AG ONLINE GOES WEEKLY
With this issue Ag Online will be distributed every Monday, unless there is a university holiday on that day. The e-mailed newsletter has been sent every other week since it debuted nearly eight years ago. The deadline for submitting news items will be the preceding Friday. Please send items and ideas to Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu or Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu.
AG COUNCIL BARBECUES FOR NATIONAL AG DAY
The College of Agriculture Student Council Wednesday will host a barbecue to celebrate National Ag Day, which was March 20. Food will be served free of charge to students and faculty from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in front of Curtiss Hall.
B and B BAKERS RAISE DOUGH FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
Block and Bridle Club raised $3,602.50 for undergraduate scholarships at its annual cake auction last month. The Dairy Science Club won the cake judging competition preceding the auction for its Golden Dairy Farm entry. Susan Lamont, Richard Ross and Douglas Kenealy served as judges.
GIFT TO GO TO RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
Peterson Genetics of Cedar Falls has given $25,000 to the Seed Science Center to support graduate research fellowships. Mike Peterson, president of the company, presented the gift at the 24th annual Seed Technology Conference in February. The Peterson Genetics' donation is the lead gift in a campaign by the Iowa Seed Association to raise $500,000 for graduate fellowships in seed science.
AG COMM WORKSHOP SET FOR WEDNESDAY
The next Ag Comm Workshop will discuss Evaluation and Student Assessment of Communication Skills. It is scheduled for noon Wednesday from in Room 142 Curtiss. Lunch is available. Please contact Cheryl Abrams, cabrams@iastate.edu or 4-5872, if you plan to attend.
CARET REPS TAKES COLLEGE ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO WASHINGTON
Joyce Neill and Donald Latham, the college’s representatives on the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET), visited Congress this month to talk with officials and staff about Iowa State’s agricultural contributions. CARET is a national grassroots organization created in 1982 by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, or NASULGC. CARET’s mission is to enhance national support and understanding of the land-grant university system’s food and agricultural research, extension and teaching programs to achieve a better standard of living for all people. A report distributed on the visit is available online.
ISU ORGANIZES ENSMINGER SCHOOLS IN THAILAND, TAIWAN
In February, ISU coordinated two Ensminger International Agricultural Technology Schools in Thailand and Taiwan. The two-day workshops, held at agricultural universities in both countries, drew 650 farmers, scientists, government officials, university faculty and business people. College faculty who presented were David Topel, Dennis Marple, Ramesh Kanwar, John Mabry, Max Rothschild and David Acker. They were joined by others from the University of Georgia, the USDA and three other countries. The topics included animal genetics, swine production and marketing, environmental issues, continuing education and other topics. Both schools were organized by Topel, who holds the Ensminger Professorship in animal science, and Marple. The schools continue the work of the late M.E. Ensminger, an animal scientist who worked with the College of Agriculture to conduct the schools. The schools aim to strengthen the animal-agriculture industry around the world and provide a better way of life for people.
GASPI SEMINAR ON AG PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
Vernon Ruttan, of the applied economics department at the University of Minnesota, will present "Productivity Growth in World Agriculture: Resources and Constraints." The session is set for noon April 11 in the Ensminger International Room, 1204 Kildee Hall. It is sponsored by the Department of Agronomy’s Global Agricultural Science and Policy Institute.
SURE SIGN OF SPRING -- LAWN MOWER SERVICE DAYS
Get ready for summer with a lawn mower check-up. The Ag Systems Technology Club's annual Lawn Mower Service Days will be 1 to 6 p.m. April 5 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 6. For servicing bring you mower to the courtyard of Davidson Hall across from the Molecular Biology Building. The service costs $30 for a push mower and $38 for a rider. For pick-up and delivery there is an additional $13 charge for push mowers and $18 for riders. To order the pick-up and delivery service, call 4-1434 or 4-0462 by April 3. For more information, call 292-3634.
EXPERIENCE ABROAD OPENS STUDENT’S EYES
Gary Sullivan spent an eye-opening summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the International Livestock Research Institute. Sullivan, an animal science and international agriculture major, was one of two Iowa students to participate in the eight-week 2001 World Food Prize Youth Institute International Summer Program. He was recognized in the Editor's Note section of this month’s Wallaces Farmer. In the editorial Sullivan states, "This internship is an excellent program. It really opens your eyes to what agriculture is like around the world. We hear about starving people, but in this program, you actually experience it."
AG BUSINESS SENIOR WINS ISU HONOR
Erin Cumings, a senior in agricultural business, has been named ISU's 2002 Student Employee of the Year. Forty-one students were nominated. Cumings works in the College of Agriculture Career Services office. Last fall she chaired Ag Career Day, and also helped the office make the transition to a new software program to support job-seeking students. The Office of Student Financial Aid will hold an awards presentation April 24 to honor Cumings and other student workers.
KIRSCHENMANN NAMED A LEADER OF THE YEAR
Progressive Farmer magazine has named Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann one of its 2002 Leaders of the Year in Midwest Agriculture. The award has been given since the 1930s to people who have brought new ideas to agriculture. Kirschenmann was applauded for his efforts to carry on a national conversation about the need for a "new social contract" for agriculture. He will receive the award on Wednesday during a "town meeting" scheduled at the Wallace Foundation for rural Research and Development, Lewis, as part of the John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture.
FORUM TO LOOK AT LOCAL FOODS ON CAMPUS
An April 4 forum will cover information about local food-buying projects plus an ISU faculty-student panel discussion about using local food on campus. The director of a New York university dining service also will share his recipe for culinary success on campus. "From Farm to Fork: A Forum on Locally Grown Foods at University Campuses" is set for 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the Joan Bice Underwood Tearoom, 23 MacKay Hall. It is sponsored by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and ISU's Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management program.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
March 26-27: Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture, Ames and Lewis
March 26: 4-H Day in the Iowa Legislature
March 30: Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture deadline
April 8: Gamma Sigma Delta Initiation Ceremony, 4:30 p.m., Sun Room, Memorial Union
April 11-13: Iowa State FFA Leadership Conference
April 15: "Where is agriculture headed, and why care," Leopold Center’s Urban Conversation, 7-8:30 p.m., St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Church, 7075 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines
April 17: Science in Ag Day
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C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
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KEYS UNLOCK WRITING SECRETS
Stephen Wilbers, author of "Keys To Great Writing," states in the first chapter of his book that "if I could teach only one key to great writing, it would be this: Make very word count." His book includes techniques to reduce wordiness by eliminating:
--Redundant modifiers, e.g., past history, new initiatives, terrible tragedy;
--Redundant categories, e.g., heavy in weight, shiny in appearance, period of time;
--Wordy expressions, e.g., during that time, that, in order to, both of these are;
--It, there and what constructions, e.g., "It is my suggestion" rather than "I suggest;"
--Indirect negatives, e.g., "The alterations were not significant" rather than "The alterations were insignificant."
More info: Writing That Works, November 2000
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I N F O G R A Z I N G
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GRANT-WRITING BROWN BAGS SCHEDULED
The College of Agriculture is offering a faculty professional development series of three "brown bags" to provide an overview if the various components of grant writing. One of the desired outcomes is to build at least one Ag College grants development learning community that will encourage collaboration and support in proposal writing. Each session will be limited to 25 people. Participants are asked to register and attend all of the sessions. The dates are April 12, 19 and 26 from noon to 1 p.m. in 142 Curtiss Hall. To sign up, contact Elena Polouchkina at elenap@iastate.edu or call at 4-8493.
AG FORUM SPEAKER SLIDES ON THE WEB
Power Point presentations of speakers at CARD's Ag Forum are available online.
AG ORGANIZATION DIRECTORY ON LINE
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has placed its latest Iowa Agricultural Organizations directory on its website.
FOOT AND MOUTH ADVISORY STILL IN EFFECT
The Foot and Mouth Advisory instituted last year on ISU Research and Demonstration Farms is still in force, according to farms coordinator Mark Honeyman. The advisory is on the web in PDF form. The World Organization for Animal Health recently declared Britain free of the disease, but it took nearly a year after its first FMD outbreak.
NATIONAL AG BIOTECH CONFERENCE LOOKS AT AGRICULTURE AND MEDICINE
The National Agricultural Biotechnology Council's annual conference this year is "Foods for Health," which will examine the perspective, policy and potential of integrating agriculture and medicine. It will be held May 19 to 21 in Minneapolis.
NANOTECHNOLOGY GRANTS SOUGHT
July 1 is the deadline for grant applications for research on nanoscale science, engineering and technology, collectively referred to as nanotechnology. The EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Research, as part of the Science to Achieve Results program, are seeking grant applications.
COLLEGE LOANS ‘UNMANAGEABLE’ FOR 40 PERCENT OF STUDENTS
A report, by the lobbying arm of State Public Interest Research Groups, a nonprofit organization that studies social policy, found that debt among college students doubled between 1992 and 2000, when the average graduate left college owing nearly $17,000 in educational loans. The figures were not adjusted for inflation, which remained low in that period. Two out of three students must borrow money to attend college, and four out of 10 face unmanageable debts as they finish college and began working. Unmanageable educational debt was defined as that taking more than 8 percent of a person's monthly income. (New York Times, March 8)
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E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
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COUNTERING THE ‘EAT-MORE MESSAGE’
"Nobody can say that these [fast] foods in reasonable quantities are bad. Hamburgers have nutrients; milkshakes have nutrients, but they are very high in calories. And people don't even notice this eat-more message is here. That's what troubles me." Marion Nestle, head of New York University's Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, talking about her new book "Food Politics" in a Feb. 19 New York Times article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/health/nutrition/19CONV.html?rd=hcmcp…
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M A R G I N A L I A
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PAT MURPHY’S TOP TEN LIST
In April, Pat Murphy, food science and human nutrition, will be honored by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) as one of the top 15 most-cited authors in agriculture and plant and animal sciences. Here’s a top 10 list of the titles of Murphy’s highly cited articles:
10. Bioavailability of soybean isoflavones depends upon gut microflora in women
9. Soybean isoflavone extract suppresses early but not later promotion of hepatocarcinogenesis by phenobarbital in female rat-liver
8. Mass balance study of isoflavones during soybean processing
7. A diet high in wheat fiber decreases the bioavailability of soybean isoflavones in a single meal fed to women
6. Role of isoflavones in the cholesterol reduction by soy proteins in the clinic
5. Soybean protein composition and tofu quality
4. Isoflavones in soy-based infant formulas
3. Reaction with fructose detoxifies fumonisin B-1 while stimulating liver-associated natural killer cell activity in rats
2. Soy isoflavone analysis: quality control and a new internal standard
1. Daidzein and genistein glucuronides in vitro are weakly estrogenic and activate human natural killer cells at nutritionally relevant concentrations.
Next issue: April 1 Deadline: March 29
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AG ONLINE
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EDITORS
Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu, and Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
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Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every other Friday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to bmeyer@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
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