For the past few years, the New Jersey Healthy Kids Initiative (NJHKI) has partnered with Greater Brunswick Charter School (GBCS) in New Brunswick to provide nutrition education, culinary literacy, and physical activity programs and activities to its students. This has included biweekly field trips for kindergarten and seventh graders to attend the New Jersey Institute for […]
In Memoriam: John (Jack) Kupcho, Alum and Former Ag Agent and Department Chair
John (Jack) Kupcho, former Essex County agricultural agent and former chair of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) within Rutgers Cooperative Extension passed away on May 11, 2020 at the age of 83. Born in Peckville, PA, he served in the U.S. Air Force and earned his undergraduate degree in ornamental horticulture from […]
Senior Story: The Ocean, a Superstorm, and One Honor Student’s Trajectory – Hailey Conrad (SEBS’20)
The Jersey Shore is endeared in our minds as a mystical convergence of beach, ocean, boardwalk and amusements—punctuated with sounds of seagulls and crashing waves—and seasoned with smells of salty air and clams. Growing up at the beach provides a year-round, behind-the-scenes perspective of the Shore that summer visitors rarely see. For Hailey Conrad, growing […]
Ethnic Crops in New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic
By Albert Ayeni, ethnic crops research specialist, Department of Plant Biology Reprinted with permission from HortiDaily. Ethnic (or exotic) crops present new opportunities for growers, produce marketers and consumers in New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic. The rapidly changing demographics compels a new look at the crop content of the region with a focus on responding […]
How Are the Raritan River and Bay Adapting to Sea Level Rise?
Laura Reynolds, an EOAS postdoctoral fellow, and team, are conducting pioneering research on carbon and sediment levels of the tidal marshes in the Raritan River and Bay, to better understand and predict how sea level rise will impact these waterways. By Carol Peters The tidal Raritan River, once dubbed the “Queen of Rivers” in a poem […]
Sourcing Local NJ Farm Products and Concerns of Food Insecurity
Where does food come from? Does the U.S. produce enough food to feed all Americans? Let’s stop right there for a minute and go back almost five decades. In the 1970s, gasoline and other energy prices soared—causing an American economic crisis. Our country was reliant on foreign oil sources. The U.S. economy struggled, unemployment rates […]
How Old are Whale Sharks? Nuclear Bomb Legacy Reveals Their Age
Cold War testing radioactivity used to determine longevity of largest fish on Earth Nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s have helped scientists accurately estimate the age of whale sharks, the biggest fish in the seas, according to a Rutgers-led study. It’s the first time the age of this majestic […]
Senior Story: Cultivating Fertile Ground for Success – Ameen Lotfi (SEBS’20)
While many students follow a direct path to college, for others the route is more circuitous. For Ameen Lotfi (SEBS 2020), however, it was more of a journey. The son of immigrants–his father is Egyptian and mother is Algerian–Lotfi grew up in Freehold, NJ and recently moved to Lumberton in Burlington County. After receiving his […]
In Memoriam: John L. Gerwig, Longest Serving Director (1962-1992) of Rutgers Cooperative Extension
John Lester Gerwig, 92, of Whispering Pines, NC died on April 24, 2020 at home. Gerwig was born in Chapel, West Virginia to the late Jay C. Gerwig and Pearl Perkins Gerwig. He earned a B.S. Degree in Agronomy and a M.S. in Soils from West Virginia University and his Ph.D. in Agronomy from Rutgers […]
Family and Community Health Sciences Master Food Preserver Training Program Goes Online
Interest in home food preservation – canning, freezing, and dehydrating– has increased in recent years as more people plant home gardens, participate in CSA’s or buy produce from local farm markets. Many consumers have never preserved food at home and others may be using outdated or unsafe recipes and procedures found on the internet. Although […]
