Joseph Goffreda, associate professor of plant biology and pathology and director of the Rutgers Fruit and Ornamental Research Extension Center in Cream Ridge, NJ, was one of seven individuals recently honored with the “Inventor of the Year Award” by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame… Goffreda was honored for breeding a hybrid peach (NJF16) marketed under the name TangOs which has a combination of attributes attractive to commercial producers and consumers, yet is resistant to major diseases, particularly bacterial spot. His 12 patented peaches, bred for pest resistance and hardiness in Northeast locales, have helped establish New Jersey as a major peach-producing state… The process of growing and breeding peaches is lengthy and complicated, and involves quite sophisticated technology, explains Brad Hillman, director of research at NJAES and professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology.

There is an aquaponics program located in the heart of Newark New Jersey’s Central Ward that belies its urban setting – literally taking its visitors to another time and place… This project is a partnership between the Metropolitan Reassertion Community Development Corporation (MRCDC), which is the development arm of Metropolitan Baptist Church and the Lower Passaic River Study Area Cooperating Parties Group (CPG), a group of companies dedicated to helping clean up the Lower Passaic. In close cooperation with Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, the new center aims to hire and train unemployed veterans to run an aquaponics program that will raise hybrid tilapia and vegetables in an area of the City where healthy food sources are badly needed. The program will also provide veterans with training in sustainable landscaping and stormwater management, river restoration and small business management… “The fish exchange is being introduced in order to reduce the human health risk associated with the ingestion of contaminated fish,” explained Dr. Amy Rowe, Environmental and Resource Management Agent for Essex/Passaic Counties. “Community members will be educated by the veterans in this program about the risks of eating contaminated fish, as well as all the ways that Newark residents can do their part to help improve the overall health of the Passaic River.”

The North Plainfield School District’s Pathways Program, a career-readiness program for special education students in ninth through 12th grade, held a Jersey Fresh Harvest Day on May 29 at the Harrison School. The event, which was attended by administr…

Barbara O’Neill, a CFP, Distinguished Professor and Specialist in Financial Resource Management at Rutgers Cooperative Extension, recently paid a visit to the preschool classroom at the Little Sprouts Early Learning Center to read several children’s bo…

Despite cool morning temperatures, sunny skies brought out a record crowd of 91,000 to the seventh annual Rutgers Day, where visitors had the opportunity to learn about the research, service and education taking place at New Jersey’s only Big Ten research university… The Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station used Rutgers Today to unveil the Rutgers Scarlet Strawberry, which went on sale to the public for the first time at the master gardener plant sale Saturday morning. The Scarlet Strawberry, in development for the last 10 years, is bred to thrive in the New Jersey climate… Meanwhile, at the start of the 4H State Dog Show on Cook Campus, a band of about 20 deer ran around the perimeter of the show grounds. “It felt like we were on the Serengeti!” said Jean Scalea Bjugstad, who was attending the show with her son, Julian, and his Collie/Newfoundland dog, Bear. “All the dogs sat up and took notice and there was lots of barking.”

The Middlesex County office of Rutgers Cooperative Extension held a graduation ceremony recently for its current Master Gardener graduates. Master Gardeners came from numerous towns including: East Brunswick, Edison, Middlesex, Monroe, New Brunswick, N…