MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2017
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 7 NDSUSPECTRUM.COM
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY | FOR THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
Death on Campus 17-year-old male found unresponsive at Sevrinson Hall dies
Phoebe Ellis Head News Editor
Sunday afternoon a report of the death of a 17-year-old male at North Dakota State’s Sevrinson Hall was sent by Mike Borr, director of University Police at NDSU. Authorities were notified of an unresponsive person at Severinson Hall shortly after noon on Sunday. Emergency medical services were immediately dispatched. After life-saving measures were taken without success, the boy was declared dead. The deceased, who has not yet been named, was not currently enrolled as an NDSU student as indicated by preliminary investigation. The police believe that there is no indication of foul play and the case is currently being investigated by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Borr’s email also stated that “there is no ongoing threat to the campus community.”
Dicamba Delivers Distress The commonly used herbicide dicamba does more bad than good with soybean crop Phoebe Ellis Head News Editor
Dicamba, a common herbicide meant to kill weeds, is proving to also negatively affect soybeans that aren’t yet adapted to the chemical. The soybeans experience leaf cupping — an inhibition of sunlight intake that affects the photosynthesis process — and can lessen bean density within a few days of application of the chemical according to three North Dakota State faculty members; post doctoral research fellow Dipayan Sarkar, associate professor in the plant sciences department Kirk Howatt and professor and weeds specialist Richard Zollinger. All of them spoke about what dicamba is and what it does. This herbicide is typically used to control broad leaf weeds and, up until recently, was mostly used in corn and wheat crops. The reason it’s now used with soybeans, which is a broadleaf plant, is because a portion of soybean plants have become resistant to this herbicide. That’s where the issue gets tricky. Only some soybean plants have the resis-
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“It can vaporize and move to another plant,” Dipayan Sarkar, post doctoral research fellow, said. tance, not all. The problem some farmers are seeing is the demise of they soybean crop. There are a few possible reasons for this that all trace back to dicamba. One possibility is the movement of the spray from one crop to another by a breeze coming through at the time the herbicide is distributed. “It can vaporize and move to another plant,”
Sarkar said, which is a problem when the crops aren’t resistant to dicamba. “Most of the growers are still growing the Roundup ready soybean which is not resistant to dicamba, but you have some plot where you have Roundup and dicamba resistant, and then you spray (dicamba) there and it drifts with the air,” Sarkar continued. “That is what is causing the problems. These problems are more prominent
where temperature is high. Most of the injury from dicamba is more prominent in the southern states.” If this is the case, why are we using it? “Dicamba has been registered since the mid-60s,” Howatt said, and because of rigorous testing, harm to humans isn’t a concern. Why is this happening? Zollinger has four specific reasons he believes this issue is taking place.
“The first one is timing ... Number two is the rate, wheat and corn were using very small amounts in soybeans we can apply half a pound of the active ingredient so we’re applying at a much higher rate ... Number three, I cannot over emphasize this enough, that nontransformed soybeans are the most susceptible plant that we know of to dicamba ... Number four is this, if we would’ve had are you wet or
what or summer, I think a lot of this would not have happened,” Zollinger said. To explain all this goes as follows: In corn and wheat crops, it’s generally applied early in the growth of the plant, but in soybeans it’s used much later, even into the reproduction stages; it’s also applied at a higher rate. Even if a farmer sprays their corn with dicamba and then doesn’t clean their instrument and goes and sprays their soybeans, traces of that dicamba can remain and affect the soybean crop. The wind can carry the spray for up to a mile if the droplets are small enough. When that’s carried to nontransformed or non-adapted soybeans, that’s detrimental to crops. Dicamba is water soluble; if there’s a large amount of rain the dicamba will wash into the ground and no longer be effective as a herbicide. “Worst case scenario are the financial problems and hardships for current producers,” Howatt said. “Litigation issues are another one of those situations where buyers are already involved and neither side is really going to see a victory.”
Drekker Brews Up New Location Craft beer trend continues to grow in Fargo Daniel Ukkelberg Contributing Writer
The local brewing company is restoring a historical building just west of downtown Fargo. The new location will triple the space of Drekker Brewing Company and is fully equipped with a large patio, taproom with open views of the brewery and multiple
spaces for community events. “Having two breweries gives us some unique opportunities that we’ll be exploring as the project progresses,” Drekker president Mark Bjornstad said. Most locals know the building as the Smith Building because of a faint logo passersby can see from First Avenue. “We’ve had
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our eyes on this building since the very early stages of planning our company,” Bjornstad said. The building was originally constructed in the 1880s. Drekker Brewing is now producing as much beer as space allows in their current facility — doubling its production from their opening three years ago. This additional facility will
Downtown boutique gives away 100 percent of profit
allow them to double their production again. “We’re designing this new brewery to not only make more beer, but do it with respect to quality, efficiency and environmental impact,” Darin Montplaisir, Drekker’s head brewer, said. “It’s also exciting to design a new brewhouse that will allow us to expand on the unique and experimental styles we’ve been brewing
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over the last couple years.” The brewery will preserve and show off the original exposed brick and wooden trusses while adding in new skylights and windows, which will enclose the new state of the art brewing equipment. “We’re so excited to breathe life back into this historic building and to be a part of the movement that’s expanding the
Artist Tyler Evin’s work depicts our digital reality on canvas
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energy of downtown Fargo westward,” Bjornstad said. “This is only possible because of the amazing support we’ve received from this community.” Drekker Brewing distributes to the FargoMoorhead and Grand Forks areas, as well as partial distribution to other North Dakota and Minnesota towns.
New numbers on parking show university needs improvement