The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded nearly $1.6 million in research funding to University of Georgia’s Jack Huang to research cost-effective treatments to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water, wastewater and biosolids to ensure safe water for drinking and agricultural application in rural areas. Huang, an associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences on the UGA Griffin campus, is one of only three researchers whose teams received funding from the EPA.

Research entomologists in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are using three grants to study ambrosia beetles in an effort to prevent future attacks and preserve more fruit and nut trees.

A plant pathologist at the University of Georgia Tifton campus is using a grant from the Georgia Farm Bureau to study a bacterial disease that is harming the state’s blueberry crops. 

University of Georgia Department of Horticulture Professor Bodie Pennisi has been named a UGA Public Service and Outreach (PSO) Faculty Fellow for 2019-2020. The program provides UGA professors with an opportunity to apply their research and course curriculum to the needs of a specific PSO unit at the university.

Two University of Georgia researchers have been awarded Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Brian Kvitko and Gaelen Burke, both faculty members in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, were awarded the five-year grants this year.

In agricultural research, scientists across disciplines often find themselves working to address the same issues as colleagues at other institutions. To help advance and streamline this important work, funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows land-grant university scientists to work collectively to answer questions with a broad scope.

Tomatoes have been bred to create a wide array of colors, shapes and sizes, but not much commercial work has been done on breeding tomatoes that taste good.

The University of Georgia has been awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop organic methods of controlling the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). 

With the advent of CRISPR technologies and other precise genome editing methods, it has become faster and easier for crop scientists to breed new varieties. But there are still a few technical roadblocks that need to be overcome.