Copper fungicides and bactericides are often used in tomato cultivation and can cause toxic Cu levels in soils. In order to combat this, organic matter can be applied to induce chelation reactions and form a soluble complex by which much of the Cu can leach out of the soil profile or be taken up safely by plants. Organic acids such as citric,…

Writing performance of a complex recommendation report produced by student teams for an actual client during a 15-week semester was compared in a writing-intensive Agronomy 356 course and in paired Agronomy 356/English 309 courses. The longitudinal study investigated differences that existed between reports produced for each learning environment…

It is difficult to demonstrate the soil water retention relationship and related concepts because the specialized equipment required for performing these measurements is unavailable in most classrooms. This article outlines a low-cost, easily visualized method by which these concepts can be demonstrated in most any classroom. Columns (62.5 cm…

The decline of enrollments in agronomy programs across the United States has been a concern for more than a decade. In an effort to reverse this trend, the Agronomy Department at Iowa State University (ISU) launched the "I'm An Agronomist" marketing campaign in 2006. This article reports on these efforts and the change in the…

Purpose: This article investigates the extent of multiple knowledges among smallholders and connected non-farm agents around Mount Elgon in Kenya and Uganda in order to build the communicative competence needed to scale up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS). Design/methodology/approach: Our methodological approach examines local…

Two land-grant institutions, Michigan State University (MSU) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) used funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to partner with the National University of Rwanda (NUR) to support the agriculture faculty in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. In addition, the three institutions…

Soil quality, soil health, and soil sustainability are concepts that are being widely used but are difficult to define and illustrate, especially to a non-technical audience. The objectives of this manuscript were to develop simple and inexpensive methodologies to both qualitatively and quantitatively estimate water infiltration rates (IR),…

Integrating livestock into a cropping system by allowing ruminant animals to graze cover crops may yield economic and environmental benefits. The effects of grazing on soil physical properties, soil organic matter, nitrogen cycling and agricultural production are presented in this literature review. The review found that grazing cover crops…

Purpose: The rapidly evolving nature of agricultural innovation processes in low-income countries requires agricultural extension agencies to transform the classical roles that previously supported linear information dissemination and adoption of innovation. In Bangladesh, strengthening agricultural innovation calls for facilitation of interactive…

Practical work is often considered to be a highlight of science classes for students. However, there are few opportunities for students to engage in an investigation which is situated in a real world problem and students are required to contribute their own ideas to the design and conduct of an experiment. This paper reports on a Scientists in…

This article examines the expansion of agrofuels in the Americas and the ecological impacts associated with the technologies used in the production of large-scale monocultures of corn and soybeans. In addition to deforestation and displacement of lands devoted to food crops due to expansion of agrofuels, the massive use of transgenic crops and…

Opportunities for farmers to participate in greenhouse gas (GHG) credit markets require that growers, students, extension educators, offset aggregators, and other stakeholders understand the impact of agricultural practices on GHG emissions. The Farming Systems Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator, a web-based tool linked to the SOCRATES soil…

The purpose of this paper is to add to a growing body of literature that critiques the whiteness of the organic farming movement and analyse potential ramifications of this if farmers are to be understood as educators. Given that farmers do not necessarily self-identify as educators, it is important to understand that in raising this critique,…

This article analyzes the primary scholarship activities of agricultural college plant science faculty with and without Extension appointments using survey data from all 1862 land-grant institutions. The evidence suggests that differences between Extension professors and others without Extension appointments are small for minor Extension…

Over the past several years, we have been exploring and researching a phenomenon that occurs among undergraduate students that we called extension of linear models to non-linear contexts or overgeneralization of linear models. This phenomenon appears when some students use linear representations in situations that are non-linear. In a first phase,…