The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) plant breeders almost $1 million in grants this fiscal year to produce improved cotton and peanut varieties.

University of Georgia scientists are assisting in a study to find a cantaloupe variety with less netting on the rind in the hopes that the fruit will be less susceptible to the bacteria or pathogens that settle in the netting on the outside of the fruit.

Bhabesh Dutta, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable plant pathologist, has been named to the first class of Fruit + Vegetable 40 Under 40 Award winners.

The University of Georgia Research Foundation has named Wayne Parrott, UGA professor of crop and soil sciences, a Distinguished Research Professor. The award recognizes contributions to knowledge and work that promises to foster continued creativity. Parrott specializes in plant genetics and is one of the world’s leading authorities on soybean genomics and technologies that allow for the improvement of crop plants.

University of Georgia horticulturists Rachel Itle and Dario Chavez recently travelled to Australia to collect seeds from wild raspberries and peaches to bring back to the UGA Griffin campus. As scientists in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Itle and Chavez research Georgia-grown fruit.

Georgia watermelon growers who have a targeted, informed disease management plan for gummy stem blight disease could save money and lessen the environmental impact of producing this favorite summertime fruit.

More than 40 years ago, a young man from Arkansas decided to become an agriculture major because "it was the beginning of the Green Revolution, and agriculture had a bright future." Today that man, University of Georgia professor Paul Raymer, has served Georgia agriculture as a variety tester, a soybean specialist, a canola breeder and a turfgrass breeder.

Two of five Georgia Bio Awards presented last month to University of Georgia faculty were programs either in or affiliated with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).

A $198,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-sponsored Conservation Innovation Grant will support ongoing University of Georgia research on cover crops and the effects of those crops on water quality and availability for row crop production.