April 18, 2007
AMES, Iowa "“ At the kick-off of Iowa State University's sesquicentennial on Saturday, April 21, during the Veishea celebration, ISU's College of Agriculture and many of its departments and centers will feature historical displays and activities in tents on central campus. Here are a few historical facts on agriculture at Iowa State that may draw exclamations.
YUM! Popular Chieftain apple developed here.
REALLY? Only college in nation where undergraduates can study seed science.
WOW! Horticulturist Griffith Buck created Blue Skies, praised as "bluest rose in world."
WOW! Home of nation's top-ranked meat and poultry programs.
YUM! Innovative blue cheese process opened door for American-made product, 1941.
WOW! Trace many of the nation's long-term improvements in beef, dairy, swine and poultry to ISU scientists in animal breeding and genetics.
WOW! Find the world leaders in mapping and understanding the genomes of pigs, corn, beef cattle, soybeans and poultry here.
COOL! John V. Atanasoff built first electronic digital computer while on Experiment Station research appointment.
NEAT! Most popular insect website, with 14 million monthly hits (http://www.ent.iastate.edu).
WOW! Iowa's only teacher education certification program in agriculture.
REALLY? 87% of Iowa's high school agriculture teachers are graduates of the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies.
COOL! One of nation's oldest continuously accredited forestry programs, since 1904.
WOW! The lineage of most of the world's valuable, high-performing corn varieties can be traced to B73, a corn line developed on campus.
GEE! Annual Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll is one of longest running surveys of its kind, since 1982.
WOW!An ISU water-quality project is a national model for establishing buffer strips to protect streams.
WOW! Conservation tillage research provided technology that reduced annual cost of crop production on millions of acres by $10 per acre.
NEAT! One of ISU's most actively licensed patents is a natural weed-control lawn and garden product developed by a horticulture professor.
GEE! Social scientists' expertise with population data has been put to use by hundreds of communities, agencies and businesses for planning and economic development.
YUM! Enjoy leaner pork, thanks to genetics research to identify pigs that satisfy consumer preferences.