On October 17, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) celebrated its third Entrepreneurship Agriculture (EA) Day on Cook Campus. This event was part of the Entrepreneurship Ag Program initiated at SEBS in Spring 2013 and comprised the teaching of a Jr/Sr Colloquium on Entrepreneurial Agriculture, a competitive student internship on Entrepreneurship Agriculture and […]
Archives for December 2015
Northeast in Midst of Holiday Heat Wave
It’s easy to get distracted from putting Christmas lights up when you realize that it’s 60 degrees outside and getting hotter. The Northeast is in the middle of a holiday heat wave that may last through Christmas and beyond. In fact, central New Jersey temperatures reached about 74 degrees Monday… “For the next three to four weeks it does not look like there is any cold air locking into this area of the nation,” says NJ State Climatologist David Robinson. “Plus,” he adds, “we’re going to have to start looking pretty soon at whether December is going to be a record-setter.”… On the phone at his Rutgers University office, Robinson credits a polar jet stream that has been shutting cold air out of the region while inviting warmer Southern air in.
New Jersey Green Expo Remains a Staple on the industry’s East Coast Schedule
For four decades, the Green Expo Turf and Landscape Conference has been a fixture in New Jersey. Hosted by the New Jersey Turfgrass Association, in cooperation with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New Jersey, the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science and several other allied organizations, the summit brings together representatives from every segment of the turf industry… Dr. Bruce Clarke heads the Rutgers University Center for Turfgrass Science. He earned an undergraduate degree from the university and has spent nearly four decades there as a professor and researcher. While Rutgers’ turf-education program is recognized as one of the best in the world, Clarke is quick to point out that the conference is the work of many hands… “I’m proud that we get tremendous attendance. It makes us feel that we’re providing something people want. But I’m also proud that this is a conference being out on jointly by the industry and Rutgers, and that makes me extremely happy,” said Clarke.
Arctic Warming Opens Waters To More Whales, Increasing Food Competition
Rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic is opening new waters to humpback and fin whales, a new study revealed. While these marine animals used to visit the far north only during the summer, warming waters are causing sea ice to retreat at an increasing rate. This may increase food competition among bowhead whales that once had this region to themselves… Marine mammals reflect the impacts of climate change through changes not only in their diet and physical condition, but through shifts in their range and habitat. Researchers say climate change is likely to invite many other species into new habitats… “It’s not simple, but as Mother Nature keeps dishing out these unusual events we can start to connect the dots between them to understand the larger picture of what’s happening and how it’s likely to affect animals within and beyond the Arctic, including humans,” Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers University research professor and a plenary speaker at the conference, said.
Rutgers EcoComplex Awarded USDA Grant to Study Feasibility of Renewable Energy from Food and Animal Waste
The Rutgers EcoComplex was awarded a Rural Business Development Grant of $19,000 by the USDA Rural Development Office to perform a technical and economic feasibility study of co-digestion of food waste and dairy manure at Fulper Family Farms, located in West Amwell Township. Announcing the grant was Howard Henderson, the state director of USDA […]
Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling
The sea ice that blankets the Arctic Ocean isn’t the unbroken white mantle depicted in maps. It’s a jigsaw puzzle of restless floes that are constantly colliding, deforming, and fracturing from the force of wind and ocean currents… Warmer air above the ocean basin is projected to spill down over the surrounding coasts of Russia, Alaska, and Canada, causing feedback effects as far as 900 miles inland, including accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet and large emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from thawing tundra… How a rapidly warming Arctic will influence weather across the hemisphere is a bit hazier. Atmospheric scientists Jennifer Francis at Rutgers University and Steve Vavrus at the University of Wisconsin have suggested that people in the continental United States already may be feeling the effects of melting Arctic sea ice – especially in the past two winters in the east, which made “polar vortex” household words.
Rapid Arctic Warming Drives Shifts in Marine Mammals, New Research Shows
New hydrophone surveys of migration gateways to the Arctic show that recent extremes in sea ice loss has opened new waters to humpback and fin whales that once ranged through the far north only in summer. And as climate change drives the ice into further retreat, such “summer” species may begin competing with bowhead whales that once had the habitat to themselves, according to research presented at the Society of Marine Mammalogy’s Biennial Conference in San Francisco this week… Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers University research professor and plenary speaker at the conference, sees potential connections between rapid Arctic warming and unusual weather patterns and climate extremes elsewhere on the globe. For instance, a so-called “warm blob” that turned the ocean off the West Coast of the United States unusually warm for more than a year may have been especially strong and persistent because of the atmospheric patterns taking hold over the Arctic, which is warming much faster than the planet as a whole.
Cumberland County Hosts South American Food Industry Executives
Cumberland County was host to food industry executives from Brazil last week and again hosted more from other parts of South America, who came to learn more about the area’s food commerce. Rutgers Food Innovation Center (RFIC) in Bridgeton coordinated the event in partnership with the Cumberland County Improvement Authority… “All together we entertained more than a dozen South American company representatives and I can honestly say each one was very impressed with our area, it’s location and abundant resources – both from an agriculture and a transportation standpoint,” CCIA Construction and Economic Development Director Jim Watson explained about the groups. “I expect to hear from at least of few of them after they have had a chance to process and distribute the information we were able to convey to them in such a short time span.”
When Eating Clean Is Dirty: Chipotle, ‘Fresh’ Offerings and Food Safety
Environment and animal rights groups have praised Chipotle for its sustainable and humane practices, but its recent food poisoning outbreaks illustrate the challenges that can come with living up to this image… E. coli outbreaks linked to food from Chipotle has been reported in nine states, infecting 52 people, though officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention haven’t identified what ingredient is responsible. The chain, well-known for its burritos, uses 64 ingredients from more than 100 suppliers at its 1,900 restaurants… “If you are sourcing foods from one or two suppliers it’s easier to manage than if you have dozens of medium or smaller suppliers,” says Don Schaffner, a food science expert and professor at Rutgers University. “They may not have the resources to do food safety.”
Whither Winter? Warm For Now, But El Nino Remains Wild Card
We’ll be surprised if November doesn’t come in as the warmest November on record worldwide in the official federal database. It already is No. 1 on the satellite list. Likewise, we expect December to finish at or near the top, and 2015 is a lock to bec…