Plant-parasitic nematodes cause billions of dollars in annual yield losses and represent a major impediment to meeting the challenge of feeding an ever-growing global population. One plant-parasitic nematode, the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), has been a long-standing focus of research and innovation in the Melissa G. Mitchum Lab at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).

Georgia is consistently one of the top five states to use the H-2A visa program, employing workers for 60% of agricultural jobs. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor passed legislation to raise the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), which establishes the minimum wage for H-2A workers, by a sharp 14% for several states including Georgia. For University of Georgia Professor Cesar Escalante, this poses the question: How do you balance supporting the interests of farm businesses while fairly compensating the people doing the hard work in the field?

Two faculty members in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Cooperative Extension were named to the Fruit and Vegetable 40 under 40 Class of 2023. The award ceremony will be held during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For Dean Kopsell, newly appointed associate dean for academic affairs for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, moving to Athens is like coming home. Currently professor and chair of the Environmental Horticulture Department at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Kopsell, a two-time UGA alumnus and devoted Georgia Bulldog fan, is eager to return to the Classic City and excited about the opportunity to serve his alma mater and the students of CAES.

As drug overdoses linked to opioids continue to rise, rural communities in particular struggle to control the epidemic. More than 75% of the nearly 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid, with higher rates of poverty and a lack of resources in rural areas being a significant factor in the alarming trend. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working with rural communities to address the issue, thanks in part to a three-year $350,000 Rural Health and Safety Education grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The 2023 Open Doors report ranked UGA No. 6 overall in student study abroad participation and No. 3 for short-term study abroad program participation among doctoral institutions in the U.S. This report, compiled by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Institute of International Education, details study abroad data for 2021-2022, the first full post-pandemic academic year.