FDA Gottlieb, Abram on FDA’s New Plan to Advance Plant, Animal Biotechnology Innovation

Innovations in plant and animal biotechnology offer tremendous opportunities for advancing public health. Promising new technologies that can edit animal and plant genomes have the potential to improve human and animal health, animal well-being, food productivity and food security. New forms of biotechnology allow modification of living organisms, such as plants or animals, in order to produce a new product, …

Central Florida UF Researchers Use Drones to Assess Hurricane Michael Damage in Panhandle

Researchers with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences recently traveled to Panhandle counties to include Gadsden, Jackson and Calhoun with their drones to assess damage after Hurricane Michael devastated the region. “This is the first time UF/IFAS scientists have used drones to determine agricultural crop damage and yield reduction,” said Jim Fletcher, a regional specialized agent …

Florida HS Students Present Research at Prestigious Global Conference

Five students who completed a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences program were among 210 high school students from around the world who attended the 25th Annual Global Youth Institute symposium hosted by The World Food Prize Foundation. The students discussed critical food security and agricultural issues with international experts. The event was held from Oct. 17 …

Cell-based Meat Summit Leading to Joint Regulatory Action

The Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration is inching towards a joint regulatory approach for cell-cultured, or so-called lab-grown meats. Agri-Pulse reports Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb “drew no lines in the sand” throughout a two-day meeting on the subject. Gottlieb told reporters that FDA and USDA have worked together in the past, …

UF/IFAS Employees Help Hard-Hit North Florida REC

Scientists at the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center — particularly its Marianna facility — may take a while to fully recover their research after it was damaged by Hurricane Michael, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences administrators say. In Marianna, five center pivots – irrigation systems — were turned over and damaged, said Glen Aiken, …

UF/IFAS-Developed $50 Device May Help Multibillion Forest Industry

By developing a simple, $50 trap, University of Florida scientists can gather spores from a pathogen of pine trees and hopefully help prevent diseases from causing more harm to the multibillion-a-year forest industry. Millions of pine trees dot the southern landscape, and they’re susceptible to many diseases, including pitch canker, said Tania Quesada, an assistant research scientist with the UF …

UF/IFAS Study Illustrates Value Floridians, Others Place on Springs

Thousands of people take the cool plunge into one or more of Florida’s 1,000-plus springs each year, and each person derives $20 to $43 in recreational value beyond their travel expenses per visit, a new University of Florida study shows. Springs are ideal destinations for swimming, snorkeling, canoeing, picnicking and diving, and they’re one of the oldest tourist attractions in …

Polston Lab ‘Recruits’ Insects as Allies for Plants in Food Security Project

A University of Florida lab spearheaded a campaign to recruit insects as allies that can aid in reducing plant stress to enhance food security. The initial, 12-month “recruiting” effort by Jane Polston, a professor of plant pathology at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, successfully completes the first of three phases of a scheduled four-year project under the …