Native mistletoe’s bad rap as parasite plant put to rest
ODT 28 August 2024
Mistletoe has long been seen as one of two things – something to stand under at Christmas-time for a kiss, or a parasitic plant that grows on other trees.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/native-mistletoe%E2%80%99s-bad-rap-parasite-plant-put-rest
Broader scholarship eligibility urged
Broader scholarship eligibility urged
https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-life-other/broader-scholarship-eligibility-urged
Medicinal marijuana company up for review
Craig Bunt, Otago University’s inaugural professor of agricultural innovation, said outdoor cannabis growing for medicinal purposes is a risky area, with issues around background microbial loads being one risk area.
https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/news/medicinal-marijuana-company-up-for-review/
Pink bras, corn and the intriguing political history of genetic engineering
Inaugural Professor of Agricultural Innovation at Otago University, Craig Bunt, says there has always been an approval process for GE.
“When it comes to agriculture, a lot of what we do needs approval. And so if it’s not approved, then people interpret that to mean it’s banned.”
Public screening of ‘- Six Inches of Soil -‘
Taieri College Performing Arts Centre on 2 August 2024 at 6:00pm.
https://events.humanitix.com/six-inches-of-soil-mosgiel
Resisting antibiotic-resistant bacteria
“…immunology researcher Dr Nils Birkholz said it could also be used in agriculture, to fight plant pathogens in crops.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/resisting-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria
Students hungry for new degree
ODT Wednesday, 3 July 2024
Students in a new postgraduate qualification teaching about “farm-to-fork and beyond” are hungry to learn, a Dunedin professor says.
https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-life-other/students-hungry-new-degree
AI developed to protect wine industry
As food fraud continues to grow around the world, Otago researchers have begun a ground-breaking project aimed at protecting the New Zealand wine industry from imposters.
University of Otago food science senior lecturer Dr Biniam Kebede is developing an artificial intelligence-powered hyperspectral imaging technique to test wine authenticity and traceability — all without opening the bottle.
Read more here; https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/ai-developed-protect-wine-industry
Back to Adam? The long history of apples
University of Otago agricultural innovation student Aaron Hewson has learned a lot about apples since he started researching one of our favourite fruits.
There is an old English proverb: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. When we walk into a supermarket or go to the farmers market, we might get a choice of 10 different kinds of apples to shoo away that dastardly doctor. Perhaps this seems like a lot of options compared to the single choice of Cavendish banana we get, but it pales in comparison to the 20,000 named apple varieties found throughout the world.
Read here; https://sod.co.nz/2024/06/07/an-introduction-to-apples/
Free-market approaches do not sit well with science
Free markets do not respond well to things that are slow to change – we need to set deep and long-lived national research, science, and technology goals
Read here; https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/06/10/free-market-approaches-do-not-sit-well-with-science/
