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Spring 2024

Agriculture

Fall 2006

Building a better treadle pump—one step at a time

The first thing Jeff Evans, a recent graduate in entrepreneurship, did when he started his senior project was to locate Malawi on a map.

He and engineering students Travis Meyer, Kyle Kraemer, and Dan Good have since learned a lot about this African country, third poorest in the world, and developed a treadle pump they hope will make a positive difference for people there. They traveled to Malawi in March to test their product. Working with Peter Wyeth, associate scientist in International Programs, Trent Bunderson, associate director of International Programs, and faculty advisors Denny Davis and Jerman Rose, the team was part of a unique … » More …

Summer 2006

Cherries—The sweet fruit of worry

In March, Don Olmstead Jr. (’70 Hort.) watches over his cherry trees night and day, ready to activate a heating system or switch on the wind machines to protect the tender buds from a killing frost. It’s a task he shares with his son and business partner, Don Olmstead III (’98 Hort.).

In April, the Olmsteads worry about pollination, which only works if pollen is on the blossoms and the weather is right for insect activity. Since most cherries can’t self-pollinate, there must be another variety close by and in bloom. To facilitate cross-pollination, the Olmsteads hire one beehive per acre, inviting a few million … » More …

Spring 2007

Spillman memorial rededicated

A memorial marker for William Jasper Spillman, a crop research pioneer and one of Washington State College’s first professors, was returned to campus last fall.

Spillman was the sixth faculty member to be hired at WSC, and the researcher responsible for developing new wheat varieties for the region. During his time here, he independently rediscovered Mendel’s law of genetics. He left WSC in 1901 to become a founder of agricultural economics, the first president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and editor of Farm Journal. In the 1930s, before he died, he asked that his family return to the Palouse that he loved and spread … » More …

Summer 2007

A lavender landscape

The landscape west of Sequim has, no doubt, always been beautiful. There’s an obvious advantage to having the foothills of the Olympics on the near horizon. But add fields of lavender, and you have jaw-drop stunning.

Beauty is obviously a constant here. But where Cathy ’68 and Leeon ’68 Angel planted their lavender seven years ago, dairy cows once grazed. And not too long before that, you might have seen a band of Clallam people heading across the meadow toward the Dungeness River to fish. Or north toward Sequim or Dungeness bays to dig shellfish.

Lavender is a recent development around Sequim. By the … » More …

Summer 2007

Hops & beer

Raising the raw ingredients for beer can be just as complex and interesting as growing grapes for wine, says Jason Perrault '97, '01. Like grapes, hops have different varieties and characteristics. Perrault, fourth-generation heir to a hops-farming legacy, runs a hops breeding program for Yakima Valley growers, helping to ensure that Washington continues to provide three-quarters of the hops grown in this country.

» More ...
Spring 2003

Smoke & asthma

For as long as Jami Hinshaw can remember, she has coughed, sneezed, sniffled, and felt miserable every September. When she was nine, the Spokane native and WSU alum was diagnosed with asthma.

Last fall, Hinshaw was fighting her usual symptoms, but she was also carrying a portable air quality monitor in a backpack as part of a study to better understand the health effects of agricultural field burning. Researchers from Washington State University are working with their counterparts from the School of Public Health at the University of Washington to examine volunteers’ exposure levels to atmospheric pollutants coming from field burning in the region.

Controversy … » More …

Spring 2003

Living and gardening in the Pacific Northwest — Spring 2003

Some gardeners work to change conditions in their yard to create havens of greenery and blooms with plants that wouldn’t grow there otherwise. They amend the soil to suit plants’ needs, they water a lot during the summer, and they give added protection to non-hardy plants.

More and more gardeners today are saying “No!” to extra tasks, choosing to work with nature instead of against it. They are using nature as a model in creating yards and gardens that reflect the natural beauty of the place where they live. They’re determining the aspects their yards share with surrounding natural areas-sun, shade, rocks, slopes-and they’re choosing … » More …

Winter 2001

Washington apples—best of the best

ALTHOUGH DEBATE will continue over the benefits of organic versus conventional farming, Washington State University scientists have established that organic production of apples is more sustainable than conventional apple production. Soil scientist John Reganold, soils graduate student Jerry Glover, horticulturist Preston Andrews, and agricultural economist Herbert Hinman reported the results of a six-year study comparing organic, integrated, and conventional apple production in the cover article of the April 19, 2001 Nature.

In 1994 the researchers planted four acres of Golden Delicious apples within a Yakima Valley commercial orchard. Plots of equal size were managed according to organic, conventional, and integrated farming practices. Integrated farming … » More …