Dairy Awarded $40,000 for Pasture Management

Organic Valley has awarded a $40,000 grant to the Organic Dairy at the University Farm through their Farmers Advocating for Organics grant program. The money will be used to help fund a two-year study focused on improving net profit by improving pasture management.

“Skyrocketing feed costs are one of the biggest issues facing the organic dairy industry today,” said Cynthia Daley, professor of animal science. “Little is known about the economic viability of low grain/high forage organic dairy systems in today’s agricultural economy in the U.S.”

In addition to assessing and promoting more sustainable feeding systems, the project will host “grazing schools” for dairy farmers to encourage and support efficient pasture use. The research will also assess organically approved soil amendments to establish profitability.

NSF Funds Project in Science Education

Leslie Atkins, Physics and Science Education, and Irene Salter, Biology and Science Education, have received a grant for $149, 662 from the National Science Foundation, for their project Student Generated Scientific Inquiry. The grant will fund the development of a course in open-inquiry in science.

Atkins, the principle investigator of the project, said that, although elementary level student teachers take a sequence of courses addressing scientific content, they don’t have the chance to engage in open-inquiry, and that limits their understanding of science as it is practiced.

The project will have several broad impacts, said Atkins, including fostering collaborations between science departments and science educators; addressing the needs of pre-service teachers; serving a population underrepresented in the sciences; and providing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Coalition with a guide to developing courses in open-inquiry at other universities.