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A Guide to Spring Gardening While Social DistancingNew Jersey Monthly, 4/27/2020Gardening can be an intensely therapeutic activity - and something that can help now, more than ever, as we shelter in place amid the pandemic. With temperatures finally signaling spring, it's time to head outside, to the safety of our own backyards, and start digging in the dirt... "Gardening has always been touted as a relaxing recreational activity that can provide great personal rewards," says?Michelle Infante-Casella, a professor and agricultural agent at?Rutgers University. "During this time, when many people are working at home and students are learning at home, gardening can be a positive, family-inclusive activity to adopt."EPC hosts Leadership Program food safety webinar April 29The Packer, 4/28/2020The Eastern Produce Council is offering a food safety webinar as part of the Leadership Program for the 2020 class, and the council's entire membership is welcome to join as well.?Wes Kline, Meredith Melendez and Jennifer Matthews from Rutgers University's Cooperative Extension, will lead the session.RU ready 2 garden seriesMorning Ag Clips, 4/28/2020Rutgers?Professor and Middlesex County Agriculture Agent,?Bill Hlubik?will provide a Webex training for all interested gardeners. Bill has been a Rutgers Faculty and Middlesex County Agricultural Agent for over 30 years. Bill has expertise in growing and marketing specialty vegetable crops.A Plant Breeding Breakthrough: Downy Mildew Resistant Sweet BasilAmerican Vegetable Grower, 4/29/2020Sweet basil used to be considered a relatively easy fresh market culinary herb crop to grow. Growers saw it as a popular and profitable enterprise. When sweet basil was later hit by Fusarium wilt, conventional growers were able to turn to fumigation, while organic growers were able to turn to emerging resistant varieties...In 2011, with funding from a USDA grant program, Rutgers University and collaborators at Cornell University (at the Long Island Horticulture Research & Extension Center), UMass-Amherst, and the University of Florida started a holistic program to provide solutions to growers...?Jim Simon, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, is a plant breeder with over 25 years of breeding basil...Andy Wyenandt, Associate Professor, Rutgers University, is a Plant Pathologist stationed at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center.Senior Story: Cultivating fertile ground for successMorning Ag Clips, 4/29/2020Ameen Lotfi's academic career at SEBS is testimony that a non-traditional student (he is graduating at age 26), who is also a transfer, a commuter and employed, needn't linger on the periphery of college life. In addition to academics, he experienced some of the non-classroom opportunities unique to the school. He is graduating with a double-majored in Agriculture and Food Systems and Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, and minor in Plant Science. He was also selected for the inaugural class of the Clearing Corporation Charitable Foundation Agribusiness Scholars Program and is a George H. Cook Scholar.Do Disinfectant Wipes Kill Viruses?Shape, 4/29/2020First, it's important to point out that there are distinct differences between some of the words you might be using interchangeably when it comes to household products. "'Cleaning' removes dirt, debris, and some germs while 'sanitizing' and 'disinfecting' specifically address germs," explains?Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., a professor at?Rutgers University?who researches quantitative microbial risk assessment and cross-contamination. "Sanitizing" lowers the number of germs to safe levels but doesn't necessarily kill them, while "disinfecting" calls upon chemicals to kill the majority of germs present, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Please Don't Try to Disinfect Your Fruits and VeggiesLifehacker, 4/30/2020In a lengthy Twitter thread, Dr.?Donald Schaffner, a distinguished professor in the?Department Food Science at Rutgers University, laid out the safety basics for people who want to level up their cleaning routines. To sum up: Use cleaners designed for hard surfaces on surfaces only-not on your food or hands; Use cleaners designed for skin on skin only-not on your food or surfaces; Don't mix cleaning products together. Best-case scenario, it won't get your stuff any cleaner; worst-case scenario, you could poison yourself.The Ultimate Guide to Buying Masks for Wearing to the Grocery Store (and Beyond)The Kitchn, 4/30/2020To mask or not to mask? That is no longer the question... Dr.?Donald Schaffner, a food microbiologist at?Rutgers University, along with a team of experts at NC State University state simply and clearly that "cloth face coverings may help to catch particles expelled by a cough or sneeze and reduce the spread of the virus by people who may be infected but are not showing symptoms." According to Schaffner, "It's important to wear face masks anytime you will be around other people...especially when social distancing is not possible (i.e., at the grocery store).Crowd the tap more citizen science you can do at homeMorning Ag Clips, 4/30/20204-H at Home?- Here's a fun project you can do at home - you only need a penny, a magnet and an internet connection! Find out what materials were used to make your tap water pipes and then upload that information to a database. You'll help build a nationwide inventory of water pipe materialsNew Jersey farmers adapt with innovative marketing strategiesMorning Ag Clips, 4/30/2020This coming season will require alternative methods for distributing farm goods and offer unique opportunities for marketing fresh produce and other farm products, amidst social distancing rules. Farmers are already employing innovative approaches like offering curb-side pickup at farm markets, delivery options, pre-packaged fresh products for fast in-and-out shopping, and other "out-of-the-box" methods to enhance customer service and ease shopping anxiety. By?Michelle Infante-Casella, agricultural agent,?Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County,?and?Meredith Melendez, agricultural agent,?Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County.Muzzarelli Farm Market opens with Jersey Fresh produce and COVID-safeguardsThe Daily Journal, 4/30/2020Richard VanVranken, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Atlantic County?agricultural agent, helped Muzzarelli adhere to the new coronavirus-related guidelines. "We get bulletins, we receive publications on what we should do," Muzzarelli said. "Then I always research what the state wants us to do, and what the federal government wants us to do." It's a lot of input on how she should run the family business.The winter that wasn't: Recapping the 2019-20 'dud' snow seasonNJ101.5, 5/1/2020Our?State Climatologist Dr. Dave Robinson?and his staff at the NJ State Climate Office at Rutgers University just released their snowfall analysis for this winter. They call it a "dud." I'm naming it "the winter that wasn't." During a "normal" winter season, New Jersey's total snowfall ranges from about 15 inches in Cape May County to 62 inches in Sussex County. (For that record, that's a pretty big range for such a small state!) For the 2019-2020 snow season, snowfall totals ranged from a piddly 0.4 inches in South Jersey to a still-way-below-normal 39.2 inches to the far north.Are coronavirus gardens the new 'victory gardens'? Vegetable planting on rise in Garden , 5/1/2020Safety concerns: Some gardening tips and tricks: When brownfields are being reclaimed for gardening, organizations will run a soil test first, said?Michelle Infante-Casella, a county agent for?Rutgers' Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County. The test usually looks for contaminants such as lead. A gardener could have their home's soil tested by commercial labs. Search online for envi - ronmental labs or soil testing labs, and follow the instructions, Infante-Casella recommended.Finding Fruits and Veggies in Unexpected PlacesTwo River Times, 5/2/2020Because it is perishable, getting fresh produce can pose a special challenge for shoppers. "Wholesalers are still operating though restaurant sales have slowed down," explained?William Errickson, a county agent and assistant professor with the?Rutgers Cooperative Extension?of Monmouth County in Freehold. "Some wholesalers are offering curbside pickup and delivery of boxes to retail customers."Safety concerns: Some gardening tips and , 5/2/2020When brownfields are being reclaimed for gardening, organizations will run a soil test first, said?Michelle Infante-Casella, a county agent for?Rutgers' Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County. The test usually looks for contaminants such as lead. A gardener could have their home's soil tested by commercial labs. Search online for environmental labs or soil testing labs, and follow the instructions, Infante-Casella recommended.Emissions reduction from COVID-19 brings short-term benefits, little long-term gainThe Press of Atlantic City, 5/3/2020"It is making the air cleaner, and if the reduction in traffic continues into the warmer weather, it should have an effect on ozone pollution. It (NO2) can be converted to other things. Under strong sunlight it can turn into ozone. Ozone pollution can make it harder to breathe," said?Anthony Broccoli, distinguished professor and the chair of the?Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University. "As overall greenhouse gas emissions go down with overall economic recession, households are faced with a new consumption pattern," said?Rachael Shwom, an associate professor in the?Department of Human Ecology?at Rutgers. "The carbon footprint of their travel is down to almost zero for many as they stay at home, not driving or flying for weeks or months at a time." "The climate doesn't care about emissions in one year. It cares about the sum total of all emissions emitted across the years, so what matters for climate change is what happens next." said?Robert E. Kopp, director of the?Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.We invite you to send an email to?InTheNews@aesop.rutgers.edu?alerting us when you are quoted in a story or if your program is mentioned in the news. Please send links of news,?as it happens, as some media outlets do not retain online links beyond a week.Visit the newly redesigned SEBS and NJAES Newsroom at?sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu. ................
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