Fall 2019
Rainier cherries
Sensitive and sweet, Rainier cherries developed at WSU are "tree candy." » More ...
Archives
Summer 2019
Spinach
The leafy greens of spinach were fit for a queen and an American president. Packed with nutrients and versatile in cuisine, spinach grows all over but Washington State University leads research on spinach seeds in northwest Washington. » More ...
Summer 2019
WSU@Prosser
For a century, Washington State University's research and extension center at Prosser has fostered innovations, such as the Rainier cherry, the wine industry, AgWeatherNet, and automated and robotic agriculture. It all started with irrigation that transformed central Washington. » More ...
Spring 2019
What’s gone viral?
Grapevine leafroll viruses threatens the wine industry in Washington and beyond, which is why Washington State University researchers like Naidu Rayapati are exploring the way leafroll viruses travel through grape plants. » More ...
Spring 2019
Stopping the blighters
Fire blight, a voracious bacterial infection, has plagued apple and pear trees for years, but weather conditions have worsened the severity of infestations in Washington state since 2015. That has spurred Washington State University researchers to seek resistant trees and Extension educators to help growers manage the disease. » More ...
Spring 2019
Soil Man
USDA-ARS and WSU scientist Jim Cook spent 40 years probing the jungle of soil microbiomes, and his lifetime of practical work on soil health helped numerous farmers and led to an honorary doctorate from WSU. » More ...
Winter 2018
Plan Bee
With honey bees in peril, agriculture turns to our wild bee species to help pollinate America’s crops. » More ...
Fall 2018
Peonies from heaven
Come late summer, Alaska’s farmland blooms with romance and colorful ruffles. It’s the season for peonies in the north country—an unlikely floral industry that, thanks to bridal demand, has given rise to a surprising horticultural gold rush.
The lure is especially tempting for those with small parcels of land. Wayne ’76 and Patti ’75 Floyd, for example, joined the stampede in 2011 with only two acres, and have since created a successful business claiming both national and international markets.
“We’d had this farm bug in our hearts from the beginning but we were never in a place that we could do that,” says Patti. … » More …
Fall 2018
Modernist Bread
By Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya
The Cooking Lab: 2017
For millennia, bread baking has been more craft than science. Even the current trend in artisan bread rejects much of what modern science has wrought: the advances of manufactured yeast, dough conditioners, added preservatives and the overall industrialization of wheat and bread production.
“The bread zeitgeist is about being ancient, primitive, natural, and pretty much anything but modern,” writes Nathan Myhrvold in his recent 2,642-page … » More …
Fall 2017
Shifting waters
On the south end of Puget Sound, where I lived for a number of years, water surrounds Olympia: Black Lake, Budd Bay, Capitol Lake, inlets, rivers, and creeks. It’s part of the picturesque scenery that I enjoyed daily, until I saw a half-submerged SUV at an intersection. The storms of 2007 flooded some streets, not to mention covering I-5 just south in Centralia. Water had become an unexpected hazard.
We can expect even more heavy storms and major floods, especially in the Midwest and Northeast, as the climate changes. Floods that were once seen every 20 years are projected to happen as much as … » More …