Stockbridge School of Agriculture
2-year and 4-year career-minded degrees through hands-on learning
Upcoming Events
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Sep1
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Dec5
Plant viral infection modulates the destabilization of mineral-associated organic matter in the rhizosphere
Dr. Sherlynette Perez-CastroMarien Biological Lab3:30pmSeminar
Professor Lisa Depiano Awarded $30,000 Grant to Host Climate Adaptation Learning Lab On Campus
Stockbridge professor Lisa Depiano founded the UMass Carbon Farming Initiative, which for five years has trained students at our Agricultural Learning Center (ALC) in the use of agroecology, regenerative food production and climate mitigation techniques.
Carbon farming, in which carbon is sequestered into soil stocks and above-ground biomass, reduces the harmful release of carbon into the atmosphere that comes from commercial farming.
Instructors Lisa Depiano and Nicole Burton, along with our Sustainable Food & Farming students, also manage the university's first Chestnut/Sheep Silvopasture, in which trees and livestock are used to enrich soil productivity without the use of powered tractors.
The new grant, awarded to Depiano by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Partnership, will fund a new site at the ALC to teach "alley cropping," the integration of trees among farm crops, giving students additional hands-on learning opportunities to practice climate mitigation and sustainable farming techniques proven by science.
Stockbridge News
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Stockbridge Professor Named to Most Highly Cited Researchers Worldwide
Web analytics firm Clarivate announces, for the 9th consecutive year, that Stockbridge Director and Professor Baoshan Xing is among the Most Highly Cited Researchers for 2022, worldwide. Highly Cited Researchers have demonstrated significant and broad influence reflected in their publication of multiple highly cited papers over the last decade. These highly cited papers rank in the top 1% by frequency of citations for a field. Fewer than 1 in 1000 researchers attain this honor. -
J. Scott Ebdon Retires After 25 Years of Service
Stockbridge alumni know Dr. J. Scott Ebdon as a kind, funny, warm, and knowledgeable mentor. Today Ebdon is a gentleman and a scholar who has earned a well-deserved retirement, and emeritus status with the University of Massachusetts. Ebdon has published extensively, his more than 200 articles and book chapters contributing to our ranking as a top agriculture science university in the world, and he has supported the scholarship of others through the peer review process. As Chief Undergraduate Advisor for the Turfgrass Science & Management program, Ebdon was honored directly by UMass students who awarded him the UMass-Amherst Residential First-Year Experience Student Choice Award. We thank Dr. Ebdon for his 25 years of service to the University. -
Baoshan Xing and International Collaborative's Paper Published by Environmental Science + Technology Journal
The ability of plants to improve soil health is limited by organic pollution. But this can be overcome, using biochar and microbial integration. Such is the conclusion of "Integrating Biochar, Bacteria, and Plants for Sustainable Remediation of Soil Contaminated with Organic Pollutants," just published as the cover page article in the prestigious research journal Environmental Science & Technology (EST). Phytoremediation, the use of plants to neutralize and remove pollution in soils, is a major research thrust across multiple faculty at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. The article is the result of an international collaboration between Dr. Xing and top scientists from China, the United Kingdom, Canada, Albania, Australia, Korea, Germany, and the U.S. -
Masoud Hashemi Elected President of 3 Professional Organizations
The leading role played by Stockbridge School of Agriculture in modern professional research organizations, is demonstrated by the recent election of Masoud Hashemi, Extension Professor of Sustainable Farming and Agronomy Management to lead three cooperating organizations. Hashemi has been name President-Elect of the Northeastern regional branches of the Agronomy Society of America (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). He will lead the triumvirate for two years. -
UMass Again Ranked 1st in Nation for Agricultural Sciences
The 2022-2023 Best Global Universities rankings have been released by U.S. News and World Report. For the third year in a row, the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranks #1 in the U.S., and #5 in the world for Agricultural Sciences. Says Stockbridge Associate Director and Professor Dan Cooley, "Our consistently top ranking is due to an overall effort in the College of Natural Sciences, tackling the existential challenges of safe and sustainable food production in the face of pollution and climate change.” -
Stockbridge Contributes to Detection of Heavy Metals in the Nations Food Supply
At the request of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Stockbridge professor Om Parkash Dhankher organized a workshop of 40 food and toxicology experts. He has now generated a report that will guide the federal government in taking steps to fund the prevention, detection, remediation and removal of toxins -- like arsenic -- from baby food. "The irony is that most baby foods showing toxic metal contamination were labelled as 'organic,' which most consumers will assume is safer than conventional non-organic foods," warns Dhankher, quickly adding "but it isn't."
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