The magazine for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences •
connections • minds • innovations
Summer/Fall 2020
letter from the dean
Kenneth L. White Dean, College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; Vice President, Extension and Agriculture
In many ways this year has brought a spring and summer like no other, but our faculty and students continue to find or create ways to keep moving forward. The core of our college has been central to Utah State University since the Agricultural College of Utah was founded, which means our faculty and students are building on a legacy of doing research and teaching essential skills that began in 1888. It is a legacy that that has survived through times of war, depression and recession, political turmoil, budget cuts and record funding, even through pandemics. We will get through our current challenges as we always have: with work, discovery, ingenuity, and caring about others and the resources on which we all rely. The phrase “essential work” has been repeated many times in the past several months. I can think of no other college as focused on improving people’s abilities to do essential work as the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. Our alumni produce food, care for people, animals, plants, and water. They transport people and goods, conduct the business of agriculture that fuels economies worldwide, and teach important life skills in schools and communities. Our essential work continued in March when instruction switched from classrooms and labs to online in a matter of a few days. Our research programs made adjustments to help keep students and faculty as safe as possible, but it did not slow down because we are focused on discovery and solving problems that didn’t go away in a pandemic. I am proud of our CAAS and Aggie families’ responses to this difficult time and of the commitment I see demonstrated every day to building on our legacy of achievement and essential work. �
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On the cover:The grounds crew does an amazing job of beautifying USU’s Logan campus, and this summer their efforts went far beyond just mowing the Quad. Photo by Dennis Hinkamp.
Featured
14 USU Aviation back in the air
Aggie aviation students were in a “holding pattern” when training flights and face-to-face instruction had to be suspended. But after a month of learning more about the virus and putting new safety protocols in place, students were back in the air this summer and earning their flight hours.
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15 Nutrition from a distance
Students and faculty quickly became more creative as the usual assignments and projects became impossible to carry out safely. The virus caused the Aggie Creamery to be closed, but ice cream lovers were able to return (in a socially distanced line) six weeks later.
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16 Research goes on in spite of
(and because of) the pandemic
Research teams of all sorts adopted new safety protocols this spring, but CAAS research carried on. In fact, CAAS research funding topped $25 million for the fiscal year, which meant 45% growth over last year’s research funding.
18 Farmers feeding utah
A food distribution chain disrupted by COVID-19 left many producers with no markets for their produce and other commodities. Simultaneously, people have lost jobs or had hours severely cut back creating food insecurity for thousands of Utahns. The Utah Farm Bureau Federation and USU’s Hunger Solutions Institute teamed up to help farmers feed Utah.
22 Institute FOR antiviral research
As the gravity of the SARS-CoV2 virus was just becoming clear to most Americans, faculty and student scientists in USU’s Institute for Antiviral Research had already been at work for several weeks trying to understand the novel coronavirus and testing possible treatments for COVID-19.
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PLUS 4 New Department Head Named for Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning 5 Aviation Academic Advisor is Top in the Nation 6 Professor “Baron” is USU’s 2020 Top Teacher 7 Agriculture in Classrooms Everywhere 8 Heidi Wengreen Leads Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences 9 Plant Scientist Named a Fellow of The American Society for Horticultural Science 10 USU Eastern Continues to Lead the Way for Utah’s Mine Safety 11 Improving Mental Health on Your Own Schedule 11 Aggies Win Smart Snacks Competition
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12 Utah State University Alumni Help Develop a New Technology that Will Forever Change Aviation Safety 15 Applied Economics Resources 17 Virtual Field Days 21 Taking a Virtual Leap: Landscape Architecture Professor Helps Design Studios Transition Online 25 Why I Give 25 Celebrating the Class of 2020 26 Changing the World, One Potato at a Time 28 Our Food System and the Impact of COVID-19
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DEAN:
Kenneth L. White
Executive Director of Development: Brandon Monson
Director of MARKETING: Mike Whitesides
Editor:
Lynnette Harris
Graphic Designer: Mike Wernert
Copy Editors: Andrea Snarr Donna Falkenborg Aubree Thomas Julene Reese
See CultivatE online caas.usu.edu/cultivate
Cultivate is published by the dean’s office of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences and distributed free of charge to its alumni and friends. Submit story ideas, comments, and unsubscribe requests to Jean.Edwards@usu.edu or 4800 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-4800. In its programs and activities, Utah State University does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, genetic information, sexual orientation or gender identity/ expression, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by University policy or local, state, or federal law. The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Alison Adams-Perlac, alison.adams-perlac@usu. edu, Title IX Coordinator, Hilary Renshaw, hilary.renshaw@usu.edu, Old Main Rm. 161, 435-797-1266. For further information on notice of non-discrimination: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 303-844-5695, OCR.Denver@ed.gov. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kenneth L. White, Vice President for Extension and Agriculture, Utah State University.
When you have to re-think the annual CAAS Faculty and Staff Retreat, it helps to be the college with an airplane hangar. Some attended online and others attended one of two socially distanced sessions at the Logan-Cache Airport.
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Professor Keith Christensen (left) is the newly named department head in LAEP, succeeding Professor Sean Michael (below).
NEW DEPARTMENT HEAD NAMED for Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
By Madison Leak
Professor Keith Christensen is the new head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, filling the position held by Professor Sean Michael for the past 12 years. Christensen earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Brigham Young University, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in disability disciplines at Utah State University. His research focuses primarily on the impact physical environments have on opportunities for people with disabilities to socially integrate into their communities and on making built environments accessible to people with disabilities. Christensen served as the LAEP department’s graduate program coordinator and has won several awards at USU and outside the university. In 2011, he was named USU’s Graduate Student Mentor of the Year and
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earned the American Society of Landscape Architects Student Award of Excellence. Christensen also received the Merit Award in 2014 from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Christensen steps into the department head position that Professor Sean Michael has held for 12 years. Michael came to USU in 2008. Michael plans to take a sabbatical and dive into personal research before assuming a faculty position with a joint appointment in LAEP and the college’s Outdoor Product Design and Development degree program. “Returning the program to a level of national excellence, establishing greater alumni pride, and seeing careers advance have probably been the most rewarding parts of my time as department head,” Michael said. “We’re the thirteenth-oldest program of our
kind in the nation. We’ve grown from eight to 13 faculty members, remodeled every square inch of our department, hired a lot of bright young faculty, and I’m excited to see where our department goes.” �
2020 CAAS RETIRED FACULTY Craig Day
Research Asst. Professor, ADVS
David Hole
Professor, PSC
Sheryl Kimball
Professional Practice Assoc. Professor, NDFS
Larry Rupp
Congratulations to faculty members who are retiring from CAAS this year and to those who have joined the college’s faculty in the past year.
Professor, PSC
Aviation Academic Advisor is
TOP IN THE NATION Success in college is key to thriving as a student, and advisors at Utah State University play an important role in helping students navigate the challenges of course loads. Students in the Department of Aviation and Technical Education’s professional pilot and aviation maintenance programs are fortunate to be assisted by advisor Kaylee Roholt, the National Academic Advising Association’s National Outstanding Professional Advisor of the Year. A USU alumna, Roholt is an academic advisor to more than 400 students
currently enrolled in professional pilot and aviation maintenance degree programs. “In all my interactions with her, she has not only been professional and informative, but she’s cared for me and my education,” said Jake Vause, an aviation peer advisor and student in the aviation technology-professional pilot program. Roholt’s work ethic is matched only by her compassion. Both traits have been demonstrated as the program has increased enrollment by more than 50% in the past five years, according to Bruce
By Ammon Teare
Miller, head of the Aviation and Technical Education department and Roholt’s supervisor. “I rely on her expertise to guide our students’ institutional interactions, be it with financial aid, admissions, registrar, global engagement, or the veteran’s affairs office,” Miller said. “Kaylee has assisted with more than 35 international students, and her attention to detail benefits the students and the program due to the additional levels of documentation needed for international students pursuing flight training in the United States.” �
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in brief
Professor “Baron” is
USU’S 2020 TOP TEACHER By Jeff Hunter, Utah State University Marketing and Communications In aviation, good timing is imperative to being a successful pilot. So, it should come as no surprise that after 27 years in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), Andreas Wesemann displayed some impeccable timing in the fall of 2014 as he was contemplating what to do after retirement. “I realized that the draw of the airlines wasn’t there for me, not that I didn’t love flying or traveling, but I wanted to do something where I could interact with people and have a much more meaningful experience,” Wesemann said. “I remembered those early instructors I had in high school and Civil Air Patrol and the Boy Scouts that challenged me to set goals…in the end, I realized I wanted to come back to edu-
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cation, and Utah State University had an opening the day I looked at their website. “It had just posted, and I felt it was fate,” added Wesemann, who received the Eldon J. Gardner Teaching Award this spring, USU’s top teaching honor. “I knew I was led to come here, and the last six years at Utah State have been absolutely a wonderful experience. And this award truly validates my decision to come here to Utah State, to know that my passion for teaching is acknowledged.” Better known as “Professor Baron” in the Aviation Technology program, Wesemann has been teaching in USU’s College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences since January 2015. During that time, the pro-
gram has grown from 160 students to more than 370, and added a minor in Unmanned Aerial Systems for drone pilots, as well as a Master of Aviation Science degree. The master’s degree, which is available completely online, grew out of Wesemann’s own effort to complete his Ph.D. at Utah State University. “I went back to school here, so even though I’m a graduate of the Air Force Academy, I’m an Aggie,” Wesemann pointed out with a smile. “My dissertation was all about online and eLearning, and what did we have to do this spring? We had to transition all of our programs into an online format, except for our flight labs and some of our maintenance labs. So, I had an op-
Agriculture in Classrooms
EVERYWHERE
By LynneTte harris
The National Center for Agricultural Literacy—led by Professor Debra Spielmaker in the Department of Agricultural Systems Technology and Education—launched its new website on March 24 and in the following weeks became a resource for thousands of teachers. The site is designed for K-12 teachers, including those who are teaching online, but the resources are accessible to anyone and may be especially useful to parents who are also homeschool teachers. The new website brings together lessons that connect agriculture to subjects in each grade-level’s curriculum, including science, math, literacy, art, engineering, health, history, social studies, and business. There are links to individual states’ Agriculture in the Classroom websites, lesson plans, and instructions for hands-on learning activities. There are even instructions for using free, online resources to tour farms and food facilities using purchased or DIY virtual reality viewers. Find the National Center for Agricultural Literacy’s website at agclassroom.org and the center’s Ag Bytes blog for ideas about using the website’s resources at agbytes. blogspot.com. �
portunity to apply the skills I learned from my Ph.D. in a very practical way.” Wesemann graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a double major in international affairs and humanities. During his 27 years in the USAF, Wesemann served in numerous assignments all around the country and the world while becoming a certified instructor in six types of aircraft. The name Baron was Wesemann’s aviator call sign, a moniker given to him – much to his surprise – during pilot training in Oklahoma. “Baron is a great call sign to have,” Wesemann explained. “You usually receive a call sign because of something you do or it’s a play on words, and you don’t get to pick it. It picks you. And it’s because I’m German. “The funny thing is, Baron was a nickname I had in college, but they didn’t know
that when they gave it to me at the naming ceremony,” Wesemann said. “I was just floored…. So, I go by ‘Professor Baron’ now, which is great for a student-professor relationship.” Wesemann said the title helps him establish relationships with students, keeps him connected to his Air Force service, and helps him stay connected to the industry. During his USAF tenure, Wesemann served as an HC-130 squadron commander at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia and helped oversee the refueling of helicopters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He said “saving the one” in search and rescue operations is not unlike helping to motivate students to continue their education in order to reach their full potential, even though sometimes that may not be in aviation.
“I always tell folks I want to help you achieve your dream,” Wesemann said. “If you want to be a doctor or a lawyer or a musician, I’ll help you do that. But if you want to be a pilot, I’m passionate about aviation, and I’ll help kindle that fire and make sure that you can achieve your dream of learning how to fly. “I always think I can teach anybody to fly, but I’ve found out I can’t teach everybody how to land,” he continued. “There are a few students each year who we determine this is not a good fit for. But I want to make sure that we help them find out what they want to do, because if you can be paid to do something you truly love, you’re truly blessed. “I always tell everybody I never worked a day in my life because I have the best-paying hobby.” �
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HEIDI WENGREEN LEADS DEPARTMENT OF NUTRITION, DIETETICS AND FOOD SCIENCES:
By Madison Leak
Chuck Carpenter Leaves Post to Return to Teaching and Research Dietetics Professor Heidi Wengreen became head of the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences on July 1, 2020. “I’m still kind of shell-shocked,” Wengreen said of her new appointment. “I’m really excited, though, and looking forward to recruiting more students and helping the department move forward.” Wengreen is a Utah State University alumna and was valedictorian of her graduating class in 1997. She is a decorated teacher and researcher, having been selected as the department’s Teacher of the Year in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and was the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences’ (CAAS) Teacher of the Year in 2008. Wengreen was the CAAS Graduate Research Mentor of the Year in 2016 and
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named Outstanding Dietetics Educator of 2015 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She received the Emerging Dietetics Leader Award in 2010 from both the Utah Dietetic Association and the American Dietetic Association. Wengreen’s research focuses on dietary assessment tools, child nutrition and behavior change. She was a member of the Cache County Study on Memory, Health and Aging research team and has co-authored several studies related to the impact of diet on physical and cognitive health in seniors. She has also published a number of papers on fruit and vegetable intake in children. Former department head Professor Charles Carpenter served as the department’s administrator for 18 years. Carpenter
will continue his research and projects with Utah Agricultural Experimental Station and will help students when needed. “There are a lot of things I can pick up within the department,” Carpenter said. “Obviously with COVID-19 we’re going to be adjusting things for fall semester.” During his years as department head, Carpenter has seen a lot of change. “Innumerable changes,” he said. “We’ve had to adapt a lot of programs out of necessity. We took a 14% budget cut the year I was appointed the department head. We’ve had to adapt to meet changing marketplace needs and better prepare our students over the years….I can honestly say that we’ve built something I’m proud to leave, a good foundation through enabling leadership on all levels.” �
in brief
PLANT SCIENTIST NAMED A FELLOW OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE By Ammon Teare Professor Bruce Bugbee has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS), the highest honor bestowed by the society on its members. Bugbee, whose work centers on environmental plant physiology in the Department of Plants, Soil, and Climate Science, was awarded the honor during the society’s annual meeting, held virtually this year due to COVID-19. Bugbee’s selection as an ASHS fellow follows his 2018 designation as a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. Horticulture deals with fruits, flowers, and ornamental crops grown with more intensive care, whereas agronomy is concerned with staple crops produced on a large scale, such as wheat and corn. Bugbee’s status as a fellow in both fields demonstrates the breadth of research he undertakes as well as the broad application of his findings. Fellowship in professional societies can help researchers gain broader recognition from their peers, opportunities to speak at professional gatherings or other universities, and indirectly affect research funding, Bugbee said. And he is quick to acknowledge that election as a fellow requires being nominated by peers and the support of his fellow faculty members at USU.
“It’s a reflection of the health of the university that as colleagues we all see each other’s excellence and we reward it,” Bugbee said. “You’ve got to have a community of scholars at a university who recognize the excellence in other people, and every school does that, but Utah State in particular works at it. I feel like I’m sharing this with all my colleagues, because they’re the ones who help me look good.” Professor Erik Runkle of Michigan State University, who wrote a letter nominating Bugbee, said that while he is not one of Bugbee’s former students, he knows of scientists from at least six universities who worked with him as graduate students. “I met Bruce over 20 years ago when I was a Ph.D. graduate student, through participation in a USDA regional working group,” Runkle said. “In my opinion, his combined expertise in plant science, engineering, physics, among other subject areas, makes him the most well-rounded expert in plant lighting in the world. While Bruce has been a stellar researcher and leading whole-plant scientist, he has also been an admirable mentor to graduate students, post-docs, and early-career faculty.” Tracy Dougher, associate dean for academic programs and professor of horticul-
ture at Montana State University, also supported the fellowship nomination. Bugbee was Dougher’s Ph.D. advisor.
“His approach and passion for science impacted more than just plant and soil sciences. In the small slice of t ime that I was in his lab, he brought together learners and researchers to address plant science and, more generally, science issues.”
- Tracy Dougher
Bugbee has been recognized at the local, state, and national levels prior to his selection as a fellow. In 2012, he was awarded the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science, and he received USU’s top research honor, the D. Wynn Thorne Career Research Award, in 2016. He has authored hundreds of articles in scientific journals, contributed to more than 13 books, and given invited talks at universities around the world. �
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in brief
USU Eastern Continues to Lead the Way for
UTAH’S MINE SAFETY The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program at Utah State University Eastern received a $240,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. Since 1979, USU Eastern (then the College of Eastern Utah) has received grant funding to provide the bulk of mine safety training in the state of Utah, according to CTE Director Ethan Migliori. “Federal law requires that all miners receive basic and annual refresher training, and that all mine operators maintain an effective training plan,” Migliori said. “The grants cover training and retraining of miners working at surface and underground coal, metal, and nonmetal mines. Each recipient tailors the program to the needs of its mines and miners—including specific mining conditions and hazards miners may encounter— and provides technical assistance.” Using Mine Safety and Health Administration materials, and under the direction of state departments of labor and state mine inspectors’ offices, the faculty at USU East-
ern teach everything from new miner training to electrical certifications to mine rescue training. Training supported by the grant is industry-focused and non-credit though some of the training is applicable to certain credit certificates or degree programs at USU Eastern. The university’s mining department has fluctuated in size over the years, and currently employs two instructors Randy Mabbut and Jeff Paserella—and staff assistant, Tawni Martinez. Mining classes are offered regularly for new and experienced miners. An annual refresher course for miners pursuing retraining costs $51 and can be completed in one day with an 8-hour training session. New miners begin their training with 32 hours of instruction on underground mine safety at the cost of $91. Classes are currently limited to 11 people due to social distancing guidelines, so prospective students must reserve their seat before the first date of instruction. �
By Ammon Teare and Lynnette Harris
Top: Director Ethan Migliori. Above: Instructor Randy Mabbut.
More information is available at eastern.usu.edu/cwd/.
Award-winning food science students Jared Buhler, Savannah Branson, and Melissa Marsh (left to right) with a sample of Moonola.
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Improving Mental Health on Your Own Schedule ACT Guide provides therapy tools online The ACT Guide is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy practices, a kind of treatment that has been shown in more than 300 clinical trials to be effective for many different kinds of people and mental health issues. The guide leads you through developing strategies for coping with things like anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia, procrastination, and other challenges. The program was developed primarily by Associate Professor Michael Levin—based on a decade of his research on the benefits of online ACT therapy—and his colleagues in Utah State University’s Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Clinical Excellence. The 12 self-guided sessions can be done privately and at your own pace on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. USU has made the guide available at no cost to current students and other users pay just $10 for six months of access. The ACT Guide is personalized to help you with specific mental health goals that may include building healthier relationships, managing negative
thoughts and feelings, practicing mindfulness, and clarifying what matters most to you. Levin said, “My goal is to provide our communities with widely accessible mental health resources that are not limited by many of the barriers people typically encounter when looking for help.” �
Learn more about the ACT Guide at scce.usu.edu/services/act-guide.
Aggies Win Smart
By Lynnette Harris
Snacks Competition Many hours of creative effort paired with food science skills resulted in a win for a team of Utah State University students. With their tasty snack, “Moonola,” students Savannah Branson, Melissa Marsh, and Jared Buhler won the Institute of Food Technologist’s Smart Snacks for Kids competition and a $3,000 prize. The three collaborated to create Moonola, an instant granola cereal packed with protein and color-changing milk. Team members were challenged to use their imaginations and food science knowledge to create a new product that is nutritious, fun, appealing to children and teens, and that meets USDA Smart Snack guidelines. Branson said the team’s goal was an on-the-go cereal that only needs a little water added to hydrate the nonfat dry milk coating the granola clusters. A little dry, colored powder adds some fun and the packaging serves as a bowl. Team members worked their way through challenges related to extending Moonola’s shelf life and several related to COVID-19, which meant a lot of online meetings and collaboration. �
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Utah State University Alumni Help Develop a New Technology
THAT WILL FOREVER CHANGE AVIATION SAFETY By Matt Jensen and Lynnette Harris Bailey Scheel (’14 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and Eric Sargent (’09 Aviation) are part of a team at Garmin International that created a flight control system for general aviation aircraft called Autoland. In the event of an emergency involving pilot incapacitation, Autoland controls and lands an aircraft at the nearest suitable airport with no human intervention. Garmin, a tech giant that makes GPS devices, is a leading manufacturer of aircraft electronics including flight deck displays and autopilot technologies. Scheel, who learned to fly an airplane before driving a car, served as Autoland project manager and systems engineer. Sargent, a graduate of USU’s renowned professional pilot program, was the Autoland test pilot for the Piper M600 aircraft. The USU alumni worked together for two years on the project. Scheel was drawn to airplanes at a young age and says the Autoland concept is especially meaningful to her. “When I was a kid, my grandfather taught me the basics of flying just in case anything happened to him while we were in the air,” she said. “I later became a pilot because I was interested
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in aviation, and I became an engineer because I wanted to help people and do exciting new things.” Before joining Garmin as a flight test pilot, Sargent was a USU flight instructor. He was one of the first aviation students in the country to fly the university’s brand new fleet of airplanes equipped with the newly certified Garmin G1000 flight deck. Learning to use and understand the G1000, he said, gave him a competitive edge upon graduation. “My professors and flight instructors put a lot of emphasis on aircraft systems, particularly the Garmin G1000 flight deck. Knowing that information was essential in starting my career at Garmin.” Sargent has been involved with Autoland since its earliest stages. “It was remarkable to see Autoland progress from a conceptual design, to a fully certifiable system capable of landing an airplane and stopping it on the runway without any pilot interaction,” he said. “People often ask me what it was like performing the first Autoland. For me it was like teaching my first student how to fly solo. While I’m confident that I trained them correctly, I still monitor their progress to make sure they perform all the steps correctly.” �
Photo courtesy of Garmin.
in brief
COVID-19 Response Cultivate | Summer/Fall 2020
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By Ammon Teare and Lynnette Harris
USU AVIATION
Back In The Air
COVID-19 Response
Students in USU’s aviation program were stuck in a “holding pattern” when the university’s response to COVID-19 included temporarily suspending training flights and instruction until appropriate safety measures could be developed and implemented. Every degree program develops its own culture, and being an aviation student typically means spending time each week outside classroom hours at the airport studying and socializing with faculty, staff, and fellow students, and logging flight hours in helicopters and small planes. It’s one thing to distance students in a large classroom or lecture hall, and quite another to figure out how to safely teach when the confines of a cockpit make social distancing impossible. The Federal Aviation Administration’s requirements for flight hours and training are built on regular and consistent training. To avoid falling out of practice or forgetting critical skills, students must maintain their instruction and flight time to be eligible for FAA testing. In order to get students back in the air and progressing with their required flight hours, administrators and instructors worked with USU Risk Management and the President’s Office to set up
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a system that minimizes contact, and still allows operations to proceed. By early June, USU planes and students were back in the air. “With the approval of the college we are using touchless thermometers, verifying health, and sanitizing the aircraft after every flight,” said Aaron Dyches, director of airport operations and chief flight instructor. The new measures allowed the program’s 350 students to pick up where they left off spring semester after a month-long stand down, and meant students could enroll in new courses with only a few limitations. Students who returned to the airfield in June found a pair of factory-new aircraft had joined USU’s fleet. The new planes arrived at USU’s hangar at the Logan-Cache airport via semitruck in May, where they were reassembled and tested. The new planes’ arrival was one more example of faculty working around challenges presented by the pandemic. New aircraft don’t typically arrive on the back of a truck, but travel restrictions aimed at curtailing the spread of COVID-19 meant aviation faculty members could not pick up the aircraft at the factory and fly them back to Logan. �
Applied Economics Resources
Above: Aggie Ice Cream fans were without their favorite flavors for six weeks, but the creamery was able to re-open with new safety measures in place. Learn all about Aggie Ice Cream on the Instead podcast launched this year by USU’s Office of Research. Find it at Research.usu.edu/Instead and go to Episode 32 Cow to Cone: How Aggie Ice Cream is Made, with Dave Irish.
Students and faculty quickly became more creative in the spring to finish the semester strong. Among those who found ways to complete projects and learning activities were students in Assistant Professor Rebecca Charlton’s nutrition classes. Elise Whithers and Allison Armstrong pictured here (top, left to right) partnered with a high school Spanish teacher to create online nutrition education and cooking demos for homebound high school students, including the one pictured here featuring foods from Mexico. Assistant Professor Katie Brown and her dietetics students established some in-home “networking” events with professionals to replace the conferences and other activities students usually do during their senior year in preparation for job searches. �
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COVID-19 Response
To help food producers navigate markets and distribution systems that became more complex or stopped altogether (some just temporarily) during the pandemic, faculty in the Department of Applied Economics centralized online resources at extension.usu.edu/apec. You’ll find links to the Utah Agriculture Outlook webinar series, farm financial health resources, and the Marketing in Motion blog. �
By Abby Benninghoff, CAAS Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
COVID-19 Response
At the start of the spring semester, our students were applying for internships and writing mini-grants to support summer research. Our faculty were teaching classes, drafting research proposals, and writing manuscripts with their graduate students for submission to professional journals. Our research staff and technicians were developing innovative strategies for experiments in labs, farms, and fields. Then, our day-today lives changed immensely in March as the novel coronavirus spread through the U.S. USU and other colleges and universities moved to exclusively online education and mainly remote work. The new problems caused by COVID-19 did not do away with the challenges our researchers were tackling back in March. Our faculty, staff, and students have continued to do impactful research aimed at solving today’s agriculture challenges – food security and quality, climate change and variability, sustainable energy production, reliable and clean water supplies, human and animal health, sustainable community development, and scientific and agricultural literacy.
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Student and research technician Chase Goodey is shown working at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station’s Evans Research Farm. Field research continued through the summer with social distancing, and with researchers and assistants traveling to field sites in individual vehicles or wearing masks. Research activities continued in many of our venues, both on campus and in the field, with faculty, staff, and students finding creative ways to do their work safely because animals and plants growing at research farms require ongoing care. Seasonal work can’t be abandoned without upending graduate students’ programs and while researchers may do work in home offices, there are many reasons people don’t have home biochemistry labs. Many of us decamped to home offices, armed with reams of data and remote access to software and online resources needed to finish writing our backlog of manuscripts or finally spend some time reading the stack of journal articles that
Increased funding was driven largely by more support for basic research ($12.9 million for FY20). While we do a great deal of applied research and solve practical problems, basic research is driven by curiosity to discover fundamental aspects of phenomena or observed facts. CAAS had the highest total of any college at USU for basic research funding in the past fiscal year. We are proud that discovery happens here!
had been on our desk for months. Students shifted their training and lab schedules, some focused on studying for qualifying exams or writing literature reviews to prepare for dissertation defenses. Researchers continued to be active in labs and on research farms, running experiments and collecting valuable samples, all while adding new precautions to their usual activities to help ensure safety for themselves and others, including wearing personal protective equipment and following special hygiene protocols to ensure that research spaces are clean.
Through innovat ive, high-impact research, the facult y, st udents, and staf f of the College of Agricult ure and Applied Sciences work to discover new k nowledge that cont ributes to the global scient ific communit y and ser ves people in Utah and beyond.
Total CAAS research funding for the past fiscal year was $25.25 million, the highest in the past decade (at least), and represents 45% growth over last year’s numbers.
Research grants and contracts are not concentrated in one area or with a handful of faculty “superstars.” Evaluating funding divided among departments shows that most had banner years individually.
Virtual Field Days
Field days have been important summer activities since the earliest days of the Agricultural College of Utah. Farmers, ranchers, fruit growers, and in more recent years, native plant growers and turfgrass managers have gathered on our research farms and other locations around the state to learn about USU’s most current research and how to apply it to their operations. This year field days went virtual. Our faculty, student researchers, and technicians like to meet in person with some of the end-users of their discoveries and expertise, but one benefit of the 2020 events is that they are available online where more people have access. Take a look at this year’s Crops, Fruit Growers, and Center for Water Efficient Landscaping (CWEL) Field Days on YouTube. � tinyurl.com/USUCropsFieldDay-2020 tinyurl.com/USU-CWEL-FieldDay-2020 tinyurl.com/USUFruitFieldDay-2020
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COVID-19 Response
CAAS researchers were on track to match prior years’ research funding before the coronavirus outbreak, and because we are well-qualified to help the nation address that particular challenge, additional funds have been awarded that propelled our research funding total even higher. Indeed, faculty and student scientists in our Institute for Antiviral Research have rarely been busier than they are this year as they ramped up their work dramatically and acquired new funding to test possible therapeutics to combat COVID-19. The college ended the fiscal year with $25.25 million in research funding, the most in at least the past decade, and likely the highest in our history, though changes in the college and ways of tracking research dollars make it difficult to determine. All of this work is essential in meeting the college’s research mission: Through innovative, high-impact research, the faculty, students, and staff of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences work to discover new knowledge that contributes to the global scientific community and serves people in Utah and beyond. Together, we seek to develop and apply sustainable solutions that meet the agricultural, economic, environmental, community, and health challenges of today and tomorrow through scientific inquiry and sharing knowledge. Even though COVID-19 has disrupted the ways our researchers normally work, be assured that our work continues in creative and innovative ways. �
Left: In addition to bags of flour and other food products, the first Farmers Feeding Utah event delivered and distributed sheep to Navajo families. Below: CAAS Dean Ken White was among the volunteers packing and distributing food at the Salt Lake City event.
By Matt Hargreaves, Utah Farm Bureau Federation, and Lynnette Harris Early casualties of COVID-19 included the nation’s food supply chain and wages for countless people when work hours were cut back substantially or ended altogether, amplifying existing food insecurity problems and creating new ones. But the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, Utah State University’s Hunger Solutions Institute, and combined efforts of donors and volunteers, managed to pull off “miracles” to help struggling Utahns on both ends of the food supply chain.
COVID-19 Response
Even before COVID-19 blanketed the world, Utah farmers and ranchers had been suffering through a 5-year price slump. All the usual suspects were in play – droughts, tariffs, fires, tight labor supplies, and the ironic problem of being “too good” at producing food that the price reflects that of a readily available commodity, rather than a life-sustaining necessity. Mix in a global pandemic, and you have a broken food supply chain in which farmers and ranchers lost markets for their products overnight because restaurants were shuttered, schools and their cafeterias closed, cruise ships remained docked, and few were spending extra dollars on higher-end food products. In areas of our country that were further into the harvest, this led to crops being plowed into their fields or being left unharvested, milk being dumped, and more. In the midst of all this, Utah was seeing family farms go out of business, not because of reduced demand, but because of the fragile supply chain. “This really hit me, and I started wondering about how we could help our farmers,” said Ron Gibson, president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation (UFBF). “It wasn’t long into this crisis that I was talking about these issues on the Rod Arquette radio show, and after the interview, I got a call from a listener from South Jordan, Utah. He wasn’t a farmer. He had zero connection to agriculture beyond eating food. But he told me that he and his wife
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wanted to help Utah’s farmers and ranchers and wondered about creating a GoFundMe account to help them. Tears filled my eyes as I heard his offer of help. I was truly touched that someone who doesn’t know me would reach out and try to help.” Gibson continued to think about the offer and what would work for Utah farmers and ranchers, thinking there had to be some way to help. He appreciated the thoughtful question but wasn’t sure if farmers and ranchers would accept the help. But an idea was planted, and soon Gibson connected the goals of helping farm families and people in need of food through the Miracle of Agriculture Foundation, UFBF’s charitable arm: collect donations and use the funds to purchase food from Utah producers and get it to people struggling to feed themselves and their families.
USU Extension’s Create Better Health program teaches healthy meal planning, effective budgeting and food-shopping practices, healthy lifestyle skills, and cooking techniques. The program recently won a national award from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior for the year’s best educational materials. Create Better Health’s resources about healthy eating and lifestyle tips for adults and children are available to everyone at Extension.usu.edu/createbetterhealth/.
USU Partners to Reach People in Need and flour. Recipients were selected based on need, with special consideration going to people with disabilities, single-parent families, veterans, and tribal elders. They came wearing masks and remained in their cars while the food and animals were loaded on the warm, early summer day. The sheep delivered that day benefited families in Aneth, Red Mesa, and Tódahadekanii. More sheep were purchased from ranchers in central Utah a week later and delivered to residents in Halchita, Navajo Mountain, and Oljató/ Monument Valley. The project’s success was aided by the involvement and coordination efforts of Rebecca Benally, a former San Juan County commissioner, educator, and community member of the Navajo Nation in Montezuma Creek. “Because of COVID-19, some people were on lockdown quarantine and they felt lonely and depressed,” Benally said. “They felt that maybe no one was thinking about them. With these sheep, people told me it had given them hope and [let] them know someone cared about them. Sheep are very symbolic of hope and prosperity. You saw people here very happy to get sheep, and they utilized every bit of the sheep to give them hope. You can give a Navajo woman diamonds or jewels, and that’s nice. But if
you really want to give something meaningful, you give sheep.” Through three deliveries in the area, Farmers Feeding Utah—aided by additional support from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food—provided 600 live sheep, 16,000 pounds of frozen lamb, and 10,000 pounds of Utah flour.
Top: Navajo community members lined up early at the event in Montezuma Creek. Top, next page: USU San Juan County Extension Assistant Professor Reagan Wytsalucy.
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COVID-19 Response
USU’s Hunger Solutions Institute brings together research, Extension’s connections to communities throughout the state, and hunger-relief organizations. Led by Heidi LeBlanc, Extension professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences, the institute is an important part of Farmers Feeding Utah because its Create Better Health (SNAP-Ed) programs are closely connected with people throughout the state who are experiencing food insecurity. LeBlanc and her colleagues were on board when Farmers Feeding Utah announced its first “Miracle Project” would be in Southeastern Utah in response to the Navajo Nation having been a hot spot of COVID-19 infection and people there experiencing over 90 percent unemployment as tourism-industry jobs in the area vanished. More than delivering packaged food though, the first project centered on delivering sheep to area families. The first delivery included frozen lamb and flour milled from wheat grown in San Juan County, and later the sheep arrived. On the morning of May 25, Navajo community members came in trucks and SUV’s with trailers to Montezuma Creek—a community just east of Bluff, Utah—in a line that stretched for miles to receive sheep
North for a Second Miracle As unemployment rates in Cache County rose to more than double the number from the same month the previous year and more people sought help at the Cache Food Pantry, two important annual food drives had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Requests for help from food pantries in Box Elder and Rich counties were also up by 30 percent. On June 23, Farmers Feeding Utah brought its second “Miracle Project” to Logan, thanks to more grassroots donations and products from Farm Bureau Financial Services, Idaho Farm Bureau, Dairy West, and Oakdell Eggs. A team of UFBF members, USU faculty, staff, and students masked up and spent the morning organizing food bundles and loading
potatoes, milk, cheese, eggs, and meat into the trunks and back seats of a line-up of vehicles that sometimes stretched the length of the Maverik Stadium parking lot. In all, the food went to more than 400 families and more was donated to area food pantries. “As the land-grant university that is proud to count so many farmers and ranchers as alumni, I can think of no better way to help them during this difficult time—and help needy families as well— than what this program has been doing,” said USU President Noelle E. Cockett. “I’m proud to have our ‘Hunger Solutions Institute’ and Extension play such a significant role in helping individuals and families in Utah, including our own students, get the food they need.”
On to Salt Lake City and Ogden
COVID-19 Response
Donations to the project in amounts large and small continued as increased needs for food assistance persisted. In July, USU’s Hunger Solutions Institute identified other high-need populations using zip codes of people who had recently applied for SNAP benefits, data the institute receives to direct USU Extension education resources to people enrolled in the program. LeBlanc said communities in certain zip codes in west Salt Lake City and West Valley City were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, and 15,000 people in the area signed-up for SNAP between January and March. A third Miracle Project served food pantries and families in the area with another drive-thru distribution operation at the Utah State Fair Park. The real miracle may have been what happened following the SLC event when LeBlanc started making phone calls to see what could be done with food that was left when the distribution event ended. The Salvation Army in Ogden had prepared to distribute food that week, but a burglary left the organization missing some computers and all the goods that had been in the food pantry. Farmers Feeding Utah organizers and volunteers headed north with a semi-trailer loaded with meat, dairy products and produce purchased from farmers who were still having difficulties getting their products to market, and restocked the Salvation Army food pantry just in time for its distribution day. On September 25, Farmers Feeding Utah was in Vernal to serve people in the Uintah Basin. An estimated 200+ families received meat, and fresh fruits and vegetables, and a nearly equal quantity was donated to the Ashley Valley Food Pantry. As the pandemic continues to impact lives across the state and donors continue to support the work, Farmers Feeding Utah will be a link connecting parts of Utah’s food chain. �
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Top: USU Extension Professor Heidi LeBlanc was interviewed by reporters as food was delivered to Ogden. Above: Dean Ken White at the Salt Lake City event.
Taking a Virtual Leap: Fortunately, LAEP Assistant Professor Ben George has spent a decade working out the logistics of teaching landscape architecture online, and he was ready to respond. “The same week that USU decided to transition entirely online I was contacted by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board and asked to do a webinar for faculty across the country on best practices for moving their courses online,” George said. “I’ve been answering plenty of questions via email and phone from faculty across the country as they go through the process.” Former LAEP Department Head Sean Michael has been impressed with George’s efforts to explore online formats, even before the current situation arose. “Beginning in his Ph.D. program, Ben was asking questions about how technology can be empowering and a tool for democratizing design, Michael said. “His efforts questioned the long-held notion that design education must occur face-to-face. Because of Ben’s early belief in online education, in the midst of today’s emergency migration of classes to distance education, he is now helping colleagues across America with the lessons he has learned.” George also authored a paper about the best practices for online studio courses that the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board distributed to all landscape architecture departments across the country. The paper includes information about communicating with students, course organization, addressing student anxieties, and
useful third-party tools. It also addresses other obstacles that professors may run into as they make the transition and shares what George has learned through his experiences. Another reminder of the global impact of COVID-19 is that the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture recently asked George to share with colleagues in landscape architecture programs around the world how they can adapt studio-based classes to an online environment. “The biggest challenge has been taking a subject matter that is very visual and place-based and trying to translate to a purely digital and online format,” George said. “How do you effectively teach someone about the feel of a place or the impact that a landscape has on your senses? Developing pedagogical approaches and online tools that address these challenges were critical for me to create a successful online course.” The good news is that George has found that his students have been very adaptable to moving online. “I like to tell people about how my son grew up playing around on my iPhone and iPad, and he mastered using a touch screen and doing what he wanted on those devices, but when I tried to get him to use a mouse and keyboard he didn’t know what to do, it just seemed so archaic to him.” George said. “The majority of students are doing all of the latest and greatest with technology. This is the world they grew up in. Asking them to learn online isn’t some-
thing strange or difficult for them; they are like my son using the iPhone, it’s just natural. The reality is, these types of transitions are usually more difficult for faculty.” While George says he doesn’t miss having to prepare lectures and hand-grade quizzes, he does miss the social relationships with his students and the energy of a classroom. He has some social interaction with his students online, but he notes that video conferencing just isn’t the same as being in the classroom or studio with them. George wants people to trust that virtual classrooms and studios work. He has found that when the teaching approach and learning tools are designed well, an online class can be just as good, or better, than a face-to-face experience. “This is a great opportunity for faculty and students to experiment with online education,” George said. “Yes, it isn’t ideal, but I hope that it gives them a taste of what might be possible and encourages them to explore ways that they could create online or flipped classes in the future.” Michael added that course delivery in many disciplines may change as a result of educators around the world exploring ways to connect with students. “Globally, campuses are adapting, evolving in their operations,” he said. “For each of us, the current challenge should make us focus on our core values. Those values are durable, critical, but they are not married to only one mode of interaction. For each of us, focusing on orchestrating the new modes for this time is our calling.” �
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COVID-19 Response
Landscape Architecture Professor Helps Design Studios Transition Online by Mariah Spencer
Institute for
ANTIVIRAL RESEARCH By Lynnette Harris
COVID-19 Response
Researchers at Utah State University’s Institute for Antiviral Research have been at work since February testing antiviral compounds and licensed drugs for their effectiveness against the SARSCoV-2 virus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. The institute specializes in developing animal models for testing antiviral agents and vaccines and started its initial coronavirus work supported by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More funding has since come to the institute from NIH and other sources. Bart Tarbet, a research associate professor in USU’s Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences (ADVS), is lead investigator on the project, in collaboration with Brett Hurst, ADVS assistant research professor. The scientists investigate how the virus affects organs and tissues causing disease—a critical step in developing treat-
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ments and vaccines—and how the virus responds to various treatments. Institute for Antiviral Research (IAR) faculty and technicians began working with the novel coronavirus in test tubes and cell culture plates in February, and have been working with what Hurst said is a very promising animal model for testing possible treatments. Because of the urgent need to better understand the virus and treat infections, the research team experiments with different disease models simultaneously, Tarbet said. “We understand the urgency. …I proposed studies with the virus in the lab, in a mouse model, and in (golden Syrian) hamsters that are genetically engineered to be susceptible to viruses that infect humans,” Tarbet said. The hamsters are the result of genetic engineering done by USU ADVS Professor Zhongde Wang. His lab developed the model because viruses frequently attach to
receptors in humans that are not present in animals, severely limiting the ways that potential drugs to prevent or treat diseases can be effectively tested. Hamsters from Wang’s lab have a human gene inserted in their DNA for the receptor to which the novel coronavirus attaches and is taken up into cells. Hurst said IAR researchers have infected a number of the hamsters and seen them develop disease signs like severe respiratory infections. The group is still characterizing the model and clinical signs to better evaluate if symptoms improve following treatment. “We see differences among the hamsters as to how the virus affects them and to what degree,” Hurst said. “But they are similar genetically, not identical but similar, so we see degrees in the signs of disease but not the wide range of severity of the disease in hamsters that we do in humans.” “Of all the antiviral compounds that we evaluate in vitro, less than five percent will
show good activity without toxicity in cell culture,” Tarbet said. “Then the compounds that appear to have an effect in vitro are evaluated in animal models. We consider many factors like the dose and route of administration. We also investigate the therapeutic window, how long before virus challenge it should be administered and how long after virus challenge it can still be effective as a treatment? So
Tarbet pointed out that azithromycin is an antibacterial drug—not an antiviral—suggested to protect against co-infections in patients, but the institute’s previous studies found no benefit from the antibiotic in mice that were infected with an influenza virus. Although they feel a sense of urgency in their experiments, working with this virus requires methodical attention to detail. Incubation times, chemi-
“I’ve worked with infectious diseases for 25 years, and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that I’ve been involved with an emerging disease, developing vaccines, developing models to test treatments, but none of them have spread this rapidly…”
cal and physiological processes, and hamster gestation don’t speed up because researchers feel a heightened sense of urgency. All work with the virus is done by faculty researchers and lab technicians who are trained to work safely in the institute’s level 3+ biosafety containment laboratory. (Note: biosafety levels are ranked 1-4, with 4 being the most stringently regulated. There are few level-4 labs in the world other than those run by federal-level health and safety organizations. A graphic explaining the differences among laboratory biosafety levels 1 through 4 is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, cdc.gov/cpr/infographics/biosafety.htm).
Top: Research Assistant Professor Brett Hurst at work in USU’s Institute for Antiviral Research. Above: Research Associate Professor Bart Tarbet.
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COVID-19 Response
in cell culture and by computer modeling we make predictions, but it’s in the animals that we find the truth because animals are far more complex than cell cultures.” Just as test tubes are not rodents, rodents are not humans, so at each step in the process of gaining approval to treat patients, more compounds are proven ineffective. In January, the World Health Organization published a short list of “candidate therapeutic agents” for evaluation against Covid-19 and the USU team has worked with some of those compounds and new ones. The NIH added several other potential drugs to the list, including chloroquine and azithromycin that were mentioned in press briefings with the U.S. Coronavirus Task Force.
COVID-19 Response
Hurst said, as a virologist, he has been concerned that many social media messages in the early days of the pandemic minimized the virus and its probable impacts with comparisons to rates of illness and death caused by seasonal influenza. Many more people typically get influenza, but the percentage of people who become extremely ill or die is much higher with COVID-19 infections. “While the number (of deaths) may go down, it is still likely to be higher than influenza and thus it represents a greater threat at this time and something that we need to be vigilant about,” Hurst said. “What is surprising about this virus is how rapidly it has evolved and spread around the world,” Tarbet said. “I’ve worked with infectious diseases for 25 years, and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that I’ve been involved with an emerging disease, developing vaccines, developing models to test treatments, but none of them have spread this rapidly….It’s almost daily that we’re seeing big changes and almost daily that discoveries are made, but there are still many things we don’t know the answers to, so we’re working as quickly as we can.” Tarbet’s experience also makes him certain there will be future pandemics, many of them likely to start in animals. He teaches a “One Health” course examining how people, animals, and their environments are all part of the same system and said we need greater understanding of how diseases spread. “In the past 30 years, 70 percent of new and emerging diseases in humans have come from animals,” he said. “And 50 percent of physicians say they could not diagnose a zoonotic illness because it’s an animal disease.” Hurst said, “We have learned a lot in a very short time, but we still have work to do to develop a successful treatment or vaccine. We don’t have a miracle cure or way to prevent the spread of this virus, so we are doing the same things that we have done for months—social distancing, wearing masks, and increasing hygiene procedures. Many of us have grown tired of the repetitive nature of these tasks and the limitations on our activities so we become lax in our approach. Our social patience has worn out even though the virus is still spreading.” Hurst said the public is also getting an opportunity to see science in new ways because typically when research was published, experiments had been refined and repeated and papers don’t cover all the failed experiments and problems. “I think people have to adjust to the realities of science and that it’s not all as neat and pretty as it looks when a paper is published,” Hurst said. “There are a lot of speed bumps along the way. �
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Other Responses to the
Pandemic
Top: Because it’s nearly impossible to distance in a soil pit and work happens in small groups, the lab for Professor Janis Boettinger’s soil genesis and morphology course looks a little different this semester. Photo courtesy of John Lawley. Middle: The USU Equestrian Team continues training while observing campus rules for working in groups by wearing their custom team masks. Bottom: Students had already successfully started plants in their labs when the switch to 100% online instruction happened in the spring. Students continued caring for plants but with smaller crews. Annual plant sales from the Young Teaching Greenhouse and Plant Shop support Plant Science Club learning activities. This year’s sale went online for curbside pick-up and wrapped up with a one-day, outdoor sale.
why i give When Sheryl was deciding where to attend college, her father suggested Utah State University. Though the family were California natives for generations, her father, Don Swain, attended USU in the 50s. Don fell in love with USU and graduated with a BS and MS in engineering. Sheryl thought,”Why on earth would I ever go to USU?” Ironically, two years later, after attending Ricks College as an academic and athletic scholar, she was recruited to play volleyball at USU. She fell in love with USU and Logan and stayed in the valley for over 30 years. During that time, she worked in a nutrition research group on campus, completed an MS in health and human movement, and taught in the dietetics program. Two of her four children are currently at USU. Both have benefited from academic and/or athletic scholarships.
“The only way I was able to attend college was because of scholarships. I have been giving back small amounts monthly through payroll deduction with the intent to someday create an endowment to provide scholarships for students in nutrition and dietetics. Bruce and I are now able to do so and we are thrilled!”
— Bruce and Sheryl Kimball Paula and Brian are longtime supporters of the university and have always wanted to leave a legacy at Utah State in addition to their planned estate gifts, but there was the question of timing. Last year, when they heard about the USU’s new Aggie Family Scholarship, they knew the time was right. The limited-time, matching gift opportunity allowed them to establish an endowment over five years, while still having scholarship funds made immediately available to students. They loved the idea so much, they established two, one in the School of Accountancy (Paula) and another in the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning (Brian). Now the couple gets to hear yearly about how their gifts are helping fellow Aggies.
— Brian Huculak and Paula Rosson
When commencement had to be cancelled this spring, USU’s colleges created new ways to recognize graduates. Instead of being the site for commencement, the Smith Spectrum became the workspace where college staffers packed boxes that were shipped to each 2020 grad. Our newest CAAS alumni received their diplomas, commencement programs, medallions, socks and other USU swag, a letter from Dean Ken White, and a treat from the Aggie Chocolate Factory (specially packaged to withstand July temperatures in transit).
Class of 2020 Photos by Dennis Hinkamp
Celebrating the
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Changing the World, One Potato at a Time By Madison Leak
“FREE POTATOES,” Ryan Cranney wrote on his Facebook page on April 14. “We started dumping potatoes today as we have no home for them because of this COVID-19 disaster. The potato supply chain has definitely been turned upside down. If you would like a few bags come on by.” The COVID-19 pandemic put a cloud of uncertainty over the entire agriculture industry, and Ryan Cranney and his partners in the 20,000-acre Cranney Farms in Oakley, Idaho, which has been in his family for five generations, felt its dark shadow as restaurants, schools and the other usual ends of the supply chain stopped buying. “We couldn’t find a place to go with our potatoes,” Ryan said. “Customers couldn’t take them because the demand was so low,
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so I found a nice clean spot on the ground and dumped about 1.2 million pounds of seed potatoes there.” Ryan planned to feed the potatoes to some of his beef cattle, but then had a better idea. “I was just looking at that pile and thinking there wasn’t really a point in wasting all of those potatoes on cows, so I took a picture and posted it on Facebook and told people to come grab some. I was definitely not anticipating that post going viral,” Ryan said with a chuckle. More than 11,000 Facebook shares and 1,500 comments later, one could say it went viral. “I figured it would stay pretty local, and a lot of people were from Northern Utah and
Southern Idaho, but we had people from Vegas, Elko, somewhere in Wyoming, up in Moscow and even one lady from Kansas,” Ryan recalled. “We had calls from California and Ohio but I told them it wasn’t really worth the drive.” As if that publicity wasn’t enough surprise, news stations then got wind of Ryan’s act of service. “CNN, Fox News, NPR called and it really took off,” he said. “Then I did LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, it was kind of crazy. I think it gave inspiration to be kind to others and to think of others. The vast majority came and got a pickup load and gave it to those who needed it and that was really special.” Cranney Farms teamed up with the charity Farms to Foodbanks and sent a
truckload of potatoes to the Bronx, New York, where people were struggling in a COVID-19 hot spot in the spring. Ryan also had the opportunity to help a family halfway across the world. “Many of you from all over the world have asked me if there is anything you can do to help,” Ryan said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “Well my friends, now is your chance to literally help change the lives of three young friends of mine.” In the media frenzy that followed the story hitting the air, Ryan connected with Susan and her family in Nairobi, Kenya. Susan is raising her three young children in the slums of Nairobi and the pandemic added new struggles to their lives. She commented on the Facebook post that she wished the Cranney’s potatoes were where she lived because food was scarce and difficult to get during quarantine restrictions. Ryan started a conversation with Susan about the pandemic in Kenya and her family. She asked for nothing, but Ryan called on his newfound Facebook following to help Susan chase her dream of putting her children through college.
“I want to see Susan’s dream come true and I am going to make it happen one way or the other,” Ryan continued. “I am calling upon you today to help. Please feel free to share just a little of what God has given you to potentially change the destiny of generations of Susan’s posterity.”
University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels in basketball. “That was the game when someone put the blue dye under the opposing team’s bench,” Ryan said. “UNLV won the National Championship that year and we took them into overtime. It was awesome. You really can’t beat the students
“I was just looking at that pile and thinking there wasn’t really a point in wasting all of those potatoes on cows, so I took a picture and posted it on Facebook and told people to come grab some. I was definitely not anticipating that post going viral.” - Ryan Cranney
Above right: Ryan Cranny (right) talks with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Live with Kelly and Ryan.
A Utah State University alum, Ryan values higher education and all of the opportunities it can bring. He graduated from USU in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in finance. Cranney and his wife Heather are great friends and supporters of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. “Mike Lyons was one of my professors in the poli sci program and he was great,” Ryan said. “He helped me stay with the program and I really appreciated that.” One of Ryan’s favorite memories at Utah State was made his freshman year in 1990, when the Aggies played the
at Utah State. My family and I attend a lot of athletic events, and I’ve spoken to a few agriculture classes up on campus and that’s always fun. All four of my kids have attended or are attending Utah State. We’re definitely Aggies.” Ryan is grateful for his years as a student at Utah State and all the lessons learned. “USU gave me freedom to explore my entrepreneurial spirit,” Ryan recounted about his time at Utah State. “Academics were always important to me, and Utah State really allowed me to explore and gave me a lot of confidence. I loved, still love, the atmosphere up on campus, it’s just great.” �
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by Kynda Curtis, Professor, Department of Applied Economics The food system in the United States is a complex web of farms, processors, shippers, packers, warehouses, millers, and final outlets including the retail grocery and food service industries such as restaurants, schools, hotels, and hospitals. Most food products are heavily processed, only products such as fresh produce, eggs, and milk are packed and shipped directly to the grocery store or school. Due to the large degree of food processing required, farmers receive only $.11 cents on average of every dollar we spend on food. While food production does take place in all 50 states, most of our food is produced in California and the mid-western states. Transporting food nationwide requires complex trucking, rail, and air shipping systems. Additionally, we import and export food world-wide. In 2018 U.S. food exports exceeded imports by about $11 billion. COVID-19 has impacted our lives a great deal, but it has especially impacted where and how we eat. Our food system has had to bend a great deal due to both supply and demand shocks resulting from COVID-19. It has been said that while our food system is very efficient, it’s not very flexible. Here are a few questions you may have about the impacts of COVID-19 on our food system.
Why did we experience food shortages at the grocery store? Our food supply chains are very efficient and employ “just-in-time” systems, where grocery retailers track customer behavior over time and only order what they need. This means there isn’t any extra inventory, and thus when consumers were told to stay home in mid-March, the spike in retail grocery purchases shocked the system and created shortages. These short-term shortages are ironed out in the longer-term which is now the case in many parts of the country, where grocery store shelves are looking more “normal,” with few, if any, outof-stock items. The increased spending at the grocery store resulted from stay-at-home orders and school closures. Americans were no longer eating at school or work, nor meeting colleagues and customers for lunch or celebrating family events with special restaurant dinners. Many restaurants were closed or only providing limited curbside pick-up meal services. Additionally, food shortages led to increased grocery store pricing. Grocery pricing nationwide increased by 4.6% from July 2019 to July 2020 (USDA ERS, 2020) Nationwide grocery spending is still up 13.1% (as of August 23) over January 2020 levels, but down from its high of 73.7% on March 18 (tracktherecovery.org). Restaurant and hotel spending remain lower than January 2020 levels (-26.2% as of August 23), but
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has improved since its low of -66.7% on March 31. As shown in Figure 1, supermarket foot traffic is 28% below the 2019 levels (as of August 31) and has dropped off from mid-March highs. Foot traffic at sit-down restaurants has rebounded substantially over early April lows, but is still about 36.5% (as of August 31) under the 2019 levels. In Utah, overall consumer spending was 8.7% lower on August 23 than in early January 2020. Consumer spending on groceries was up 33%, down from a high of 109% March 16, and restaurant spending was down 25.2% from January 2020 levels (tracktherecovery.org).
Why couldn’t food bound for restaurants, hotels, and schools be rerouted to grocery outlets and food banks? One of the primary reasons that food can’t be rerouted easily is that restaurants/hotels, schools, and retail grocery have completely different supply chains and the connections and relationships in one supply chain don’t transfer automatically to another. Also, the form and type of products used by each final market are different. For example, eggs destined for schools are often powdered, those headed for restaurants come in large packets of 36 or more, and those in grocery stores come in one dozen cartons. Milk headed to schools comes
Industry Level Patterns Supermarkets
Sit-Down Restaurants
were back to 2019 levels. Chicken processing levels were relatively unaffected. Meat processing is highly concentrated, as 10 plants slaughter 63% of all cattle and 15 plants slaughter 59% of all hogs in the U.S. Hence, the closing of just three or four plants can cause major disruptions in the meat supply chain. Genetic breeding of animals and feed lot practices create a situation where animals have to be slaughtered at a specific time in order to property fit slaughter machinery. Also, animals can become too big for their bone and muscle structure if they are not slaughtered at the appropriate time, thus many animals were disposed of prior to processing.
What might increase flexibility in our food system moving forward?
Figure 1. Relative Foot Traffic (Visits) for Supermarkets and Sit-Down Restaurants, 2020 vs 2019, U.S. Source: safegraph.com/dashboard/ covid19-commerce-patterns
in small containers (8 oz.) and often include a chocolate option, the milk you buy in the grocery store is packaged in larger pint, half gallon and full gallon containers. Also, the variety or type of food product demanded by each final market can also be very different. For example, the average grocery shopper only purchases about 50 popular fruits and vegetables, but restaurants use up to 3,000 different produce items.
Why were farmers and ranchers dumping milk and destroying livestock when there were food shortages? When the demand for foods dropped off heavily in the food service and school markets, products held in storage at the processing and packaging points of the food supply chain were at capacity. There was essentially no space to put new milk and other products arriving from farms and since milk, for example, is highly perishable, it had to be dumped on farm or at delivery. Also, due to processer closures amidst COVID-19 outbreaks at those facilities meat processing volumes declined sharply from 2019 levels (up to 40%) in late April 2020. Workers at many facilities were quarantined and others walked out demanding safer working conditions and PPE. As of July, cattle and hog processing levels
The events surrounding COVID-19 have increased our awareness of the vital role that local food systems can play in providing food security when national food systems break down or are impeded. Local food systems, often referred to as short supply chains, are flexible and can more easily pivot to serve new markets. While local food demand is strong, it primarily functions with chefs and consumers, who purchase directly from growers at farmers markets, farm stands, and through community supported agriculture (CSA) programs or grower websites. Many aspects of a strong local food system are missing, such as millers, processors, bakers, butchers, etc. Local, state, and federal policies which better enable the success and sustainability of local food systems are needed. Consumers concerned with empty grocery shelves have turned to local food providers across the country, buying produce and meat directly from producers, who have seen large increases in CSA program participation and online sales of their products—as much as 500% in some cases. Will this trend in local food buying continue? Good question. My feeling at this time is that many consumers who had not participated in a CSA or purchased beef from a local rancher prior to the pandemic will continue to do so even after COVID-19 as they discover the value of the buy-local experience (freshness, taste, community, etc.). Will some go back to their old buying habits? Yes, some will, but certainly not all. �
Professor Kynda Curtis discussed food distribution and disruption as a guest on the Instead podcast hosted by USU’s Office of Research. Find the podcast’s website at Research.usu.edu/Instead and go to episode 21: Stocking up on Locally Grown Food with Dr. Kynda Curtis.
Cultivate | Summer/Fall 2020
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NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
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