational programming, and public relations. Graduates of the program occupy senior positions at the National Arboretum, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Disney World, and other high-profile public gardens.
The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is leading the way to a new era of agricultural science. As the latest step, we have created a Center for Agricultural Biotechnology. A gene sequencing facility dedicated to agriculturally important plants, animals, and microorganisms has been established in cooperation with the DuPont Company, the State of Delaware, and other partners. The Center will focus on gene discovery in crop plants, poultry, and their pathogens. With the knowledge created in this highly stimulating intellectual environment, we can anticipate an exciting period of discovery ahead for the College.