A Season of Growth, CALS Magazine Spring 2021

M AGAZINE

A Season of Growth

I AM CALS Dalton Dockery, N.C. Cooperative Extension director, Columbus County

Dalton Dockery has dedicated 27 years to making connections to those he serves.

“Building relationships is the core of North Carolina Cooperative Extension. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy my job,” Dockery says.

“I’ve tried to instill that belief in the agents that I’ve hired.

“We want to make sure we distribute research and education from NC State, but we have to show our community that we care first.”

Continued on page 42

NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Spring 2021 14 REGAINING WHAT’S BEEN LOST At Sankofa Farms, doctoral student Kamal Bell looks to agriculture and to the past to break down educational barriers for young African American men.

24 A LEADING ADVOCATE Graduate student Coleman Simpson takes on a new supporting role, bringing counseling services to fellow CALS students through a grant he wrote.

26 GROWING A FUTURE A blossoming Wake County farm provides refugees from Myanmar with new income and new hopes.

32

TENDING TO THE COMMUNITY With deep roots in their communities, Master Gardener volunteers are a vital source of gardening advice, fresh produce and compassionate service.

38

BIO-AG BREAKTHROUGHS Alumna Pam Marrone has launched three startup companies for biological pest control. Now she’s mentoring entrepreneurs.

4 CALS News

12 N.C. PSI Leaders Named

8 GRIP4PSI Backs Plant Science

22 Creatures Great and Small

10 What’s the Big Deal About CRISPR?

40 Global Partnerships 44 From the Archives

ONLINE EDITION go.ncsu.edu/CALSMagazine

On the cover > Beekeeping and more at Sankofa Farms. See page 14.

A Season of Growth If I say the word “growth,” you might picture seedlings pushing up through the soil in springtime. Or it might make you think of economic progress, scientific breakthroughs, stronger communities or even personal growth.

What we do here at CALS supports all of these kinds of growth.

In this issue, we bring you some of our favorite stories about growth. They involve hatching chicks, nurturing young minds, supporting students, learning from refugees, tackling difficult issues, caring for neighbors in need, growing agricultural industries and starting new science-based companies.

FROM THE DEAN

The challenges of the pandemic have forced us to grow, sometimes in unexpected ways. Who would have thought that TikTok videos could be part of 4-H livestock showmanship?

We’ve found ways to adapt and help each other through this time, whether it’s sharing an ultracold freezer for vaccines or delivering fresh vegetables to seniors.

While it requires intention and effort, growth is more likely to take root when we work together. All of the work we do is possible because of the many partners who collaborate with us: volunteers, students, staff, faculty, scientific colleagues, agricultural innovators, entrepreneurs, donors, business owners and multinational corporations.

The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) illustrates the promise of collaboration as we tackle the grand challenges facing us, including feeding a growing world. We’ve chosen scientists to lead interdisciplinary research and education platforms for N.C. PSI and secured seed funding for four new visionary projects. Meanwhile, the opening of the NC State University Plant Sciences Building on Centennial Campus is just around the corner. There’s still time to invest in making this world-class facility a reality, and we invite you to join us.

Thank you for your support of CALS and ongoing growth. We hope this spring—and the stories in this issue—bring you a sense of renewal and hope.

Go Pack and Go CALS!

Richard Linton, Dean College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

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IN THIS ISSUE “Working with animals is an avenue to learn about responsibility, to learn about record keeping, to learn about ethics and morals and competitiveness. Ultimately, it’s about animals making us better people.” page 23

Brent Jennings 4-H livestock Extension associate Department of Animal Science page 38

“My legacy is that I have brought deep science to this industry, showing that these biological products are not snake oil and that they offer value in integrated pest management programs.”

Pam Marrone Executive chair and partner, Primary BioAg Innovations and Global BioAg Linkages

“We’re at a critical point in human history where the threat of widespread hunger is more real than ever. We have the opportunity to help farmers be more productive through the power of AI and analytics and get more food from fields to tables around the world.” page 40

Jim Goodnight SAS CEO

“It doesn’t matter what your economic background is or the color of your skin. It doesn’t matter where you come from. But what does matter is that we respect everybody for who they are.” pp.1, 42-43

Dalton Dockery N.C. Cooperative Extension director Columbus County page 25

“I like this hybrid of agriculture and leadership and policy and government. I think that’s where I can make the greatest impact in the world.”

Coleman Simpson CALS graduate student, Student Senate president and grant writer cals.ncsu.edu 3

Lending a Hand with the Pfizer Vaccine CALS alumnus David Huffman will always remember working at Pfizer during the pandemic. If he wants to share those memories, he can call up footage from ABC’s “20/20,” Nat Geo or the Discovery Channel.

Huffman, a 2019 graduate in bioprocessing science, landed a job with Pfizer in Pearl River, New York, near New York City, as an associate scientist supporting tissue culture work.

In 2020, when Pfizer began work on an mRNA vaccine with BioNTech, Huffman was one of the first volunteers from his group for the sample management team, which helped track and handle swabs from coronavirus testing.

“They were coming from all over the world,” Huffman recalls.

“We had some from South America, some from Europe, some from all over the country, from California, Oregon and North Carolina, too.”

Pfizer’s successful vaccine development was part of a historic moment captured by major news and documentary crews, who shot footage of Huffman through Plexiglas in a biosecure area.

“To start off my career this way, I would say it’s kind of bittersweet because I’ve known people that have gotten sick from this, and I have lost some people due to this terrible disease,” Huffman says. “It probably made me more focused on what I need to do and what I want to do.

“I wish the circumstances were different, but I am proud for doing some of the work that I’m doing and helping out as much as I can.”

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The tallest on his team, above, wearing goggles, a mask and lab coat, Huffman made an appearance in the final minutes of a special edition of “20/20” titled “The Shot: Race for the Vaccine,” which aired in December 2020.

A friend sent the link, which he sent to friends and family.

His dad suggested sharing it with April Hix Morrison, his academic advisor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences.

Huffman credits Morrison’s support and industry experience with helping him choose his career path.

“With bioprocessing, I learned that you can do a lot of different work with biofuels, pharma and food,” Huffman says.

“When I learned that you can be in pharma, I knew that was just the major for me.”

Working on cell growth as a volunteer in undergraduate coordinator John Sheppard’s bioprocessing lab provided valuable hands-on experience.

“That really helped me out with my current position and a little bit with sample management because it teaches you to be clean. It keeps me orderly, keeps me thinking on my feet,” Huffman says. “Learning about micro scale-up, going from a little tiny colony to a bigger culture, really helped me reach where I am now.”

He’s currently doing cell culture work, growing and harvesting cell lines to support clinical studies at Pfizer—and considering a master’s degree in clinical research management.

And he just received his second dose of the vaccine.

CALSNEWS Developing Leaders in Animal Agriculture The Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded nearly $1 million to NC State’s Agricultural Institute (AGI), a two-year program that prepares students for careers in agriculture.

The funds, which will be used over five years, will support the animal agriculture industry by expanding the pipeline of available talent for jobs.

“The support to the Agricultural Institute from Golden LEAF will provide the resources to improve the economy in economically distressed counties by allowing us to recruit students to re-enter these counties in high-need agricultural managerial positions,” says Beth Wilson, assistant director of academic programs and director of AGI. AGI will create an agriculture operations certificate, develop a food animal and poultry processing curriculum, provide internship support for students and develop a mentoring program.

“The Golden LEAF project will allow us to meet the needs of our most important agricultural industries and at the same time improve both the classroom and out-of-classroom experiences for our students,” says John Dole, associate dean and director of academic programs for NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Today’s students need to not only have the knowledge but also the ability to put that knowledge to use in their careers.”

Golden LEAF’s mission is to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities. Agriculture is one of the foundation’s key priorities, with funding focused on increasing the value of North Carolina’s agriculture industry.

“Golden LEAF is dedicated to the long-term economic advancement of North Carolina,” says Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF president and CEO. “This program will help build the talent, knowledge and abilities of North Carolina’s agribusiness professionals for years to come.”

“The foundation is pleased to work with NC State’s Agricultural Institute on growing the agribusiness talent pipeline in economically distressed counties, addressing the industry demand for skilled workers.

Scott T. Hamilton Golden LEAF President and CEO

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CALS Magazine Spring 2021 A Publication of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Editor Art Director

D’Lyn Ford Patty Anthony Mercer

Writers

Dee Shore Kristin Sargent Mollie Rappé John H. Tibbetts

Photographers

Videographer

CALS BOOK CLUB

A Garden Spot for Bees and Butterflies

Marc Hall Becky Kirkland Ken Martin

Chris Liotta

Dean and Executive Director for Agricultural Programs Richard Linton Senior Associate Dean for Administration Harry Daniels Associate Dean and Director, NC State Extension Richard Bonanno Associate Dean and Director, N.C. Agricultural Research Service Steve Lommel Associate Dean and Director, Academic Programs John Dole Assistant Dean and Director, CALS Advancement Sonia Murphy Assistant Director, CALS Alumni and Friends Society Lindsay Skinner Chief Communications Officer Richard Campbell Visit Us Online > cals.ncsu.edu NC State University promotes equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination and harassment based upon one’s age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation and veteran status.

Send correspondence and requests for change of address to CALS Magazine Editor, Campus Box 7603, NC State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 -7603.

9,300 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of 99¢ per copy. Printed on recycled paper.

If you’re Interested in creating gardens that attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators and live in the South, two NC State faculty members have just the book for you.

“Pollinator Gardening for the South: Creating Sustainable Habitats” is a step-by-step guidebook that’ll help you get started and maintain beautiful habitats to support some of the pollinator populations that are now declining.

Authors Danesha Seth Carley and Anne M. Spafford, both from the Department of Horticultural Science, offer a wealth of knowledge about both insects and garden design. The 168-page book combines science and art to cover a range of gardens—from patio container gardens to larger-scale school and community gardens. Both food and ornamental gardens are included.

The book, published by UNC Press, is offered in both paperback and ebook formats. It’s appropriate for gardeners in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 6, 7, 8 and 9, which include 12 Southern states.

CALSNEWS Finding Freezer Space for Vaccines An ultracold freezer that will someday store tissue samples from alligators, black bears and other wildlife is holding coronavirus vaccines at Student Health Services.

Researcher Nathan Hostetter, who joined the Department of Applied Ecology faculty in December, is pleased that the new -80 Celsius freezer took a detour on the way to his lab.

“The timing is perfect,” says Hostetter, an assistant unit leader with the North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

An ultracold freezer for Student Health Services was on backorder because of the global need for coronavirus vaccine storage. Both mRNA vaccines and wildlife tissue samples require ultracold storage to preserve genetic material.

Sharp-eyed staff members spotted the incoming freezer shipment and alerted Amy Orders, director of emergency management and mission continuity.

Her staff contacted Carrie Baum-Lane, executive assistant in Applied Ecology, who asked Hostetter about a loan.

“It won’t affect my research at all,” says Hostetter, a 2016 NC State Ph.D. graduate who returned to the university after postdoctoral positions in Maryland and Washington state. “Our field projects will be getting off the ground at the earliest this summer, and we should have the freezer back in time for that.”

If not, colleagues in the David Clark Labs have promised to free up some space for his samples.

News of the loan at NC State triggered a national call for ultracold freezer sharing from the U.S. Geological Survey to its partners at science centers and cooperative units, says Tom Kwak, Applied Ecology professor and unit leader of the NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

“Unfortunately there aren’t that many because most people already have specimens in their freezers and they’re full, and they can’t really get along without them,” Kwak says. “This was kind of serendipitous timing that Nathan had ordered that freezer and that the Student Health Center heard about it.”

Nathan Hostetter and his son Wyatt

The freezer was purchased with federal startup funds. Cooperative Research Units are a partnership among the U.S. Geological Survey and the host university, the state fish and wildlife agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Management Institute. Unit scientists also serve in faculty roles at their host universities.

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GRIP4PSI Backs Plant Sciences

The next phase of NC State’s Game-Changing Research Incentive Program (GRIP) supports research through the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative.

The goal is to boost visionary ideas that will result in large-scale funding, meaningful impact for future research and first-class interdisciplinary graduate education and training.

“Our GRIP funding program has worked to provide seed funding for innovative projects for NC State researchers,”

Faster Disease Detection

Fertilizer of the Future

Early detection of disease is critical for reducing its impact—that’s as true for plants as it is for people. And early detection of crop diseases can make or break a farmer’s growing season.

Producing nitrogen fertilizer consumes about 1% of the

That’s why an interdisciplinary team of NC State researchers is working to combine small sensors with big data to detect diseases plaguing tomato fields.

fertilizer to their fields to ensure crops receive the nutrients

The team is led by Jean Ristaino, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in Entomology and Plant Pathology. The team will combine cost-effective, infield sensors with geospatial analytics and a cloudbased database of plant stresses—including pests, pathogens and environmental stresses. The Plant-Aid database will then alert farmers about the cause of the stress and suggest possible mitigation strategies—all before symptoms are visible to the naked eye.

But new solutions could be on the way, thanks to a scientific

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world’s whole energy budget, as well as a significant amount of natural gas. Transporting that fertilizer from the factory to the farm requires additional energy. And while farmers apply they need, some areas get more fertilizer than necessary, leading to runoff that can contaminate water supplies.

team tackling those problems, and more.

The team, led by Katharina Stapelmann, a researcher in NC State’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, is rethinking how nitrogen-based fertilizers are produced and used. Their approach has two parts: testing several methods of on-farm fertilizer production and developing an on-demand, precision “fertigation” system to deliver fertilizer in irrigation water.

says Mladen Vouk, NC State’s vice chancellor for research and innovation. “As we transitioned the program to focus on the important issues being addressed by N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative in 2020, we are confident that the resulting work will make life-changing differences.”

The GRIP4PSI program has made four initial awards of up to $650,000 each over three and a half years to teams of scientists and engineers with expertise in biological, physical and social sciences.

“I’m excited that so many of our College of Engineering faculty members are playing leading roles in the Plant Sciences Initiative to help develop innovative solutions that will ensure that we can not only provide nutritious, plentiful food for a growing global population, but that we can do so in a way that’s sustainable,” says Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering.

Here’s a look at the first projects to receive seed funding through GRIP4PSI.

Sweetpotato Production Harnessing Big Data

Turning Over an Old Leaf

An ambitious three-year NC State project will use artificial intelligence to make sweetpotatoes even more profitable.

Microscopic fungi can be found almost everywhere, from

The team will work with sweetpotato producers and CALS’ research stations to image hundreds of thousands of sweetpotatoes and calculate their shape and quality characteristics.

Led by Cranos Williams, a researcher in NC State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the team will combine all of that image data with a host of additional information. When and where were the sweetpotatoes planted? How were they fertilized? What has the weather been like? The researchers can then use advanced machine learning algorithms to determine which factors impact sweetpotato size and shape. The ultimate goal is to increase the percentage of sweetpotatoes that are USDA grade 1, the most profitable for growers.

the surface of your skin and the soil beneath your feet to inside the leaves of corn and soybean plants. Many of these fungi are harmless, and some are helpful, producing needed vitamins or fending off harmful fungi.

An interdisciplinary research team wants to identify the beneficial fungi found in five key crops: corn, soy, wheat, hemp and switchgrass.

The team is led by Christine Hawkes, a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Once the beneficial fungi are identified, the team will work to determine how the fungal species help plants fend off diseases and tolerate drought stress.

The team will also develop tools to detect the types of fungi in a field and methods to improve the fungal community.

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CRISPR? WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT

CLUSTERED REGULARLY INTERSPACED SHORT PALINDROMIC REPEATS

What is it?

From yogurt to crops to medicine, this Nobel-winning technology is packed with promise.

Bacteria, which survive in all kinds of harsh environments, use CRISPRCas as an immune system to fight off viruses.

CRISPR technology allows researchers to make changes in sections of DNA. Cas9 is an enzyme that works like a pair of molecular scissors.

How does it work?

TARGETS

BINDS & UNWINDS

CLEAVES

TRIGGERS

Seeks out a pattern or sequence in the DNA of a cell

Attaches to a section of the DNA structure, which resembles a twisted ladder, and unwinds it

Cuts the DNA strands on both sides

Making cuts in DNA causes enzymes in the cell to repair the breaks

What’s the NC State connection?

NC State food science professor and alumnus Rodolphe Barrangou is an internationally known CRISPR expert.

Barrangou played a key role in confirming how CRISPRs regulate immunity in bacteria. He was part of an industry team that demonstrated the original function of the repeating genetic sequences used in CRISPR technology.

His research team in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences continues to unravel the mysteries of CRISPR in bacteria. The goal is finding ways to improve the quality of dairy foods and to develop better probiotics for human health.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Barrangou holds numerous patents, has co-founded multiple startup companies and serves as editor-in-chief of The CRISPR Journal.

What could CRISPR do for us?

Provide new treatments for genetic diseases.

In December 2020, researchers reported the first successful use of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to treat patients with sickle-cell anemia.

Make crops more nutritious and resilient.

For farmers and consumers, CRISPR could help give crops better nutritional qualities and more resistance to pests, drought and other challenging conditions.

Help dairy experts improve yogurt and fermented foods.

NC State researchers are using CRISPR to make foods like yogurt and cheese better and healthier. It can be used in starter cultures or in probiotic foods.

Rodolphe Barrangou says CRISPR is widely used in processed dairy foods.

If you’ve had a bite of cheese, yogurt or another commercially produced dairy product, you’ve eaten a CRISPRenhanced food.

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N.C. PSI Leaders Named Four new platform directors will lead research, extension and education activities for the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI).

“The synergy they have in terms of their vision for the Plant Sciences Initiative and just how well they work together is amazing.”

Steve Briggs, Launch Director, N.C. PSI

Cranos Williams Director, Data-Driven Plant Sciences Cranos Williams, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will serve as director of the datadriven plant sciences platform.

Williams is well-known for his interdisciplinary research leveraging big data and machine learning to solve biological challenges.

He will guide development of research activities that intersect with the platform. His priorities are providing infrastructure for plant science data collection and analysis and offering data science training for plant scientists.

He helped shape the N.C. PSI as a co-chair of the Plant Data Sciences Platform Sub Task Force and as a member of the Research and Technology Task Force.

Williams is leading one of the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program for Plant Sciences Initiative (GRIP4PSI) projects and is involved in another.

Hannah Burrack

Hannah Burrack

Cranos Williams

Director, Education and Outreach Hannah Burrack, a professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, will lead the education and outreach platform.

Burrack, an Extension specialist, will help develop the academic and Extension components of N.C. PSI projects and programs, integrating them with the initiative’s overall goals. She will also assist in managing relationships with stakeholder groups.

Burrack is well-known for her Extension work and research on managing the insects that plague tobacco, berries and other specialty crops. She also teaches a course on writing grant and fellowship applications for graduate students in the biological sciences.

She helped shape the N.C. PSI as the chair of the Plant Improvement Platform Sub Task Force and as a member of the Research and Technology Task Force.

Ross Sozzani Director, Plant Improvement Ross Sozzani, associate professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, will direct the plant improvement platform. She will lead work to connect a bounty of crop research data with predictive analytics, finding new technologies to improve plants.

She is the lead of a National Science Foundation AccelNet project to accelerate integration of engineering, life science and agricultural research to prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for international collaborations.

Sozzani is known for her work in plant development and stem cell regulation, and her research interest is at the interface of computational and biological sciences. She is a co-investigator on two projects with the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program for Plant Sciences Initiative (GRIP4PSI).

Sozzani was hired at NC State as a member of the Synthetic and Systems Biology cluster, a team of molecular biologists, chemists and engineers who work to understand and modify living organisms to help eradicate disease and meet increasing worldwide demands for sustainable food and energy.

Ross Sozzani

Chris Reberg-Horton

Chris Reberg-Horton

Director, Resilient Agricultural Systems Chris Reberg-Horton, a professor of organic cropping systems in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, will direct the resilient agricultural systems platform. His goal is to provide logistical support to help colleagues make the connections needed to address big issues in agriculture.

Reberg-Horton was involved in shaping the initiative as part of the Food Systems, Environmental Sustainability and Resilience Platform Sub Task Force. His career focus has been on helping agriculture become resilient in the face of tremendous change.

Reberg-Horton is known for his work with a nationwide research network, Precision Sustainable Agriculture, which uses low-cost, cutting-edge technology and machine learning to enhance sustainable agricultural practices.

He serves as assistant director of collaborative research for the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a partnership of NC State, North Carolina A&T State University and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In 2019, he received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support this research.

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Regaining What’s Been Lost

By Dee Shore

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At Sankofa Farms, NC State doctoral student Kamal Bell looks to agriculture and to the past to break down educational barriers for young African American men.

For the Akan people of Ghana, the word “sankofa” is associated with a symbol: a mythical bird with its feet planted forward, its head turned backward and its mouth holding an egg. The word’s translation: It’s OK to go back and get what you forgot.

The word reminds Kamal Bell that there’s wisdom, power and hope in knowing his African roots, and it calls him to share that knowledge with the younger people who will shape our future. Bell puts the word into action as a farmer, teacher, mentor and doctoral student in agricultural and extension education. >

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Bell, 29, is founder and CEO for the 12-acre Sankofa Farms in Orange County, North Carolina. There, he raises leafy greens and other vegetables for people who live in communities without easy access to healthy foods. He also raises honeybees.

But there’s much more to his farm than agricultural production.

“I did not want to just have a regular farm where we produce food and went to a farmers market,” he says.

“I wanted to have more of a meaningful impact.”

And there are clear signs on his farm that this unconventional farmer is having just such an impact.

The Journey to a Mold-breaking Farm Bell doesn’t come from an agricultural background, and the path to farming wasn’t a straight one. As a child growing up in Durham, he loved reading about animals and being outdoors, and that led him to study animal science at North Carolina A&T State University.

There, he gained experience on a university research farm, where he learned about organic vegetable production. Then he interned with a Black farmer.

“That’s really when my interest in agriculture started to be cultivated,” he says.

He went on to earn a master’s degree in agricultural education from A&T and taught agriscience at a middle school in Durham. There, he saw his students gravitate toward the garden, and that interest—coupled with his desire to bring healthy food to areas without it—grew into Sankofa Farms.

The Hum of Bees: the Voice of the Farm At the farm, 40 beehives that Bell keeps are central.

In addition to pollinating the plants he grows, the bees produce income. Bell sells honey on the

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internet, and he’s preparing to offer beeswax. He also rents hives, offers an in-person introduction to beekeeping called Bees in the TRAP—short for Teaching Responsible Apiary Practices—and has launched an online course called Honey at Home.

The bees also play an integral role in Bell’s highest priority on the farm: the fledgling agricultural academy he conducts for African American males ages 11 and up. The students work on the farm on Saturdays, and as they work, Bell teaches them about farming practices, the science and technology of farming and the benefits that farming brings to communities.

Most of the students are certified beekeepers.

“Knowing that honeybees can be traced back to ancient Africa, it ties into our overall educational mission at Sankofa,” Bell says. “They’re living. They’re

moving. And they can generate revenue for people.

The students are interested in that, and so it’s a bridge to education.”

Building a Discipline-spanning Educational Bridge The bridge that Bell is building around the study of bees and of agriculture spans diverse subjects, from history to the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math.

“Agriculture is the basis of everything,” Bell says. “So all the concepts at some point come back to STEM. Engineering: students have had to develop and design the caterpillar tunnels we have on the farm.

We’ve had to physically build them as well and think about how we can improve upon them. >

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“[Working at Sankofa Farms] has opened my eyes to the importance of helping your community and helping others.”

Mikal Ali

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“The technology: We have a drone out here now, and we’re looking at how we can automate more of the systems at the farm,” he adds. “Then the science—we’re talking about microbiology. We’re talking about microorganisms. And we’re talking about producing food.”

“Having an education center on the farm is the ultimate goal,” Bell says. “If we want to create a sustainable food source, you have to integrate the youth into that. The people aspect is the most important, and the youth are the future. They need the foundation to be able to grow.”

Lessons also center on the importance of public service, Bell says. And those lessons that aren’t lost on 10th grader Mikal Ali, who’s been coming to the farm academy for four years.

Achieving that sort of foundation won’t be easy, Bell says. It must start with sankofa—going back to the past, understanding African American history and building forward from there. He points to the teachings of the late African American psychologist Amos Wilson.

Though the work on the farm is hard, Mikal is motivated by the fact that some of the food produced there goes to organizations that are helping alleviate food insecurity in Durham communities.

“Being able to have nutritional food allows you to think better and allows you to have the right energy, allowing yourself to truly think and be the best that you can be,” Mikal says.

Working on the farm, he says, “has opened my eyes to the importance of helping your community and helping others.” When others are counting on you, he adds, “You can’t stop. It’s just ever-running energy.”

‘A Foundation to Grow’ Mikal hopes to channel that energy into becoming a school psychologist to help students face problems at home and in life. He also wants to build a school geared for Black students—a dream he shares with his teacher.

“He stressed the importance of African Americans using their history and our culture to build institutions for ourselves. That’s where the change for us lies—in understanding our culture,” Bell says. “And if we don’t understand our history and culture, we can’t understand the context and why things are going on in the present day.”

When people know their history, Bell adds, they can control their destiny.

“That’s not happening in society right now. Someone else has been telling our story, someone else has been dictating how we maneuver, how we develop identity of ourselves. And if we look at it, we can see that those ideas don’t work for us at all,” Bell continues. “The only way that we can begin to recreate and reimagine ourselves is if we learn about who our people are and learn about our ancestors.” >

For Bell, the contributions of Africans and African Americans to agriculture are powerful examples.

“How we contributed to the landscape of agriculture has often been lost and been left out. We have such a connection to the land and contributed so much, and I think a lot of the issues that we face today can be solved if we start looking back at agriculture,” Bell says.

That sort of understanding, he adds, can help bring equity to modern food and farming systems and to education.

“We need to start challenging ourselves to restructure how education looks for Black children. It needs to be in Black-

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led, Black-run, in Black-controlled spaces. We can center education around solving problems for our people, because education is not doing that,” he adds. “That’s the only thing that’s going to work for us.”

Learning as a Way to Overcome Obstacles As a doctoral student, Bell is focusing on the barriers that keep African Americans from entering agriculture in the United States. He’s interested in breaking down those barriers.

“Racism is a barrier, and capital is a barrier. Mentorship— there aren’t that many African American agricultural

“His work creates equity, access and opportunity.”

Joseph Donaldson Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences

professionals,” Bell says. “Those are just some of the things that I’ve encountered, but as I conduct my studies, I’ll have a better, more in-depth answer.”

Joseph Donaldson, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences, is one of Bell’s academic advisors. He says he expects Bell’s doctoral work to yield a better understanding of how to provide African American men with better college access, academic advising and career development services.

“His work,” Donaldson adds, “creates equity, access and opportunity.”

If the students who take part in Sankofa Farm’s academy are any indication, Bell’s efforts are indeed making a difference.

Jamil Ali, Mikal’s brother, says his interactions with Bell and with his fellow Sankofites have grown his skills in self-control, persistence, public speaking, relationship building and integrity. Through his work at the farm, he says he’s also gained an appreciation of self-reliance, tempered with a willingness to accept help.

“Mr. Bell has really taught me everything—not just about farming and beekeeping,” he says. “He talks to us, and he teaches us life lessons … that will be a big help for me in whatever I do in the future.”

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Creatures Great and Small Students’ eyes light up as they watch a chick peck its way out of the eggshell—the pinnacle of the 4-H embryology project. Those moments of wonder happened with 56,000 students in schools across North Carolina in 2019, satisfying state science requirements.

In Johnston County, 33 classes were anticipating that experience when schools closed in February 2020.

4-H agent Courtney Stanley and program associate Laura Pilkington hatched a new plan. To share those moments virtually, they trained the office iPad on an incubator of eggs in

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Pilkington’s office, adding a fan to cool the tablet and repositioning it often.

“That way, if there was a chick about to hatch, we would definitely get that one on camera,” Stanley says. “Then I would get on Facebook Live on my phone so that I could go through and answer any questions that we had on the newsfeed.”

In two hours, her video reached more than 95,000 viewers and was shared nearly 500 times.

“It was a huge, huge success, way more than we had ever anticipated,” Stanley says.

And while schools are reopening this spring, the virtual option is another way to share science lessons and special moments. “We’re going to be doing the webcam again this spring,” Stanley says.

“Obviously this is a very hands-on program and the very first option we want is to let the kids experience it firsthand. We know that if students have six hours of experience with a topic, they’re likely to remember it.”

Stanley has also done virtual sessions on butterfly life cycles. Pilkington created online albums of images to share with others across the state.

Tradition Meets TikTok Similar innovation took place last spring with much larger animals: goats, sheep, pigs and calves in 4-H livestock shows and judging competitions.

After working with an animal such as a pig for four months, caring for it twice daily, 4-H members head to the show ring, where market class and showmanship competitions can be decided in as little as 20 minutes. But that wasn’t possible last spring.

“We realized we couldn’t evaluate showmanship traditionally,” says Brent Jennings, 4-H livestock Extension associate in the Department of Animal Science. “So what we did from a virtual standpoint was to have the kids write an essay about what they learned. We also allowed them to do virtual barn tours, where we

could have them do public speaking.

We did a TikTok video competition and a costume contest where kids could dress up with their animals.

They loved that.”

That’s how three North Carolina 4-H’ers came to be featured in a New York Times article. Rockingham County’s Katelyn Hewitt, one of the barn tour winners, opened her video with a cartwheel. Pasquotank County’s Jacob Meads, an intermediate essay winner, was quoted. Tyrrell County’s Mackenzie Odom and Mr. Eyelashes, her goat, were also a hit.

While modified shows are now possible, virtual options such as the essays and TikToks will be refined, Jennings says. They’ll be used judiciously to avoid causing digital burnout.

4-H agents who have missed the face-to-face work helping kids with

their projects have teamed up to do weekly livestock judging clinics, offered live and via archived recordings.

This spring, more than 100 4-H’ers have signed up for livestock skillathon practice sessions with digital resources and prizes, coordinated by an NC State student. And a Meat Goat Leadership Institute typically held at NC State will be virtual this year, with tours of an Illinois farm.

Whatever 2021 brings, 4-H’s approach of learning by doing won’t change.

“Working with animals is an avenue to learn about responsibility, to learn about record keeping, to learn about ethics and morals and competitiveness,” Jennings says.

“Ultimately, it’s about animals making us better people.”

— D’Lyn Ford

Want to learn more?

Whether you’re interested in beekeeping or beef cattle, 4-H has a project for that. Contact your county Extension center for information about local programs.

Browse 4-H projects online at

4-h.org/parents/curriculum cals.ncsu.edu 23

A Leading Advocate In the midst of the pandemic, graduate student Coleman Simpson found a way to support fellow CALS students: He successfully applied for a $13,000 grant to offer counseling services. Learn more: go.ncsu.edu/CALSCounselingSupport.

Simpson, a master’s student in agricultural and extension education, serves as NC State’s Student Senate president. We asked Simpson what motivates him to advocate for others.

What led you to apply for the counseling services grant?

One of the most impactful experiences I’ve had on campus is being part of the Oaks Leadership Scholars, which is a leadership program designed for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences students. That’s where the whole mental health project idea came from. Dr. Monica Osburn, director of the counseling center, talked to us about mental health amongst students and data they had collected. I just had this whole moment: College students are facing a crisis, in and out of a pandemic, around mental health.

Farmers and producers are also facing a mental health crisis. There’s a beginning foundation of research about what is going on in the mental health of rural communities: lack of resources, contributing factors and stressors, like you can’t control the weather, you can’t control the economy. Some states like New York have a rural health network that offers mental health and wellness services. North Carolina does not.

I’m a grad student. I don’t have time to build an entire network, unfortunately. But I know so many classmates, friends and other people in the college that are going to go back to the farm or start their own production when they graduate.

Let’s start with them, and let’s give them these resources.

What lasting impact do you hope will come out of the grant?

For students, working on destigmatizing our conversations around mental health and showing it’s OK to need counseling services and support. Then with faculty and staff, taking it a step further to, “Here’s how you support students in crisis, and here’s how you support students who need help.”

24 CALS Magazine

This is an intentional drive for supporting students. We have a lot of great academic supports. We have a lot of career and professional development supports. But we also definitely need to make sure that we have wellness support so we’re taking care of students holistically.

What brought you to CALS? I am from Sampson County, which is rural, very agricultural.

But I was a theater kid, so I was as far away from the field as possible for a long time. And then I got involved in FFA in high school. I fell in love with the public speaking events. I was like, “A stage? I love it.” And I also loved the skills that it helped me cultivate.

My advisers at that time, Elizabeth Pack and John Fortner, built me up and kept me in check when I needed it, because I was a teenager. I loved the fact that there’s this whole industry that touches the world and provides so many resources—feeding everyone, providing clothes, providing medicine. Working in our greenhouse, it was fun to just literally see the fruits of your labor.

So I came to NC State. I got accepted into the agricultural education program, and I got lucky enough to be invited to join the Thomas Jefferson Scholars, which is a dual degree program between CALS and CHASS (the College of Humanities and Social Sciences).

Did I read correctly that you studied poultry science and political science as an undergraduate?

My junior year, I realized I did not want to teach in a traditional high school classroom and wanted to focus more on leadership development of people. So, I switched into the agricultural science degree in the same department.

I was doing a horticultural concentration, which I kept, but then my very first class in college was Intro to Poultry Science. Dr. Lynn Worley-Davis is a phenomenal professor.

And I was like, “Huh, I like animals.” I enjoyed learning how you raise chickens, process them and care for them, so I picked up a poultry science concentration.

I took all the leadership classes taught by Dr. Jackie Bruce and Dr. Katie McKee (in Agricultural and Human Sciences) and those were super fun. That’s why I decided to come back to grad school. I’ll graduate with a Master of Science in agricultural and extension education, and I just got accepted into the master’s program in public administration. I like this hybrid of agriculture and leadership and policy and government. I think that’s where I can make the greatest impact in the world.

Did you contribute to a book with Dr. Bruce and Dr. McKee? In fall 2019, Oaks student Libby Indermaur and I wrote a case study on allyship. We primarily took it from an LGBTQ lens, talking about how to support LGBTQ students in the agricultural programs, what it means to use gender-neutral and gender-affirming language, what it means to under-

stand that you can’t assume that I’m going to have a girlfriend. It’s difficult to navigate those types of conversations if you’re not comfortable with being out in your identity and what questions you need to reflect on, how you can support students.

You describe yourself as a theater nerd. Are there any characters from stage or screen who’ve inspired you?

Elizabeth McCord from “Madame Secretary.” If I was ever in government, she’s exactly who I would want to be, someone who’s whip-smart and stands in her values and always tries to do what’s right, even if it’s not expedient or the smart thing to do. And I’m behind on the TV show, so, if someone’s reading this, don’t text me with the spoilers.

Another favorite from theater has been Elphaba from the “Wicked” musical. I found her in middle school, which was when I saw “Wicked” for the first time and when I came out of the closet. Someone who was navigating being different and having people acknowledge you as different and perceive you to be bad just because there’s something different about you, really resonated with me. I also just love the music. cals.ncsu.edu 25

GROWING A

FUTURE

By Dee Shore

A blossoming Wake County farm provides refugees with new income and new hopes.

For Htoo Saw Ywa, what’s growing at a new small farm in eastern Wake County is more than produce and more than added income for his family.

It’s solace from the memories of persecution in his native Myanmar. It’s a way to connect with his farming roots and with fellow refugees. And it’s a chance for generations to bond through food traditions.

Ywa and his compatriots have turned 3 acres of a former slave plantation into the Karen Community Farm. The farmers are part of the Karen community, an ethnic group from the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. Many of them, including Ywa, arrived in North Carolina more than a decade ago from camps in Thailand, where they’d lived for years as refugees from their war-torn country.

As they have developed their farm, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni, Extension experts in farm business and local foods, and even marketing students have worked alongside them every step of the way. >

26 CALS Magazine

Htoo Saw Ywa and Kay Coleman

Htoo Paw Loe

Sa Tin

“

Like it was with the Israelites fleeing Egypt, our food has followed us everywhere we go. We cannot fully express our thanks to those who’ve generously allowed us to work freely here and to teach us about farming in the United States.

Htoo Saw Ywa

cals.ncsu.edu 27

Standing, from left: Saw Tin, Kee Lar, Htoo Saw Ywa, Ker Kapaw Shee and Htoo Paw Loe. Seated: Kree Paw Sain.

The farmers and gardeners who’ve signed on to the farm project are mainly growing produce to feed themselves and their families, but two—Ywa and Htoo Paw Loe—are marketing some of the Asian specialty crops they grow.

People of Asian descent make up more than 7 percent of Wake County’s population, and there’s an increasing demand for Asian cuisine, says Kay Coleman, an NC State alumna who helped the refugees start their farm.

Right now, most Asian vegetables are shipped in from California, Florida and China. Not much is grown locally.

With the right infrastructure and support, Coleman says, the community farm has the potential to become a major Asian vegetable supplier in the Triangle and beyond.

28 CALS Magazine

Ywa and his family grew food when they lived in Myanmar and Thailand. He says that those who’ve helped build the community farm have allowed the Karen community to continue lifelong food and farming traditions.

“Like it was with the Israelites fleeing Egypt, our food has followed us everywhere we go,” Ywa says. “We cannot fully express our thanks to those who’ve generously allowed us to work freely here and to teach us about farming in the United States.”

The Karen farm got its start in 2019. Coleman, who earned bachelor’s degrees in animal science and horticultural science from NC State in the 1970s, first met some of the refugees when they came to visit the farm she ran for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh.

The nonprofit agency provided a 1-acre plot, and when it could no longer accommodate the garden, Coleman connected the growers with someone she thought could help.

Talmage Brown is a food shuttle volunteer who owns a small piece of what’s known as Oaky Grove, a former plantation begun by his great, great, great grandfather in 1798. A CALS animal science alumnus and retired NC State professor of veterinary medicine, Brown inherited a piece of the farm in eastern Wake County.

He calls the partnership with the Karen community a “win-win.” Through a lease agreement, the Karen community can grow food on up to 16 of the farm’s 118 acres, and he can protect the land from development pressures.

At the farm, farmers and gardeners are growing rice, lemongrass, turmeric, pea eggplant, Asian hot peppers, yardlong beans and a variety of gourds. They are also producing more common North Carolina vegetables such as eggplant, okra, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Coleman, NC State Extension farm management associate Gary Bullen, and other food and agriculture experts meet with the farmers regularly to help them learn about standard growing and marketing practices in North Carolina.

Coleman says the learning goes both ways.

“The Southeast Asian food that they grow … is very, very different. It’s a big learning curve for me,” Coleman says. “They’re learning at the same time. They know how to grow food; they’ve been doing that forever in the refugee camps. They just don’t know how to grow this food in the North Carolina Piedmont.”

Loe notes that the seasons, weather patterns and insects she experiences as a farmer in North Carolina are much different than those she faced when helping her parents farm in Burma and when gardening in the refugee camp in Thailand.

Farming is also hard here because the Karen garden doesn’t have tractors or lawnmowers, and the fencing hasn’t been enough to stop rabbits, she says. The farmers have received funding to construct a well and greenhouse, but they need more money to extend electricity to the farm.

A steering committee is helping the growers pursue their goals. Nicky Ulrich, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, facilitates the committee’s work.

“I admire and respect those individuals who come to the farm after their long days of work, on the weekends, in their spare time,” Ulrich says. “I know from watching it happen and from doing research what powerful spaces these can be for enabling families to preserve traditions, cook meals that are familiar to them, explore new vegetables and enjoy other benefits.”

One of the Karen growers, Sa Tin, says the benefits are profound. The farm, she says, is not just about growing plants for today, it’s about sharing a culture far into the future. The children who come to the farm with their parents can put away their video games in favor of traditional Southeast Asian games and sports such as sepak takraw, or kick volleyball.

“Karen people, almost all of them, are growers of plants. In harvest time, they come together. They enjoy,” Tin says. “That is the way and culture of Karen people in Burma, and that culture is continuing here today.” >

From Myanmar to the United States: Htoo Saw Ywa’s Journey

Now a warehouse worker in Henderson, North Carolina, Htoo Saw Ywa recounts his journey from Myanmar, formerly Burma, to a refugee camp in Thailand and then to North Carolina. This slightly edited passage comes from the Oaky Grove Karen Community Farm website. Learn more at oakygrove-karencommunityfarm.org.

I lived in the eastern part of Burma in Karen state until 1984. Every year, especially in the dry season, the brutal Burmese army increased their offensive against

Htoo Saw Ywa

30 CALS Magazine

Karen National Union army bases along the Thai and Burmese border.

The Burmese army carried out forced labor, using Karen people to carry ammunition and as human shields to go to the front line. They raped women and used different methods of torture when anyone disobeyed their commands.

In 1982, my whole family was captured except for my father and older brother, who managed to

Talmage Brown and Maung Aung

escape. The Burmese army put us in jail for two years. Our relatives paid bribes to get us out, and we were released in 1984. We promptly escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand.

I lived in the camp for 19 years, married my wife there and taught for two years. In 2004, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees recommended me for resettlement, and we were able to resettle in the United States that year.

Kree Paw Sain

cals.ncsu.edu 31

Tending to the Community

Master Gardener volunteers in Watauga County

By D’Lyn Ford Master Gardener volunteers in Burke County were almost ready to plant the community garden when the pandemic hit last spring. On the heels of that shock, the volunteers learned that the land on loan for the garden had been unexpectedly sold.

In Watauga County, which has one of the state’s highest poverty rates, the pandemic increased the need for food donations—especially fresh fruits and vegetables.

In Wake County, while the usual in-person Extension Master Gardener events had been canceled, interest in gardening was spiking and vegetable seeds were in short supply.

These challenges were no match for the fertile imaginations of volunteers with the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program, which has groups in 84 counties across North Carolina.

Special Deliveries for Seniors When they couldn’t plant the community garden, Burke County volunteers scrambled to figure out how to safely be of service in a pandemic.

“Just by nature Master Gardener volunteers are social people,” says EMG adviser Donna Teasley, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture and horticulture in Burke County.

“It’s a hard year when they can’t get out and be in the community.”

In June, the Burke County volunteers began weekly doorstep deliveries of produce to a group in need of healthy foods and a friendly visit: senior citizens, many of whom were isolated at home.

They secured a $1,000 Carolina Farm Credit grant and support from a local church and the North Carolina EMG Volunteer Association.

Instead of growing vegetables themselves, Master Gardener volunteers bought produce from growers at the Morganton Farmers Market.

“It was a good time to partner with the farmers market, which had experienced a decline in visitors,” says Willie Pascal, a Master Gardener volunteer. “It allowed us to support local producers and the economy.”

Volunteers gathered a delivery list with help from social service agencies, the housing authority, an affordable housing development and local congregations. Master Gardener volunteers and members of Waldensian Presbyterian Church helped sort and deliver the produce.

On Wednesdays, volunteers delivered locally grown beans, squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and eggplant.

“Because we had the older generation—the average age was over 70—they know how to cook beans and squash,” Pascal says.

They also delivered dozens of brown eggs and ripe peaches, a source of delight.

The volunteers followed rules on masks and social distancing, making about 50 porch deliveries each week.

Over time, they had conversations through the screen door. How are the grandchildren? What did you grow when you had a garden? With family visits and social activities curtailed, company was welcome.

“We established close relationships with so many people we checked in with every week,” Pascal says. “During a pandemic, people were lonely.

Several were facing terminal illnesses.”

One visit at a time, the team reached 354 people.

“We were greeted with open arms on each occasion we were able to supply people with fresh produce,” Pascal says.

The group plans to continue their special deliveries of produce to seniors this year, thanks to a donor’s gift that will extend funding for the program. >

cals.ncsu.edu 33

Check Out Gardening at the Seed Library Sharing seeds and sound advice happened organically at pre-pandemic EMG events in Wake County.

At the spring seed and plant swap, a budding gardener could find a packet of seeds, a soil testing kit or a tomato plant, along with research-based answers from certified Master Gardener volunteers.

“When I started gardening 30 years ago, it was because I liked pretty flowers and growing a tomato,” says Karen Guy, who finished the EMG coursework, internship and service requirements in 2017. “Now I enjoy being a mentor for other people.”

Guy says she was inspired by the array of Wake County EMG presentations arranged through Jeana Myers, N.C. Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture and horticulture. Guy went on to complete an NC State certificate program in general horticulture in 2018.

“I wanted to go back to school for scientific knowledge, to learn how to research properly, to help sort through a lot of inaccurate information that’s out there,” she says.

“It’s my avocation.”

When interest in planting vegetable gardens spiked last spring, it was hard to find packets of vegetable seeds.

Guy put her knowledge to work, starting a seed library in her Wake Forest subdivision.

She was inspired by a blog post from Ireland about allotments for community gardens in the United Kingdom. Some communities operate on-site seed libraries that require those who withdraw seeds to make a future donation.

Guy liked the concept but not the record keeping. She started researching neighborhood little library designs to see if they could be adapted to hold seeds and soil testing kits.

34 CALS Magazine

She had the perfect location: a homeowners association lot near her home where she’d helped put in a pollinator garden.

In May, the metal-roofed library was in place under a shade tree. Guy stocked it with seed she had bought, and a fellow Master Gardener volunteer donated clean medicine bottles to hold seeds. New offerings and soil test kits are added periodically.

“It’s been a total volunteer effort with zero problems,” says Guy, who lives nearby and cools down seeds in her refrigerator when summer temperatures peak.

To promote the seed library, she tapped into a Facebook group, Perennial Gardeners of Wake Forest, which has 3,000 members from Triangle communities.

“This idea could expand if we have success with it,” says Guy, who also shared it in a local gardening magazine. “It would be a good fit for walking areas, especially high-traffic areas. I’m told other people are trying it in their subdivisions.”

The best part has been seeing her idea bear fruit.

“One day I had the chance to see a mom with her child, picking out seeds and talking about how they would bring some back,” she says. “I heard from a daughter that her older father had been afraid to go out and get seeds because of the pandemic. She brought him over to the seed library here to get some.

“That’s why I do this. It feels fantastic. It’s so rewarding.” >

Karen Guy

The Debnam family

cals.ncsu.edu 35

‘Plant a Row for the Hungry’ Master Gardener volunteers enjoy working shoulder to shoulder on a project, especially when it involves growing vegetables for a local food bank or agency serving those in need.

That’s what appeals to Sandy Windelspecht, a Master Gardener volunteer in Watauga County who’s logged more than 200 hours of volunteer service since earning certification in 2015.

“I’m a hands-on, fingers in the dirt kind of person,” says Windelspecht, who’s passionate about gardening and projects that address poverty and food insecurity.

Windelspecht, a board member with the Hunger and Health Coalition in Boone, is the creator of Grow Watauga, a multifaceted community garden and outreach program that supports local food banks with fresh, nutritious foods.

When in-person service

received packets of seeds, growing

opportunities dwindled during

instructions, donation information

the pandemic, she transplanted

and data about the poverty rate in

a national idea, the ‘Plant a Row

Watauga County.

for the Hungry’ campaign. Local growers could expand their home gardens and make a contact-free donation at the Hunger and Health Coalition or at Hospitality House, which serves the homeless.

“Sandy put a huge amount of effort

“We’re the third-poorest county in the state,” Windelspecht says. “Boone is a tourist destination, so people don’t think of it that way. But one in five kids here are hungry.”

For her ongoing work, Windelspecht

into this,” says Paige Patterson,

won the 2020 Watauga Food

N.C. Cooperative Extension agent

Council’s Healthy Food System

for agriculture, consumer and

Award, given for cultivating

commercial horticulture in Watauga

collaborations that improve the

County. “I have offered this as a

health of the community.

volunteer opportunity for Master Gardener volunteers who are at high risk and want to do something from their home.”

In 2020, of course, even the awards at the annual Farm City Banquet were “celebrated from a distance,” as Jim Hamilton, N.C. Cooperative

Windelspecht promoted the effort

Extension director for Watauga

through a campaign of radio ads

County, put it. But Master Gardener

and articles. Those who responded

volunteers will carry on.

Who Are Master Gardener Volunteers?

Master Gardener volunteers are passionate about gardening and dedicated to learning and sharing research-based information.

They work with horticultural and agricultural Extension agents across North Carolina.

Master Gardener volunteers statewide contributed 229,687 hours of service in 2019.

To learn how to become a certified Master Gardener volunteer, visit emgv.ces.ncsu.edu/become-a-volunteer

36 CALS Magazine

ON SOCIAL MEDIA

>

Who made your time as a student better?

sydneyschmal Bob Patterson. That’s all I have to say anna_run2eatchocolate Ditto!

♥ Bob Patterson ♥

☺

@shellerkf not at all the first to say this, but Dr. Patterson! For sure, the most kindhearted and caring professor I’ve ever had!

caisonclemmons Dr. Jason Ward. He was an excellent professor, advisor, mentor, and boss. While at State, there were times when I was questioning my degree and he believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. He also gave me a position to work in his lab as a research assistant and offered me advice when it was needed. Without him, I would not be pursuing my dream of law school because I had a job offer right out of school.

But he told me I could always find a job, and law school wouldn’t always be an option.

abbyy98 Jennifer Knoll!! She is always there when everyone needs her. She is kind and caring and loves all her animal science students (and anyone else who needs help).

gabby_whorley Jennifer Knoll has made everyone’s time better in the Animal Science department!! She cares for and loves every single one of her students. She is the absolute kindest person you will ever meet! I aspire to radiate the kindness and positivity that she has shown me! She is always there to lend an ear and give the best advice! She also is known for making her famous cookies for everyone in the department! She is an absolute treasure of CALS and the Animal Science Department!

CALSNCState

seadonkeyobx Dr. Carm Parkhurst. I came from a small school in northeastern NC with a graduating senior class of fewer than 100 students. To say that my first year at NCSU was a big change in my life would be an understatement. At the time I think there were 30,000 NCSU students and about 6,500 people from my county. I had Professor Parkhurst for two classes and a lab. He always looked at me and could tell when I was overwhelmed and he would pull me into his office after class or lab and give me a pep talk. It worked and I had all A’s and one B for my first semester. I had him my next semester and he kept a close eye on me. The hardest thing I had to do was tell him I wanted to change my major to Political Science but he told me I had to go where my heart was. He was a great professor and friend and whenever I was in town after I graduated I stopped by and saw him until he retired.

brodiesmith_1 Bianca Glaze really helped last semester when we switched from in person to fully online; she allowed us to just talk in class in a way that made me and other students feel comfortable!!

Even though our class only lasted 8 weeks, CALS 103 was one of my favorite from last semester!!

erynraegodwin Dr. John Russ NCStateCALS

🙌

Bio-Ag Breakthroughs

By John H. Tibbetts CALS alumna Pam Marrone draws back the curtain for entrepreneurs, demystifying pathways to success.

Since earning a Ph.D. in entomology, she has discovered, developed and guided to market more than a dozen groundbreaking biological solutions for agricultural pest management and built two startup bio-ag companies from scratch to millions of dollars in revenue.

Marrone, executive chair and partner at Primary BioAg Innovations and Global BioAg Linkages, focuses on pest control products derived from living organisms—for example, plant extracts and microbes that limit damage from insects and diseases. She says most startups offering one or a few biological products fail to “cross the chasm” from niche markets to mainstream success.

A startup’s new biopesticide, for instance, might better control a fungus while improving soil health and providing other environmental benefits. But growers are understandably cautious about unfamiliar products.

“There are about 150 companies worldwide that develop and sell not only biopesticides but also bionutrients, biofertilizers and biostimulants, which increase crop growth without controlling a pest,” Marrone says. “But very few get above $10 million in revenue. That’s where I’m helping to advise and mentor.”

About half of her clients are startups and half are more established biological companies that want to expand globally and enter the U.S. market. Marrone advises her clients to develop strong scientific data on their products, collaborate with growers on experimental plots, demonstrate grow-out success stories, gain other early adopters, and finally reach out to distributors and agricultural extension specialists who are gatekeepers to mainstream growers.

“She is a great mentor,” says Fatma Kaplan, CEO of Pheronym, based in Davis, California. “When you’re a startup like ours, you are very good at running the science aspect, because that’s our training. But when it comes to the business aspect, it’s not that easy.

“We were talking to a distributor, and the minute we said, ‘Oh, you know, Pam Marrone is our adviser,’ suddenly our technology had a credential because the distributor knows her and her credentials.”

Marrone credits NC State, a leader in integrated pest management (IPM) research and education, for her nearly 40-year agricultural science career. “I had a practical curriculum in applied ag sciences, taking courses in plant pathology, all kinds of entomology, soil science, and crop and weed sciences,” she says. “When I graduated, although I hadn’t grown up on a working farm, I had a breadth of the disciplines.”

But it wasn’t easy for women in agriculture when she started out. “NC State’s graduate program was one of the few that didn’t ask discriminatory questions or say they didn’t want any women. They welcomed women with open arms.”

In her first informational job interview as a graduate student, she was taken aback by unvarnished sexism she encountered in the business world. “My cohort of three women at NC State went to talk with a local chemical pesticide company. The interviewer said, “I’m going to ask you how many babies you’re going to have before you’re 30.’ I was astonished and said, ‘You can’t ask that question. And he said, ‘I just did.’”

She began her industry career at Monsanto partly because “they didn’t ask those kinds of questions.” For Monsanto, she developed high-throughput, automated systems for identifying proteins to fight corn rootworm. Marrone’s team identified a protein that Monsanto engineered into its corn seed, which became a blockbuster product.

“My legacy is that I have brought deep science to this industry, showing that these biological products are not snake oil and that they offer value in integrated pest management programs.”

Her first start-up, Entotech, was a biopesticide company for the Danish company Novo Nordisk. Her second bio-ag start-up, AgraQuest, was acquired by Bayer Crop Science for nearly $500 million. Her third startup, Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI), was listed on NASDAQ in 2013. MBI has screened over 18,000 microorganisms and 350 plant extracts to develop seven successful product lines. Marrone stepped down as CEO in 2020 to focus on advising clients.

“My legacy is that I have brought deep science to this industry, showing that these biological products are not snake oil and that they offer value in integrated pest management programs,” she says. “Biologicals have become more mainstream. But $60 billion in chemical pesticides are sold today and only $3 billion in biologics. So, we still have some way to go with companies that could cross the chasm to mainstream success.”

Marrone is investing in the future at CALS, where she and her companies are longtime supporters of faculty programs. With her husband, Mick Rogers, Marrone was one of the first to make a naming donation to the new Plant Sciences Building. She also has a million-dollar planned gift to create entrepreneurial awards for graduate students in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.

“The CALS faculty, especially in entomology, were so dedicated to helping students succeed,” Marrone says. “For that and the fundamental IPM education, I wanted to give back to CALS.” cals.ncsu.edu 39

CALS GLOBAL “We’re at a critical point in human history where the threat of widespread hunger is more real than ever. We have the opportunity to help farmers be more productive through the power of AI and analytics and get more food from fields to tables around the world.”

Jim Goodnight, SAS CEO

Multinational developer of analytics software based in Cary, N.C.

BACKGROUND SAS was born at NC State, where the company’s first project was analyzing crop yield data. Honoring its roots, SAS forged a new agricultural technology business unit to help growers and agribusiness leaders turn this exploding amount of farm and agricultural data into insights that inform safe and secure food production. The SAS Global Academic Program is also developing resources to help train the next crop of agricultural analytics experts.

GOALS This public-private partnership will enhance agricultural research and analytics talent development to support feeding a burgeoning world population, estimated to exceed 10 billion by 2050.

NEED “NC State is proud to have SAS partner in the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative, a critical effort to keep the university at the forefront of plant science research and education, and to keep North Carolina agriculture competitive in a global market.”

NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson

OUTCOMES “This new partnership with SAS will be pivotal in helping us harness the power of data to improve agricultural outcomes and provide global consumers a higher quality, more accessible food supply.”

CALS Dean Richard Linton

PARTNERSHIPS Global biotechnology company with North American headquarters in Franklinton, N.C.

BACKGROUND Novozymes is the world leader in biological solutions, with a focus on helping find biological answers for better lives in a growing world. Novozymes’ enzymes and microorganisms can be found in everyday products from laundry detergents to biofuels, animal feed and crops.

The company partners with NC State in plant sciences, human health and agricultural biosciences research. Novozymes projects are underway in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Wilson College of Textiles.

GOALS Novozymes, which has been in North Carolina for 40 years, is stepping up its collaboration with NC State under a five-year research agreement signed in 2019 that includes projects related to the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI).

NEED “Our work in biological solutions for agriculture, animal and human health is growing, and we see NC State as a global technology leader in these spaces.”

Mike Elder, Novozymes North America’s head of business relations and business development

OUTCOMES “We hope that this research collaboration synergistically creates great things for the university, great things for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and great things outside of agriculture and life sciences.”

CALS Dean Richard Linton

“NC State’s strengths in engineering, biological sciences, life sciences and plant sciences are well aligned with the problems that we want to solve.

We believe this partnership is going to help us deliver real outcomes for the world.”

Brian Brazeau, President of Novozymes North America Vice President, Agricultural and Industrial Biosolutions, Americas cals.ncsu.edu 41

I AM CALS continued from page 1

“[The] Gospel Protest March in Whiteville has received praise far and wide for the way it conveyed a message of unity.”

Photos courtesy of Grant Merritt, The News Reporter

County Extension director Dalton Dockery has shown his steadfast support for the people of Columbus County through times of crisis. When Hurricane Florence hit in 2018, flooding left many residents without power, food and water.

“The National Guard was able to get food to the county, but we had to find a way to distribute it to all of the communities. We worked with local leaders to set up a transit system to make sure everybody received food.

We wanted to take care of our people,” Dockery says.

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The News Reporter, June 9, 2020

The CALS alumnus also works to address racial and political division within the predominantly white county.

“Having this role as director, I saw it as an opportunity to help unify the county. We had a highly contested sheriff’s race a while back… There was so much racial tension, we needed to do something to bring the community together.”

Dockery, clergy members and other local leaders started Unify Columbus to help community members talk about difficult issues, face to face.

For Dockery’s work as an advocate for his community, county and state, NC State honored him with a 2020 Award of Excellence in Public Service.

“Dalton had a longing to move this community beyond its division,” says Joe Washburn, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Whiteville, North Carolina, who met Dockery soon after moving to Columbus County in 2017. “He knows we all have our differences, but there’s more that brings us together than divides us.”

The group invited clergy from different backgrounds and religions to help lead the first community conversation at a local high school auditorium. They talked about three topics: skin color, education and religion. That session led to a second project where church leaders invited pastors from different denominations and racial backgrounds to speak to their congregations. They found they had much in common, Dockery says.

Working on his grandfather’s 100-acre farm with his father, mother and grandfather shaped Dockery’s work ethic and values.

“Cropping tobacco, maintaining crops, taking care of animals … that’s where I got my start and that’s really the foundation of how I learned to work hard and achieve my goals. Public service has always been my way of life. My parents instilled in me that we are here to serve.”

As the family began to farm less, Dockery realized he wanted to continue working in agriculture.

“I knew the best way to do that was to go into the educational side of it and learn as much as I could. NC State is one of the premier universities when it comes to agriculture.”

“It doesn’t matter what your economic background is or the color of your skin. It doesn’t matter where you come from. But what does matter is that we respect everybody for who they are,” he says.

Dockery graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education and in 2000 with a master’s degree in agricultural and extension education. He earned a Ph.D. in leadership studies from NC A&T State University in 2015.

For Dockery’s work as an advocate for his community, county and state, NC State honored him with a 2020 Award of Excellence in Public Service.

Dockery’s philosophy is that there’s always room for growth.

“Dalton genuinely desires to help others. He lives to serve and it’s never about him,” Washburn says. “With Unify Columbus, he created a foundation where we can all come together and celebrate unity.”

“I was excited and happy to receive the award, but I was most excited that it was an opportunity to promote goodwill and shed light on work that’s being done in Columbus County,” Dockery says. “I want to thank my wife, Sheila Dockery, and our children, Whitely and Bryson, who continue to support me in my endeavors.”

Path to Serve Growing up in Nakina, North Carolina, Dockery was one of eight Black students in his high school graduating class of 90.

“There’s just a post office in my hometown, one store, one small restaurant and several churches. That’s it.”

“We’re constantly transitioning,” Dockery says of his community. “I want to play a role in that transition, to make people, no matter what their backgrounds are, feel comfortable in America. I think we have a duty to do that.”

— Kristin Sargent Unify Columbus

FROM THE ARCHIVES

A Welcome Friend The most interesting job at NC State?

Frank Jeter often said that it was his.

Jeter worked as a college agricultural writer and editor from 1914 to 1920 and from 1922 until he died in 1955, telling the story of North Carolina’s agricultural progress and of NC State’s role in that progress.

A 1957 pamphlet from the Federal Extension Service praised Jeter’s pioneering efforts in extending university knowledge to the people who needed it. When Jeter joined the newly established North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service in November 1914, there was no example to follow. He hit the ground running, creating packets of agricultural news and information for newspapers, agricultural publications and others.

44 CALS Magazine

Frank Jeter was as comfortable with his hands on a typewriter as he was in front of a microphone. Here, he interviews members of Extension’s home demonstration staff for a national episode of an NBC radio program.

That effort led to hundreds of speaking engagements across the state, as well as regular farm radio broadcasts and farm shows for public and commercial TV. The pamphlet writer who chronicled Jeter’s contributions noted that “he was always a welcome friend at the farmer’s hearth, equally at home in the city dwelling, and his deep-rooted wisdom was eagerly sought in the agricultural councils of the state and federal governments.”

Communications technology, the state’s demographics and the public’s media preferences changed significantly over the course of Jeter’s career—and so did his approach.

The same is true of today’s NC State Extension professionals. They continue to conduct field days as

well as farm visits to help growers identify and solve problems, support 4-H clubs that instill leadership in young people, deliver food safety and nutrition education to improve the lives of all people—and much more.

At the same time, they use communications technology in ways that resonate with people across the state. Extension’s Homegrown is one of those ways. The online video series delivers trusted, researchbased information and answers from Extension experts in an easily accessible format. The goal? To reconnect people to the food, landscapes and agriculture vital to their lives.

Learn more at go.ncsu.edu/Homegrown

Add your name to plant science excellence.

Agriculture and the life sciences built North Carolina. Interdisciplinary research, teaching and innovation at the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative will keep it growing. Add your name to help ensure its success. Learn about our naming opportunities at: go.ncsu.edu/add-my-name.

What we Think and Do drives plant science innovation.

Support our work with your financial contribution.

NC State University Plant Sciences Building In progress, February 2021 (above) A rendering of the finished building (left)

NC State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Campus Box 7603, Raleigh, NC 27695

NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAID RALEIGH, NC PERMIT No. 2353

Creatures Great And Small Kids can’t wait to learn more about animals through 4-H. Read about some new ideas we’ve hatched.

See story on page 22.

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