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COLLEGE NEWS
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SEMINAR TUESDAY ON PHARMACEUTICAL PLANTS
Bill Horan of Horan Brothers Agricultural Enterprises will speak on growing plants that make pharmaceuticals at 10 a.m., Tuesday, July 1. The session will be in the Seed Science Center, Room 106. The presentation is part of a seminar series sponsored by the Biosafety Initiative for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products (BIGMAP). The program is supported by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Plant Sciences Institute, ISU Extension and the Office of Biotechnology.
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT TO HOST CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD PRESENTATION
Canadian Wheat Board officials will visit Iowa State July 10 to talk about the board’s current operations and future challenges. The producer-controlled board is one of Canada’s largest exporters and net earners of foreign exchange. Ken Ritter, producer and chairman of the board of directors, and Ian McCreary, producer and board member, will talk about the board’s risk management through price pooling and financial guarantees. They also will examine global grain trends impacting the market and family farm operations including trade challenges, increasing competition from exporters, rapid consolidation in the grain handling and transportation industries, and the impending introduction of genetically modified wheat. The presentation will start at 1:15 p.m. in 1951 Food Sciences Building. Contact: Robert Wisner, 4-6310 or rwwisner@iastate.edu.
DEADLINE JULY 18 FOR SPRING OFF-CAMPUS COURSES
July 18 is the deadline to identify courses, credit and non-credit, that will be offered off-campus next spring 2004 semester. If you plan to offer a course off-campus, notify your department chair or departmental coordinator, or contact Neena Bentley at 4-1862 or nbentley@iastate.edu. She and Richard Carter in the Brenton Center will work with faculty to prepare the course initiation form and establish preliminary budgets.
CONTROL OF TOMATO RIPENING IS FOCUS OF ISU RESEARCH
Richard Gladon researches ways to make flowers last longer and to slow fruit and vegetable ripening. Two years ago, an undergraduate student working with Gladon discovered he could delay tomato ripening. This year, preliminary findings by a graduate student showed the ripening process can be restarted. Learn more in "Agriculture in Action."
EASING HUNGER AND POVERTY ABROAD GOAL OF NEW ISU PROGRAM
Working with rural communities to alleviate hunger and poverty in developing countries is the focus of a new Iowa State initiative. The Sustainable Rural Livelihoods program will involve faculty and students with partners in rural communities. They will work together to respond to problems that underlie shortages of food, inadequate household income and poor health.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR WOODLAND INVASIVE PLANT SURVEY
Iowa State and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are surveying four invasive plant species in Iowa woodlands and forests. To conduct a thorough survey, volunteers will be needed. Interested persons are asked to attend a free, one-day training session that will cover invasive species identification and data collection methods. One training session will be held in Ames. Learn more: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2003/jun03/jun0328.html
FARM LEASING COURSE AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM ISU EXTENSION
ISU Extension is accepting registrations for Farm Leasing Arrangements, the latest in a series of online courses offered through the Agricultural Management e-School (A.M.E.S.). "The Ag Management e-School is a good example of how ISU Extension is using the Internet to make resources more readily available to farmers and all Iowans," said Donald Lewis, interim director, Extension Ag and Natural Resources. For more information about A.M.E.S. courses: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ames.
OATS LOWER WEIGHT, BLOOD PRESSURE, CHOLESTEROL, GLUCOSE
A study presented at the Experimental Biology 2003 conference suggests the risk of becoming obese is lower for kids who eat oatmeal regularly compared to those who do not. Research indicates the beneficial health effects of oats are caused by a soluble fiber called beta-glucan. However, it takes one and a half cups of cooked oatmeal to gain those health benefits. Researchers at Iowa State want to change that. Learn more: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2003/jun03/jun0330.html
BOARD OF REGENTS APPROVE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved the new Institute of Science and Society at Iowa State during its June meeting. Iowa State's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the lead college for the institute. The College of Agriculture and the Plant Sciences Institute are partners. Faculty researchers in the institute will study how attitudes and ethics about science are formed, how understanding of previous discoveries and advancements affects views about the future and what's best for society, and the rate at which new technologies are accepted and adopted.
DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
June 30: Deadline for applications to the National Research Initiative 2003 Supplemental, Integrated Program
July 8: Lauren L. Christian Pork Chop Open, 10 a.m. shotgun start, Veenker Memorial Golf Course; 4 p.m. reception, 5 p.m. dinner with a program, awards and a fund-raising auction following, registration form online
July 8: Northern Research and Demonstration Farm specialty field day on weeds, 6:30 p.m., Kanawha
Aug. 16: Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm specialty field day on grapes, 8:30 a.m., near Nashua
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COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
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TIPS FOR IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS
It’s important for writers to work on their techniques. These tips may help make writing more interesting.
1. Read about writing. Look at new books that seem to offer at least new ideas and reinforce the basics.
2. Attend writing seminars at least once every other year.
3. Soak in good writing. When you read something good, go back and analyze it. Look for techniques you can use.
4. Don't try to perfect everything at once.
5. Edit a paragraph or two of someone else's writing each day.
From Writing That Works, Issue No. 27, March 4.
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INFOGRAZING
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USDA REPORT COVERS AG TECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week issued a 40-page report, "21st Century Agriculture: A Critical Role for Science and Technology." The report features conventional and emerging technologies that can increase agricultural productivity, enhance the nutrient content of foods and offer new capabilities and options in production and marketing for developing countries. The report also highlights unmet needs in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions and addresses issues of technology development and transfer. A PDF of the report is available online.
FORUM SET TO DISCUSS BIOTERRORISM ISSUES
The Texas A&M University System's Integrative Center for Homeland Security is sponsoring a forum titled the "International Aspects of Accidental Release or Deliberate Use of Biological Agents Affecting Food and Agriculture." The forum will deal with policy and regulatory options to enhance cooperation, reduce vulnerability and modernize post-event recovery procedures. It will be held at the Houston Hyatt Regency Hotel Oct. 14-15 as part of the International Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology in Houston.
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EXTERNAL VOICES
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FOUNDERS BROKE THROUGH CONVENTION
"The founders of the American nation were one of the most creative groups in modern history. … We are privileged to know and to benefit from the outcome of their efforts, which they could only hopefully imagine, and ignore their main concern: which was the possibility, indeed the probability, that their creative enterprise -- not to recast the social order but to transform the political system -- would fail: would collapse into chaos or autocracy. … Since we inherit and build on their achievements, we now know what the established world of the eighteenth century flatly denied but which they broke through convention to propose -- that absolute power need not be indivisible but can be shared among states within a state and among branches of government, and that the sharing of power and the balancing of forces can create not anarchy but freedom.”
--Bernard Bailyn, historian and Harvard University professor, "To Begin The World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders" (Knopf, 2003)
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MARGINALIA
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USDA PLANT-GATHERING MISSION CHRONICLED ON WEB
USDA scientists traveled to Asia in 1929 to find out more about soybeans. Their goal was to bring back examples of rare, wild and cultivated soybeans, a crop that had captured the interest of American farmers. The explorers gathered about 4,500 soybean specimens over three years from the rural countrysides of Japan, Korea and Manchurian China. A USDA story about the investigation with photographs taken on the trip is on the Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun03/plant0603.htm
Next issue: July 7
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AG ONLINE
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EDITORS
Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu, and Brian Meyer, bmeyer@iastate.edu
Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/
SUBSCRIBE
Ag Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag Online unsubscribe."
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 1031 Wallace Road Office Building, Room 101, (515) 294-7612.