EAST LANSING, Mich. — Research detailing the genome of a wild wheat relative from a team including Michigan State University wheat geneticist Eric Olson has been published in Nature. Olson, an associate professor in the MSU Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, helped map out the genomics of Tausch’s goatgrass (Aegilops tauschii), an annual grass species and donor …
A robotic apple picker developed by Michigan State University slowly rolls through a west Michigan orchard systematically picking apples off the trees thanks to a collaborative partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers at MSU aim to advance the robot’s functionality compared to previous robotic pickers using artificial intelligence, or AI, to harvest the …
Michigan State University has been awarded one of six Global Centers through the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and its partner agencies in the U.S., Canada, Finland, Japan, the Republic of Korea or ROK and the United Kingdom. The funding awards were announced today totaling nearly $82 million in the Global Centers competition. “MSU’s International …
EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University researcher has received a $394,600 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service to develop a solar power-based irrigation technology that improves energy- and water-use efficiency. Younsuk Dong, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, leads the three-year project. Agriculture …
On a cloudless day at a farm in Portland, Michigan, Bruno Basso inspects rows of small, leafy green plants that will eventually grow into towering cornstalks. He turns and tells Jeff Sandborn, who runs the farm, that the soon-to-be crops look great. Over the past decade, Basso and his research team at Michigan State University have worked …
Unpredictable precipitation is one of the most challenging elements of being a farmer. Not enough moisture, and plant growth is hindered. Too much can saturate the soil while setting the stage for diseases to thrive. Recently, Michigan growers have experienced both extremes. Some of the driest and wettest months on record have occurred in the …
Michigan State University has officially launched its effort to modernize its research greenhouse facilities supporting leading-edge plant research and education. “MSU is a world-leading center for plant sciences research that drives innovation in the agricultural economy and addresses the impacts of a changing climate and emerging diseases, pests and contaminants,” said Phil Duxbury, dean of …
East Lansing, MI — With climate change disrupting food availability and quality on the rise, a Michigan State University soil biophysics professor’s subsurface water retention technology—or SWRT—is poised to positively impact crops worldwide. Dr. Alvin Smucker of the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences developed the SWRT technology with his colleagues after six years …
Specialty crop researchers at Michigan State University and representatives from the MSU Innovation Center are gearing up for the Great Lakes EXPO in Grand Rapids next month, where the latest AgBio technological innovations will be on display. These research products and discoveries largely result from the economic benefits of technology transfer, a process that offers …
Funded by the Michigan Strategic Fund through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) Program was established in 2012 in order to accelerate the creation and transfer of new technologies from Michigan’s institutions of higher learning into the commercial market by way of licenses to existing companies or startups. …
