Why is ag research important?

Ever wonder what exactly the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center is? Or why agricultural research is important? Well, here's the scoop:

AgBCs: Y is for Yams

Yams aren't just for holiday meals—they are fun for science, too!

Even though most Americans use the terms interchangeably, did you know yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing? In fact they are not even related. Who knew, right?


Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family.


Want to have some REAL fun with yams? Try out this lab for converting the starch in yams to sugar. Pretty cool, huh?

Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick:Tomato Splatability

Twig Walkingstick lives in and around the Wooster campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. His alter ego is Kurt Knebusch, one of our super-talented writers and editors on campus. Each month, look for Twig to answer a reader questions and some additional interesting facts below. After Twig's post, we will be providing some ideas and suggestions on how to incorporate the info in Twig's column into fun science learning for your students and children.

Q. Dear Twig: Why do some tomatoes splat more when I throw them at my brother?

A. Everything else being equal - the ripeness of the tomato, how hard you throw it, what you throw it at - the type of tomato is the main thing: fresh market vs. processing.

"Your average ripe fresh-market tomato splats better than your average ripe processing type," says David Francis, a tomato breeder and geneticist at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center who seems to have something in his hand there, behind his back.

"Processing tomatoes don't splat well because they're high in dry matter and soluble ["soll-you-bull"] solids," he explains while offering me some sort of visual aid that flies past my head very quickly. "What you need for a good splat is water content."

Processing tomatoes need to be dryish. They go to make ketchup, salsa and tomato sauce. You don't want that stuff runny.

Fresh-market types, though, are better when juicy. They go into salads, for instance.

"Here!" Professor Francis says as he sends another visual aid (he's very helpful) in my direction. "See for yourself!"

Splatee,

Twig

P.S. Fresh-market tomatoes are usually the kind that you cut up and put on a hamburger.

Notes:

• Common fresh-market tomato varieties include Beefsteak and Better Boy.
• A common processing variety is Roma, though tomato breeders such as Professor Francis continue to develop new and better varieties based on flavor, soluble solids (more soluble solids and less water makes it easier and cheaper to process a processing tomato) and how well the plants resist diseases (greater resistance can mean less or even no need to spray fungicides). Read about the work he does.
• Soluble solids are materials (from tomatoes, in this case) that can be dissolved by or mixed into water - important if you're making, say, tomato juice and want it smooth.

Check out this fun lesson-plan for incorporating tomatoes into your healthy diet.

AgBCs: Terrific Tomatoes

It's the most popular edible plant grown in the home garden. The National garden Bureau has even designated this year as the year of the tomato. Who knew, right?

But what most Ohioans don't know is that Ohio is a tomato mecca, ranking second nationwide in tomato production. Tomatoes are even Ohio's official state fruit. And our state drink? Tomato juice.


Want to have fun learning more about tomatoes? Check out Ohio State's interactive tomato model.


Want to learn even more cool tomato facts? See what OARDC scientist Esther van der Knapp is doing with her award-winning research on the shape of tomatoes.

AgBC's: S is for Sensational Soil

Soil is so important, yet we hardly think about it! Soil anchors plant roots, holds water for plants, and even provides air spaces for plant roots to grow.

Image from the Extreme Pumpkin Store

But for all that, did you know soil is basically made of of 3 sizes of particles? Sand is the larges, clay is the smaller, and silt falls in the middle size-wise. The proportion of each of these particles varies from soil to soil, giving each soil unique characteristics. Some solid drain more quickly (sand), while others hold water or become saturated with water (clay). Many plants, trees and shrubs prefer to grow in a balanced mixture of these particles called "loam." Loamy soils hold a moderate amount of water, air and nutrients while supporting the plant.

A vineyard in Lake County, Ohio

Because characteristics of the soil can affect plant growth, farmers and gardeners often test soil to determine if it's good for growing specific plants. Two such simple tests include the ribbon test and the "soil shake" test. The results are a good predictor of whether or not the soil is good for growing specific plants. More accurate assessments can be sent to soil testing labs, and today it is increasingly common for farmers to have their cropland grid sampled and have the results of their soil testing GPS mapped to improve the efficiency of their farming operations.


Here are some simple instructions for conducting the ribbon and "soil shake" tests with your students:

• Ask the students if they've ever heard of the ribbon test. The explain that is can help determine what kinds of particles are in their soil. 
• Demonstrate the text by moistening a handful of garden soil or silt in the palm of your hand until it has the consistency of putty. Work the soil into a ball about 1/2" in diameter. Press the ball between your forefinger and thumb to form a ribbon (see below).
• If the soil will not form a ribbon, it is sand. If it makes a ribbon 1-2 inches long, it is loam. Ribbons longer and 2 inches are clay. Here is a more detailed description.
• Explain that each of the three types of soil particles forms a different type of ribbon. Repeat the test with clay and sand.
• Ask the children to describe the difference between the three ribbons.
• Pass out different kinds of soil without telling the students what soil type they have; let them each conduct their own ribbon test and hypothesize about what type of soil they have.

Making a soil ribbon.

Students can also conduct a "soil shake" test:

• Fill a jar 1/3 full with soil.
• Fill the jar 1/3 full with water.
• Add a tablespoon of alum (alum speeds the settling process and can be found in the spice section of the grocery store.
• Ask the children to predict what will happen when the jar is shaken. 
• Divide the children into groups of 3-4. Ask them to collect soil from outdoors or give them some soil you have collected.
• Tighten the lid and shake for 3 minutes. Make sure all the lumps have broken apart. Tell the children to observe the jar after 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes and 3 minutes and write down what they observe.
• Have them report their findings to the class. Discuss how the soil separates by particle size and identify the particles int he layers they see. The larger sand particles will be on the bottom, with the silt in the middle and any clay particles on top.

For more fun, investigate what kinds of plants grow best in various kinds of soil.

AgBCs: P is for Pumpkin

Did you know the pumpkin actually originated in Mexico over 9,000 years ago? American Indian tribes grew pumpkins long before any European explorers arrived in the Americas. Columbus actually carried pumpkin seeds on his return trip to Europe, but the resulting melons weren't used to feed people—they were used to feed pigs!

Pumpkins come in many varieties—including this yogurt pumpkin!

Even the early New England settlers were not big fans of using pumpkins for food—until the first long, cold winter set in and food became very scarce. Then they changed their minds in a hurry! One common cooking method wa to let the fire die down and place a whole pumpkin in the ashes. Once it was baked soft, she pumpkin was cut open and honey or maple syrup (along with some animal fat) was poured on top.

Pilgrims often cooked their pumpkins whole! You can learn how here...

The early settlers also made pumpkin pies, but they looked nothing like the pumpkin pies of today! They simply cut off the pumpkin top and scared out the seed. Then they placed apples, sugar, spices and milk inside. Finally, they put the top back on the pumpkin and baked it in the fire's ashes.

So have fun trying out some of the early recipes the Pilgrims used to cook their pumpkins, or here are some other fun ideas to try:

Pumpkin, Pumpkin: What Comes Next?
See what happens this fall after Halloween is over!


Halloween is over, so now what?
Check out these great reads on the life cycle of a pumpkin!

Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Now THAT would be a great pumpkin!
Ever wonder what would happen if there really were flying pumpkins? Get Twig's take on this unlikely phenomenon...

AgBC's: M is for Milk

Nothing goes better with cookies or cake than a nice cold glass of milk! Yum! So be sure to think of the dairy farmers of America the next time you enjoy your favorite sweet treat with a cold, refreshing class of milk!

But have you ever thought about all of the hard work that gets that milk from the farm to you? Dairy farmers don't get to sleep in on the weekends and the cows don't wait until the presents are opened on Christmas morning. Every day, every morning and every night the cows must be fed, cared for and milked. Nutritionists work hard to calculate the perfect, balanced ration to help the cows be as healthy and productive as possible.

Feed mill workers mix and deliver the feed that was made from grains grown by still more farmers. The cows are fed, the stalls are cleaned, and the cows are milked each and every day.  Decisions are made about which bulls the cows should be bred to to produce an even better generation of cows than the generation before.

Milk trucks come to collect the milk almost daily. The milk is transported to a processing facility where it is pasteurized and either bottled as fresh milk to turned into other delicious dairy products like chees, cottage cheese, ice cream, butter and more.

But did you know you can actually make milk stiff? Think about it...then check out this cool experiment on the stiffening of milk.


Interested in learning more about dairy farms? Check out these cool links:

• How are dairy cows really treated?
• Making butter in your own kitchen
• Why 3-a-Day makes for healthy kids
• Ohio Dairy Farmers even has links letting you meet Ohio dairy farmers
• Check out the Discover Dairy curriculum

AgBC's: J is for John Deere

I know...not all tractors and farm equipment are John Deeres....but I was struggling coming up with a J word! No matter what particular brand of tractor farmers use, there's little doubt that production practices, technology and equipment have undergone a massive transformation in the last 100 years!

In the decades before the Civil War—a period sometimes dubbed the First Industrial Revolution—a significant number of inventions and innovations appeared, transforming American life. A telegraph system allowed information to flow from place to place more quickly than the speed of a horse. A transportation system based largely on steam power allowed goods to be shipped great distances at reduced expense. Also of great consequence was the development of the “American system of manufactures”; this system, in which individual workers were responsible for only part of a finished product, helped make store-bought goods more affordable. As a result, people began to buy goods from stores rather than making them—the American consumer was born. 

I recently stumbled across a very cool, in-depth lesson plan looking at the question of whether this time period could be dubbed an industrial revolution or a more gradual change over time.  But the part of this lesson that was most interesting to me looked at the changes in agriculture at that time. Here are some great investigations you and your students can explore together as you learn about this important time period in our nation's history:


Working as a group, ask students to indentify both the essential similarities and differences between the technology of the pre-Civil War period and that of the height of the Industrial Age. The groups can summarize their findings on this chart:




Here are some starting points for them to explore:

• Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin
• John Deere Plow
• The plow between 1945 and 1982
• American Westward Migration: The Steel Plow
• McCormick Reaper

These changes have allowed Americans to enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world! And these technologies continue to grow and develop today, helping farmers produce more food while protecting the environment as well. In fact, click here to learn more about John Deere's precision farming practices.

This series is inspired by the book The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.

AgBC's: H is for Herbs

The first written record of herbs dates all the way back to 3000 BC...but herbs were used long before that. It was probably the aroma of herbal plants (sweet, spicy, strong...you name it) that led early people to believe these plants has some serious special powers.

Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations believed some herbs were gifts from the gods to help cure illness or take away their worries. In fact, sweet smelling herbs were often burned as incense in the hope that their sweet-smelling smoke would make the gods happy...and it was a rare household that didn't use herbs on a daily basis. With no refrigeration, for example, food spoiled quickly. Aromatic herbs helped mask the smell. With limited water, daily bathing was not an option...perfumes from herbs helped hide people smells, too!

Soon scholars began to study herbs, listing possible medicinal, household, magic or even religious uses. Eventually, dispensing medicinal herbs became a business. Apothecaries began planting herbs near their homes to make gathering them more efficient, and soon they became used for decoration as well as practical purposes. These became the first plants used for garden landscaping!

When the colonists first came to the Americas, they found that Native Americans also used many herbs to flavor food as well as to prevent and cure diseases.

Today, nearly every grocery store carries herbs. Fresh herbs can be found int he produce section and dried in the seasonings section. Herbs are not generally used today for medicinal purposes, because scientists have discovered proven, effective cures for many disorders. However, many people still believe in the beneficial health properties of certain herbs.

Windowsill herb gardens are easy and fin to grow and require very little space. Try planting one of your own to learn more about these plants and how they grow and develop!

Check out Ohioline for more information on growing herbs. And for more fun information on the history and uses of herbs, check out Garden Wizardry for Kids by L. Patricia Kite.

This series is inspired by the book The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.

AgBC's: G is for Grains

Last week we talked about the important role farmers play in our lives each and every day. And though you may imagine a picturesque little farm with a few animals here and there, a vegetable garden and a few acres of crops, that's not the reality of today's agriculture. Today's farmers, whether large or small in scale, tend to specialize their production operation.

Many of today's farmers specialize in crop and grain production. In fact, over 41 percent of Ohio's farmland is used for crop production. The most popular grain crops grown in Ohio include corn, oats, soybeans and winter wheat. And despite its relatively small size in area, Ohio ranks 8th in corn production, 9th in oar production, 6th in soybean production, and 7th in winter wheat production. That's pretty impressive!

Let's take a closer look at corn, the most popular grain crop grown in Ohio.

Did you know that the corn plant is native to North and South America? Native Americans grew many varieties of corn, including sweet corn, popcorn and corn for grining into meal thousands of years before the first European explorers arrived in the Americans. It wasn't until the 17th century that corn was introduced to European farmers.

Did you know that the grain crop farmers grow is different from the sweet corn you may grow in your garden or buy at the grocery store?

 Yep! The field corn most farmers grow is not the same kind you eat fresh off the cob...it's harder and used primarily for animal feed...as well as for the production of biofuels like ethanol and processed into other products...even plastic!

Here's how you can do a simple experiment in your own classroom...or even your home...making ethanol from simple household items:


Supplies needed:

• empty 2-liter bottle
• balloon
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 package of yeast
• funnel
• 1/4 cup corn syrup

Directions:

1. Pour 2 cups of water and one package of yeast into an empty 2-liter bottle. Swish the bottle to mix the ingredients. Observe and record your observations.
2. Put funnel into the mouth of the bottle. Add 1/4 cup corn syrup & mix again. Stretch deflated balloon over top of the bottle and set bottle to the side.
3. Label the time and date on your bottle. Observe over the next 2-3 days.

 During ethanol production, the feedstock (in this case corn) is ground so it can be processed more quickly. Then, the starch (or cellulose) is converted to sugar. In our experiment, that process was already done when the corn was converted to sugary corn syrup.

Then, the sugar is fed to microbes that use it for food, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. In our experiment, the sugar is fed to the yeast microbes. Over 24-26 hours, the production of ethanol...and the carbon dioxide...will inflate the balloon over the top of the bottle.

The ethanol is then purified to the desired concentration. In our experiment, it will yield a very low concentration that can safely be poured down your sink once the experiment is complete.

For more information about Ohio's corn production, visit the Ohio Corn Marketing Program.

This series is inspired by the book The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.

AgBC's: F is for Farmers

We can't live without them. Farmers grow the food and fiber products we need and use every single day. Some say (myself included!) that farming is some of the most important work on earth!

Big or small, organic of conventional, farmers are vital to our livelihoods! But no matter what their size or production method, did you know 99% of American's farms are family-owned? Even the really big farms?

Farmers account for less than 2 percent of the world's population...but they feed the entire world population each and every day. In fact, modern agricultural methods have improved production so much that each American farmer feeds 155 people...in 1940, each American farmer only fed 19 people. Wow, that's a big responsibility!

Keep those farmers and producers in mind the next time you go to the grocery store. They work hard year round to keep those shelves stocked with safe, affordable and abundant food supplies. We are so lucky to enjoy the safest most affordable food supply in the world right here in America!

And today, the corn and soybeans farmers grow can even be turned into biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel that can be used to fuel the vehicles on our roadways.

While you're thinking about thanking farmers for your food (and even some of our fuel!), take some time to learn more about their very important jobs, too! Here are some ideas:

• Learn more about agriculture in your classroom! Use the resources of Ag in the Classroom online!
• Many farmers and ranchers are now active online and in social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Here are some of our favorite dairy farmers that we featured last June during National Dairy Month.
• Visit a local farm and learn about how they produce the food you eat!
• Find out what farm life is really like...check out the lives of the Real Farmwives of America as they share stories of life on the farm, the struggles and challenges they face as parents, crafts, recipes and more.

This series is inspired by the book The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.

Back to School: Lessons in Economics

So we told you last week that we were going to spend August sharing some great resources with you for bringing agriculture into your classrooms. I mean, after all, shouldn't everyone know where there food comes from and how it got from the farm gate to their plate? But if you thought we were only going to share science lessons with you, think again!

Everyone is talking about the economy these days. In fact, it seems that about all adults have talked about for the last two years. But kids need to learn about economics, too...about supply and demand and the industries that keep our state and our country running. And folks, some of those key industries are agriculture.

Yep, you heard me right. While farmers account for less than 2 percent of our country's population, agriculture is the largest industry in Ohio today. And it's not "just farming." It's biotechnology and research. It's green energy. It's food processing and animal care. It's an industry that touches your life each and every day in more ways that you can count. I promise.

So it only makes sense to talk about agriculture when you're teaching students about economics. But how do you merge the two? Easy! Producing Ohio: Creating our Economy has everything you need to teach 5th - 8th graders about economics. It's an interactive, multimedia economics curriculum with dynamic and entertaining cross-curricular lessons designed to give students the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in the classroom and in life.

The curriculum includes real-life applications representing a range of industries and enterprises as it explores key economic principles from the inside out. Students go to the farm, get on the production line with manufacturing, and visit the education and service sectors. As they make their way through 11 lesson and five segmented video, students will meet 16 essential economic standards recommended by the National Council on Economic Education. Each unit includes structured lesson plans, black line masters, Web-based activities and opportunities to integrate economics across the curriculum:

• In Factors of Production students look at a rural school district to determine the factors involved with delivering a service: education.
• Markets and Prices takes students to a farm in America's Corn Belt to study the supply & demand chain, and students explore how a consumer purchasing corn flakes is linked to the cereal producer, grain buyer and ultimately the farmer.
• The telecommunications industry is a perfect example for students to learn about Monopoly & Competitive Markets.
• Markets & Competition  are driven by targeted market research, trends, product innovation and advertising in this example featuring a popular drink targeted to tweens.
• The gloabl market takes center stage as students explore International Trade through design, manufacturing and comparing the competitive advantage U.S. suppliers of specialized machinery enjoy & the various advantages that support imported materials and products from Brazil.

Producing Ohio kits are available for online ordering ($65 each). Producing Ohio is a collaborative project of the Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation/CET and the Economics Center for Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati.