Fresh From the Field, May 30, 2019

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Fresh From the Field is a weekly album showcasing transformative impacts made by partners supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Editor: Falita Liles                                                                                                 May 30, 2019


Success Stories 

Family Greeting Military Father Home On Leave. USDA NIFA Fresh From the FIeld.

Different Factors Affect Health for Military Couples

Research led by a University of Georgia (UGA) scientist reveals that enhancing community connections for service members and their civilian spouses may be an important tool in supporting their mental and physical health. The study found that both connections to others within the military and to the broader military culture had a positive impact on the mental health of service members and their civilian spouses. This positive impact related to their overall physical health, having potentially big implications for service member and family readiness.

NIFA provided support for this research through the 4-H Military Partnership.

Read the article at UGA Today.


News Coverage

Examining a Tomato. USDA NIFA Fresh From the Field.

Florida Tomatoes and Food Safety

Tomatoes are a highly nutritious source of minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients. For the nation to realize the associated benefits, it is important that consumer confidence in the microbial safety of tomatoes remain at a high level. To that end, scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and the University of Florida teamed with Florida tomato growers and packers to address critical food safety gaps. Their findings encouraged the industry to develop “Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain,” the adoption of which will reduce microbiological hazards associated with fresh and fresh-cut tomatoes.

NIFA supports the research through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

Learn more about this research at NIFA’s Data Gateway.


Library

Visitors learn about kiwiberries at the 2018 Under the Vines field day. USDA NIFA Fresh From the Field.

Experiment Station Researchers Develop Online Kiwiberry Production Guide for the Northeast

Prospective kiwiberry growers in the Northeast now have a roadmap to help them grow this emerging specialty fruit crop. Researchers with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) have produced an online guide that provides in-depth, regionally relevant information.

Comprised of a statewide market assessment, a detailed production manual, and an enterprise analysis, Growing Kiwiberries in New England: A Guide for Regional Producers reflects information that the experiment station has gathered since 2013, when the experiment station initiated its kiwiberry research and breeding program at its Woodman Horticultural Research Farm.

With their general adaptation to the region, their attractive appearance, intense and complex flavor profiles, and  high levels of bioactive compounds, kiwiberries have been recognized for their potential as a high-value crop in the Northeast. They are a tender, smooth-skinned relative of the fuzzy supermarket kiwi and are about the size of a grape with a tropical taste.

Kiwiberries have an extensive 140-year history of cultivation in New England, first as an ornamental landscape vine and subsequently as a new fruit crop on private estates and in backyard gardens. In recent decades, a handful of producers have experimented with field-scale kiwiberry production, demonstrating the commercial viability of the crop in the region and developing interest among researchers and consumers.

NIFA supports this project through the Hatch Multistate Research Fund.

Read the full article at UNH News.


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Multistate Research Impact Program. USDA NIFA Fresh From the Field. May 2019