Fresh From the Field, May 23, 2019

Stopping Malaria at its Source

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 445,000 people died of malaria in 2016—most were young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Penn State’s Matthew Thomas and an international team of researchers have developed an in-home solution aimed at preventing the spread of malaria.

In Africa, mosquitoes have a strong preference for entering houses at night through eaves—the gaps between the roofs and the walls of houses. The team’s novel eave-tube approach involves blocking the eaves and inserting tubes that act like chimneys to funnel human odors to the exterior of the home. According to Thomas, “The eave-tube approach presents a novel strategy to help combat this challenge by simultaneously making houses more mosquito proof and providing a novel way of delivering insecticides, which creates opportunities for using a wider range of insecticidal products.”

NIFA provided support for this research through the Hatch Act Funding.

Read the article online or view the video at Penn State’s Stopping Malaria at its Source.

Food Waste and Food Retail Density

Unconsumed food poses a potential economic burden to society. Recent estimates suggest that 300 million barrels of oil and 25 percent of total freshwater consumed by agriculture was used to produce food that was eventually discarded. University of Georgia (UGA) agricultural and applied economists explored the effect of food retail density on overall levels of municipal waste. They found that with lower levels of access, food becomes more expensive, which leads to decreased food waste. On the other hand, poor food access may mean less frequent trips to the grocery store, but larger purchases. Under these conditions, food waste could increase if larger quantities of food are more difficult to manage. The researchers also found that a high density of restaurants lead to higher production of municipal solid waste, whereas areas with more stores that sell food for at-home consumption produce less municipal solid waste.

NIFA supports this research with Hatch Act Funding.

Contact: Craig Landry

Southern Georgia Cooperatives Make a Difference in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Territories

A note from Louis Peterson, a farmer regarding NIFA sponsored outreach through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program:

A group of farmers visited with the West Georgia Farmers’ Cooperative to learn about agricultural cooperatives.  They visited a variety of venues and Southern SARE supported this collaboration.

These farmers met with giants in the southern cooperative movement; a major Atlanta food hub; the Federation of Southern Cooperative site in Epes, Alabama; and PeachDish, a local meal prep service that supports local, community supported agriculture.  

Here's a very short video that documents the impact your decisions have made on the lives of farmers in our region.  Thank you so much for supporting sustainable agriculture in the Virgin Islands.  Many more videos and photos will be coming, but I wanted to post this to pass on the thank you for the work you all do.  The groups also asked me to thank Candace Pollock, David Redhage, Lee Meyer, and Jeff Jordan for the concern about the U.S. Virgin Islands and willingness to collaborate that Southern SARE has expressed.

Pardon my amateur video work.  Sorry for the puppy barking and the traffic but that's what you get in rural areas many times.  

Thank you all for the work that you do!  All of you should be very proud of this!