Graduate Student Sustainable Agriculture Projects for FY2012 Announced

GRIFFIN, Georgia – Killer bee governance, legume cover crops, mob grazing and Integrated Pest Management in blueberries are just a few of the sustainable agriculture projects being funded for the 2012 Southern SARE Graduate Student Grants program.

The Administrative Council of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) program recently announced the funding of 10 projects totaling $107,137. The Graduate Student Grants program is one of the few sustainable agriculture research funding opportunities open to Master’s and PhD students enrolled at accredited institutions throughout the Southern region.

The projects awarded for FY2012 include:

GS12-109 Factors Contributing to the Economic Impact of Cotton Fleahoppers, Texas A&M University, $9,336, Professor Micky Eubanks, m-eubanks@tamu.edu, Graduate Student Loriann Garcia, Garcia_lc@tamu.edu

GS12-110 Native Legume Productivity and Quality in a Black Walnut Silvopasture, Virginia Tech, $10,964, Professor John Fike, jfike@vt.edu, Graduate Student Lele Kimball, jfike@vt.edu

GS12-111 Bee Aware…Look, Listen, Run: Killer Bee Governance in South Florida, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, $11,000, Professor Banu Gokariksel, banug@email.unc.edu, Graduate Student Kevin Fox, ksfox@email.unc.edu

GS12-112 Contributions of Legume Cover Crop Root Systems to Soil Carbon Pools in Organic Systems Using Different Termination Strategies, North Carolina State University, $10,997, Professor Julie Grossman, Julie_grossman@ncsu.edu, Graduate Student Arun Jani, ajani@ncsu.edu

GS12-113 Mob Grazing Effects on Nutrient Runoff in Cool Season Pastures, Virginia Tech, $10,974, Professor Cully Hession, chession@vt.edu, Graduate Student Emily Williams, emilyw@vt.edu

GS12-114 Developing an Integrated Pest Management Program for a Newly Introduced Pest in Florida Blueberries: The spotted wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), University of Florida, $10,837, Professor Oscar Liburd, oeliburd@ufl.edu, Graduate Student Lindsy Iglesias, liglesias@ufl.edu

GS12-115 Breeding Wheat for Increased Weed-Suppressive Ability Against Italian Ryegrass, North Carolina State University, $10,952, Professor Paul Murphy, Paul_Murphy@ncsu.edu, Graduate Student Margaret Worthington, mlworthi@ncsu.edu

GS12-116 Evaluating Conversion of Bermudagrass Pastures to Native Warm-Season Grass: Profitability analysis and response of wildlife and imported fire ants, Mississippi State University, $10,467, Professor Samuel Riffell, sriffell@cfr.msstate.edu, Graduate Student Adrian Monroe, amonroe@cfr.msstate.edu

GS12-117 Assessment of long-term management impact on soil C dynamics in subtropical grasslands, University of Florida, $10,879, Professor Maria Silveira, mlas@ufl.edu, Graduate Student Julius Adewopo, adewopo@ufl.edu

GS12-118 Increasing Fresh Virginia-Grown Edamame Supply through Season Extension Techniques, Virginia State University, $10,731, Professor Bo Zhang, bzhang@vsu.edu, Graduate Student Shawntae Nolen, snol8175@students.vsu.edu

Graduate Student Grants are one of seven grant opportunities offered by Southern region SARE to support sustainable agriculture research, outreach and education. The Call for Proposals for Graduate Student Grants opens in March. Grant proposals are due in June and funded projects are announced in September. Visit http://www.southernsare.org/Grants/Types-of-Grants/Graduate-Student-Grants to learn more.

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Published by the Southern Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Southern SARE operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State University, and the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture to offer competitive grants to advance sustainable agriculture in America's Southern region.