June 27, 2007 |
1. Honey Bees Transfer from Fulbright to Bumpers College
3. AGCS Projects Win National Awards
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1. Honey Bees Transfer from Fulbright to Bumpers College
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| Don Steinkraus and Jon Zawislak, ENTO, and Kinco, Inc., carpenter Charles George removed a huge bee hive from Old Main June 19 and installed the colony in a hive at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center. | ||||
On June 19, Don Steinkraus and graduate student Jon Zawislak, ENTO, spent much of the day in bee suits well above most of campus. Both were chained to a cable, outside of a window on the 5th floor of historic Old Main, where they were called by a carpenter repairing the woodwork, who had noticed bees coming and going through a crack.
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| Jon Zawislak checks bees in a colony maintained by the Entomology Graduate Students Club at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center. |
Once they pried open the window casing, they found a monstrous bee colony -- estimated at more than 100,000 bees -- that had been busy filling a cavity with about six cubic feet of honeycomb. It took about six hours for Steinkraus, Zawislak and Kinco, Inc., carpenter Charles George to remove all the comb without damaging any of the original woodwork.
They vacuumed the bees into a special device and installed them into a hive at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The comb they removed contained at least 100 pounds of honey, Steinkraus said.
Four new hives at the AAREC were recently built and populated with bees by the Entomology Graduate Students Club, which plans to harvest honey for sale as a fund-raising project.
Steinkraus said the hive of bees removed from Old Main might have a degree of resistance to the verroa mite, a blood-sucking insect that is the number one enemy of honey bees. Zawislak is conducting a research project to investigate anecdotal evidence that the smoke from burning specific plant materials is an effective natural control agent against mites in bee colonies. Chemical miticides provide effective control, but alternatives are needed because of the ability of the mite to develop resistance to the available miticides, Zawislak said.
Steinkraus said the Old Main colony was not only unusually large and healthy, but also unusually high. Most hives are about 10-20 feet high with a maximum of about 60,000 bees. The size is largely determined by the space available for the colony to continue growing, Zawislak said.
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A team of students, faculty and alumni helped to start a large garden to produce a cash crop of peppers for St. Mathew's Elementary School in Belize. The project is part of a larger project involving students and faculty from several colleges and sponsored by the Honors College. The Bumpers College team returned about June 20 after spending a month in Belize. Printed below is the second in a series of progress reports from faculty sponsor Jennie Popp, AEAB, to Dean Greg Weidemann. Both letters are posted in an "online journal" on the Global Studies Web site.
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It is with great pleasure that I report on the second half of the Belize project experience. I was with the students from May 31 until the end of the project, June 15. Students who participated in the agricultural project include Kerri Boling (AEAB), Misti Clark (AEAB), Heather Markway (CSES), Ashley Jones (AEAB), Evreda Rice (CSES), Laura Sossamon (AEAB), Mioko Tamura (CSES) and Lauren Webb (FDSC).
The students have done a tremendous job! Under the supervision of Dr. Burgos they cleared the land, built a fence around the garden, prepared the beds and started two compost areas. They also put together a short how-to manual for the teachers at the school regarding pepper production and marketing. I arrived May 31. We had the weekend to transition. Dr. Burgos returned home June 4.
The last two weeks of the project were as busy as the first. With the assistance of the Stan Creek Agriculture Office, we put in an irrigation and water catchment system. The system will collect rainwater from the roof of the school and store it in a 400 gallon tank for use in the garden. The school has access to a water line for irrigation purposes should the tank run dry. The rainy season began on June 1. Two days after we installed the tank, it was completely full.
The students also taught four science classes for standards three through five (5th through 7th grades). These sessions covered pepper production, harvest and marketing, water management, transplanting and the future of the school garden. The students were quite enthused. The teachers were so impressed that the materials presented by our students were integrated into the comprehensive science examinations that took place the day we left Belize. The integration of agricultural topics into the science class, the development of the garden and our collaboration with the local Agriculture Office have helped reintroduce agriculture into the school curriculum. Three school staff members have agreed to continue to work with the Stann Creek Agriculture Office to provide further agricultural education opportunities for the students of St. Matthew's.
As an additional project, our students did their part to facilitate trash collection in the area. Trash cans are a rare commodity in Dangriga, and even rarer at St. Matthew's in Pomona. We were able to secure four free citrus drums from the CPBL - Citrus Products of Belize Limited - which our students painted with Belizean marine and animal life. Students were drawn to these colorful cans and promised to make good use of them in the future.
In addition to working at the school the students explored marketing avenues for the crops. We met with Mrs. Marie Sharp, of Marie Sharp - a company in Belize offering hot pepper sauces, fruit jams and fruit juice concentrates (many of her products are available in stores throughout the Southeast and on-line from many retailers). Mrs. Sharp gave all of us a tour of her factory from where all of her products are produced. The students arranged for the sale of St. Matthew's peppers to Marie Sharp, provided the peppers are of sufficient quality. Having a local, reliable marketing outlet for the product will help ensure the financial sustainability of the garden in the future. Students also identified marketing options for future crops: cabbage, tomatoes, onions and sweet peppers.
The day we were all waiting for came on June 11th. That afternoon, UA students, St. Matthew's faculty, PTA and members of the Pomona Women's Group participated in the planting of the peppers. Roughly 250 peppers were planted that day. Another 250 are scheduled to be planted June 26. Mrs. Anne McCoon, St. Matthew's Principal, has organized school staff, PTA and members of the Women's Group to oversee the garden. UA students developed a reward system (called Garden Bucks) that St. Matthew's students can earn to assist in the garden. St. Matthew's is a school overseen by the Anglican Church in Belize. Representatives of the church toured the garden and were so impressed that they have asked Mac Stephen (son of Dr. Fred Stephen) to write an article for their national newsletter. This article will also be shared with some of the churches in Northwest Arkansas.
Two unexpected but exciting opportunities have also arisen from this project. First, after an initial meeting with Dr. Burgos, the Ministry of Agriculture invited the students and I to participate in their national training seminar for agricultural agents that took place in Dangriga. I spoke to the attendees about our project. There is great interest in using the St. Matthew's garden project as a model for other schools around the nation. Dr. Burgos and I will follow up with the Ministry of Agriculture to provide guidance. Second, the Ecumenical Junior College (EJC) of Dangriga is also interested in further collaboration with UA. We had the pleasure of assistance from six of their Environmental Science students (including the top student in the school) on the garden project. The Dean of the school and I talked extensively about developing a course for them that is structured similar to the UA course - classroom work followed by field experience. Again, Dr. Burgos and I will follow up with the school this fall.
It is evident from this letter and from Dr. Burgos's letter that our students worked incredibly hard while in Belize. However, there was still plenty of opportunity for fun. The students explored many areas of the country (caving in San Ignacio, scuba diving in Caye Cauker, snorkeling in Placencia, dancing to Garifuna music in Dangriga and exploring Mayan ruins throughout the country) as well as neighboring countries (with visits to Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala).
On a final note while I mention here only the agricultural project, there were a handful of other projects which involved students from other colleges on campus. While each project was distinct from the others, the students shared ideas, materials and labor wherever possible. It was a wonderful experience for all 54 students involved.
I am very proud of our students and all they accomplished in four short weeks. While I am sure they are all happy to return to air conditioning and meal options that extend beyond chicken, rice and beans, I know they will all look back favorably upon their experiences in Belize. I hope you will join me in congratulating these wonderful women for a job incredibly well done.
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3. AGCS Projects Win National Awards
A coveted Gold Award in the category of writing for magazines was presented to Fred Miller, AGCS, at the national meeting of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences in Albequerque June 18. The award was for Miller's article, "Women in Agriculture," in the Fall-Winter issue of the Arkansas Land and Life magazine published by the Division of Agriculture.
A brochure/poster about the history of the many Agricultural Experiment Station units in the Division of Agriculture garnered silver and bronze awards. Judy Howard and Howell Meddeers received a Silver Award for the project in the promotional publications class of the publishing category. Howard received a Bronze Award for her illustration featured on the poster/brochure in the graphic design category.
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4. Workshop for AgriScience Teachers
Don Johnson and George Wardlow, AEED, helped present in a four-day "Summer Workshop for Ag Teaching Excellence" for high school teachers at Siloam Springs High School June 16-19. The workshop was developed by Bumpers College alumnus Mike Rogers, an agriculture teacher at Siloam Springs, and Judith Tavano, director of the Professional Development Academy in the College of Education and Health Professions.
The agriculture teachers toured Kennametal in Rogers and Cobb-Vantress in Siloam Springs. "We have to find ways to incorporate into our courses what industry leaders need our students to know," Rogers said.
The Siloam Springs agriculture program is well-rounded, with an animal science classroom that looks like both a biology lab and a computer lab. Students use 12 compound microscopes, a microscope that projects images onto a large screen and 15 computers connected to an AutoCAD system. The program also has a greenhouse, facilities to raise hydroponic vegetables and fish and a 60-foot round pen to break and train horses.
AAES and Bumpers College Web sites:
http://aaes.uark.edu/
http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/