The Division Triangle

Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural ResourcesOklahoma State University

The Division

TriangleTeaching • Research • Extension

Agriculture

On the cover…

Oklahoma is experiencing sunny days with sorghum. Not only is the crop valuable as a forage, ongoing research by division scien-tists is showing that it also has potentially profitable applications in terms of renew-able energy as part of the coming biobased economy. (Cover photo by Todd Johnson)

Robert E. Whitson

It is with great pleasure that we in the Divi-sion of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources present to you this issue of The Division Triangle. The following pages showcase a number of important develop-ments in which we are engaged, activities and research projects that stand to improve the quality of life for Oklahomans across our great state and for future generations. Some encompass the latest, cutting-edge advances in traditional enterprises often associated with the division, while others may seem somewhat surprising, 21st cen-tury applications that not so long ago would have seemed more science fiction than sci-ence fact.

Our division triangle of teaching, research and extension has never been more vital and diverse, from a century’s worth of 4-H youth development, cattle, wheat and horti-culture programs to more recent high-need, high-priority endeavors related to renew-able energy crops, the biochemical process-es of human health, improved environmen-tal stewardship, ensuring Oklahoma’s global competitiveness and assisting the Oklahoma Army National Guard with its mission to Afghanistan. Our state and federally man-dated land-grant mission is as important

today as ever, providing real-world benefits to every segment of society.

We are grateful to all those individuals and organizations who work with us throughout the year in a true spirit of cooperation and partnership aimed at meeting our mutual goal of building a stronger more prosperous Oklahoma. With the support of the people of this great state, we will continue to make good things happen for our many and var-ied stakeholders throughout Oklahoma and the region. Thank you for your commitment to the division and university. Please pay us a visit on campus at every opportunity and let us know of ways in which we can be of assistance to you.

Best regards,

Robert E. Whitson

Vice President, Dean and DirectorDivision of Agricultural Sciences and Natural ResourcesOklahoma State University

Comments from Dr. Whitson…

The Division TRIANGLEBovine Respiratory Disease: Less of a concern for the cattle industry 4

Adding choice and value to Oklahoma’s $1 billion wheat industry 6

Nanotubes: Versatile building blocks of science 8

Grape production continues to increase in Oklahoma 10

Burning up fire misconceptions 12

Making $ense of money management 13

Food processing + culinary arts = OKCRA 14

Oklahoma 4-H Program going strong after 100 years 16

DASNR helps Oklahoma Army National Guard gear up for Afghanistan mission 18

Pursuing partnerships to add value to Oklahoma 20

The OSU Biofuels Team: Working toward tomorrow’s prosperity today 22

Master Gardener Program continues to grow 26

DANSR researcher continues groundbreaking work on poxvirus 28

Farm to You takes kids on a fun food journey 30

FAPC Analytical Services receives national accreditation 33

First line of defense in battle against ‘creepy crawly monsters’ 34

Fed Cattle Market Simulator: It’s not just a game 35

Water center showcases efforts to enhance ag water use 36

An interdisciplinary classroom in the real world 38

Master Cattleman Program: A benefit to producers 40

Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title Vl and Vll of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title lX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services.

This publication is printed and issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the Vice President, Dean, and Director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and has been prepared and distributed at a cost of $10,700.00 for 7,000 copies. 1109.

To simplify terminology, trade names of products or equipment are sometimes used. No endorsement of specific products named is intended nor is criticism im-plied of products not mentioned. Material appearing in this publication may be reprinted without permission pro-vided credit is given the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Oklahoma State University. For change of address, write to Agricultural Communications Services, 141 Agriculture North, Oklahoma State Univer-sity, Stillwater, OK 74078.

Robert E. WhitsonVice President, Dean and Director, Division of Agricultural Sciences

and Natural Resources

Garvin Quinn Director, Agricultural

Communications Services

Tierra Eller and Katie ReimCo-Editors

Gayle HinerProduction Coordinator

Todd JohnsonLead Photographer

Tracy McMurphyWeb Manager

Brooke Clay, Ron Dahlgren, Trisha Gedon, Mandy Gross, Sean Hubbard, Katie Reim

and Donald StottsWriters

November 2009

dasnr.okstate.edu

By Donald Stotts

A multidisciplinary team of Oklahoma State University scientists and practitioners is riding herd on one of the most challenging concerns of Oklahoma’s $4.6 billion cattle industry: Bovine Respiratory Disease.

BRD is the most common disease among feedlot cattle in the United States, accounting for ap-proximately 75 percent of feedlot morbidity and 50 percent to 70 percent of all feedlot deaths. BRD causes between $800 million to $900 mil-lion annually in economic losses from death, reduced feed efficiency and antimicrobial treat-ment costs.

“Immune response and morbidity issues relative to cattle growth and carcass quality affect every level of the beef industry, from the producer to the packer, all the way to the consumer as end-user,” said lead investigator Clint Krehbiel, holder of the division’s Dennis and Marta White Endowed Chair in Animal Science.

A relatively recent development of research con-ducted by Krehbiel and his collaborators shows cattle that have three or more bouts of disease produce lower-quality meat.

“As the number of antimicrobial treatments increased, average daily gain in the background phase decreased, cost per unit increased and net returns declined,” Krehbiel said. “Moreover, marbling scores, color stability and overall ac-ceptance of the final beef product by consumers decreased as the number of antimicrobial treat-ments increased.”

In other words, health issues on the farm or at the feedlot can have a direct relationship on the

product purchased in the store. Everybody in the food chain loses dollar value.

Division researchers have discovered that days on feed needed to reach a common 12th rib fat thickness increased by seven days for every unit increase in antimicrobial treatment required. “Increased days on feed, lower final body weight and lower carcass value resulted in an $11.36 loss in income for every time an animal was treated,” Krehbiel said. “Therefore, decreasing the average number of times an animal is treated for BRD by one treatment would result in a nearly $9 million savings to Oklahoma feedlot cattle producers.”

Ron Kensinger, head of OSU’s department of animal science, said the research conducted by Krehbiel and his collaborating scientists and practitioners is representative of the importance the division places on its land-grant mission to provide science-based solutions to concerns and issues vital to enhancing the quality of life throughout Oklahoma and the region.

“Many of our complex problems in animal agriculture today require interdisciplinary teams to develop creative solutions,” he said. “Clint is a great collaborator. The research efforts he leads compliment other research and Extension efforts in the department to optimize use of for-age by cattle, improve reproduction efficiency, and advance quality assurance programs and other projects that are meant to help Oklahoma beef producers maximize their profit potential in sustainable ways.” ▲

Bovine Respiratory Disease:

Less of a concern for the cattle industry

4 The Division TRIANGLE

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OSU’s BRD Team Few studies have documented the economic effect of BRD from incidence of the disease through harvest, and especially the impact of BRD on acceptability of the final product as determined by consumers. The OSU team taking on these challenges include: Clint Krehbiel – lead investigator Anthony Confer – infectious diseases Brenda Love – bacteriology Cathy Lamm – anatomical pathology Chris Richards – beef cattle Clem Ward – agricultural economics (retired) Deb VanOverbeke – food science D.L. Step – veterinary clinical sciences Gerald Horn – ruminant nutrition Jack Dillwith – entomology Jerry Malayer – molecular biology Kellie Raper – agricultural economics Robert Fulton – viral diseases Udaya DeSilva – molecular genetics Demand for higher-quality products and an increase in value-based marketing highlight the importance of research aimed at increas-ing beef producers’ awareness of health management practices that have the poten-tial to increase profitability and beef product quality. ▲

Oklahoma agriculture competes in a market-place that is not just national but global in nature, making continued improvements to its $1 billion annual wheat crop a matter of impor-tance for urban and rural residents alike.

“Wheat is a major driver of the Oklahoma economy, and Dr. Brett Carver’s new, genetically improved cultivars are the lifeblood of this criti-cally important agricultural sector,” said Dave Porter, head of Oklahoma State University’s department of plant and soil sciences.

In fact, it could be argued that the work of Carver and his collaborating scientists at OSU has never been more important.

Oklahoma’s wheat industry has suffered through three poor crop years in a row, with many producers losing much, if not all, of their wheat crop to a combination of weather events in 2009: drought through the winter months, a hard freeze in early April, torrential rains from mid April to mid May and hail that pulverized thou-sands of acres in some areas of the state.

But in the midst of their struggles, state wheat producers received some much welcome news: OSU researchers with the Division of Agricul-tural Sciences and Natural Resources are making available two new wheat varieties called Billingsand Pete.

“Billings is a high-yielding, large-kernel hard red winter wheat variety derived from a single cross of a Ukraine variety with a Pioneer ex-perimental,” said Carver, holder of OSU’s wheat genetics chair and leader of the division’s Wheat Improvement Team.

The variety combines very good stay-green characteristics with early maturity. It shows excellent resistance to wheat soilborne mosaic virus, leaf rust and stripe rust, as well as good protection against powdery mildew. Test weight patterns are above average. Early dormancy release and moderate susceptibility to barley yellow dwarf virus make it less adapted to early planting production systems.

“Billings is highly suited for irrigation produc-tion and will achieve far more grain production if planted in October and not grazed,” Carver said. “This represents a significant departure from varieties released by OSU in the past, such as Endurance, Duster and OK Bullet.”

Yields reported in breeding nursery plots have exceeded expectations at the Oklahoma Panhan-dle Research and Extension Center, extending in excess of 120 bushels per acre when the nursery average was approximately 95 bushels per acre.

Target regions for Billings include central and northern Oklahoma, as well as the Panhandle if irrigation is used.

Pete is a beardless hard red winter wheat culti-var with high test weight that matches the high-est yielding genetics in the field today. Pete was derived from Ukraine and Pioneer parentage. It was released as an early maturing improvement over Deliver.

“It’s a tri-purpose wheat variety that adds straw strength and yielding ability under irrigation or dryland conditions beyond what producers may be accustomed to with Deliver,” Carver said. “Pete’s superior test weight patterns add another distinction. However, its earlier winter dor-mancy release makes it more susceptible to early spring freeze events than Deliver.”

Pete is well adapted to major wheat growing areas of Oklahoma and bordering states, featur-ing resistance to wheat soilborne mosaic virus, spindle streak mosaic virus and leaf rust. It of-fers intermediate resistance to stripe rust and is moderately tolerant to low pH soils.

Wheat improvement research in Oklahoma is driven by an interdisciplinary team of division scientists charged with developing highly adapt-ed wheat cultivars with marketable grain quality.

Program support is administered by the division’s statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system, the Oklahoma Wheat Commis-sion and the Oklahoma Wheat Research Founda-tion. ▲

A circle of dollars for developmentIn 2009, Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources received its first wheat royalties check from Oklahoma Genetics Inc., a nonprofit 501c corpora-tion that has a licensing agreement to market a number of OSU-developed wheat varieties.

Money from the nearly $157,000 check will be plowed back into breeding pro-grams being conducted by the division’s Wheat Improvement Team, as per the licensing agreement, thereby helping to create future advances in wheat culti-vars.

“The money should help OSU to stay competitive in hiring good people and performing the research necessary to create higher yielding varieties that also have needed characteristics such as drought tolerance and resistance to dis-ease,” said Mark Hodges, OGI execu-tive director.

Funds from the OGI check came from the organization’s marketing of OSU-developed varieties OK Bullet, Duster, Guymon and the two Clearfield varieties, OK Field and OK Clearfield. The organi-zation will soon be adding Billings and Pete to their lineup as well.

“One of OGI’s main objectives is to help keep the wheels of research rolling,” Hodges said. “Oklahoma producers must have access to the latest improved varieties if they and the state’s wheat industry are to prosper.” ▲


Adding choice and value to Oklahoma’s $1 billion wheat industry

By Donald Stotts

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Can you imagine something 10,000 times small-er than the diameter of a human hair having the ability to measure the amount of pesticides in water, detect environmental hazards or play a key role in intense cancer research?

Carbon nanotubes–one of the most frequently talked about building blocks of nanotechnology–provide that versatility. These sub-microscopic particles have 100 times the tensile strength of steel, an electrical conductivity similar to cop-per and seem to be a material of marvel.

The term nanotube is typically used to refer to the carbon nanotube, which has gained the most attention from researchers. However, there are many other types of nanotubes being developed,

ranging from inorganic, which are made from boron nitride, to organic ones made from self-assembling cyclic peptides or from naturally oc-curring heat shock proteins. Carbon nanotubes stimulate the most attention and guarantee the greatest array of applications, not to mention the highest commercial appeal.

Researchers in the department of biosystems and agricultural engineering at Oklahoma State University are taking aligned carbon nanotubes and making them functional for nanotube-based sensor devices.

Having aligned nanotubes means the particles are positioned parallel to each other, similar to trees in a forest; nanotubes can come in many exotic shapes and arrangements.

Jesse Mao, assistant professor, biosensors, said researchers can take the aligned carbon nano-tubes and adapt them to do a specific job.

“We obtain the aligned carbon nanotubes from other labs and modify them to fit our needs,” Mao said. “The modification process takes place by chemical vapor deposition, where vapor mol-ecules react and attach to the nanotube.”

To capitalize on nanotubes’ strength in a com-posite, they need to latch on to a surrounding material. One way to make the nanotubes inter-act with something else, such as a surrounding polymer, is to modify them chemically. Chemi-cal modification is called functionalization.

“Functionalization of aligned nanotubes re-mains a challenge due to the difficulty of pre-

serving the desirable alignment using traditional liquid-based methods,” Mao said.

The long-term research goal in examining functional nanostructures is the development of sensitive sensor devices. The objective of Mao’s project is to understand the vapor-deposition functionalization of aligned carbon nanotubes.

“This research is very complex and has a clear, applied goal,” said Ron Elliott, BAE department head. “With Dr. Mao’s extensive background in this field and the research being conducted, it won’t be very far down the road and we may have the desired outcome of developing sensors used for the nano manufacturing industry.”

Mao said they are proposing to introduce the radical chemistry of liquid-based methods into the vapor deposition process to retain functional groups and the nanotube alignment at the same time.

“Studies conducted earlier demonstrated suc-cessful functionalization of aligned carbon nanotubes using this vapor-deposition method,” she said. “Additional research is proposed to understand the chemistry of covalent and non-covalent functionalization of aligned nanotubes.

“The research will significantly advance our capability in developing nanotube-based sensor devices and have a broad impact on research activities in nanostructure’s engineering and thin films. We expect the technology developed in our lab will be used in 2012-2014 through collaboration with NanoLab and local nanotech-nology companies.” ▲

nanotubes: versatile building blocks of science


By Katie Reim

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Although wheat fields dominate the landscape of the state, Oklahoma is seeing more and more land being dedicated to grape production.

Eric Stafne, Oklahoma State University Coopera-tive Extension viticulture specialist, said grape production in Oklahoma is expanding and hav-ing a positive effect on the state’s economy.

“Grape growing is becoming more popular in Oklahoma. Growers are leaving the traditional grape growing areas because it’s less expensive to own land and grow grapes in this part of the country,” Stafne said. “Oklahoma restarted grape production in the late 1990s after many years, so the industry is still relatively young. And although weather issues and disease can be problematic, we’re starting to see some real progress in production.”

The biggest age group of new growers is the retired or near-retired sector. Stafne said part of this is because even though they are retired, this group of people want to do something else.

Oklahoma currently has more than 50 wineries, most of which are located along I-44 and Route 66. There are about 600 total acres dedicated to grape production statewide.

“One of the problems with grape production is that just growing grapes isn’t enough to make it a self-sustaining commercial venture. In order to sustain a business, a grower needs at least 30 acres and a way to mechanically harvest the fruit,” Stafne said. “Most vineyards in Oklaho-ma are less than five acres.”

In an effort to assist those who wish to enter the grape growing industry, or enhance the knowledge of those already in production, OSU offers a Grape Management course. Currently in its 10th year, the course covers all aspects of growing grapes and appeals to novice as well as seasoned growers.

“We offer something for everyone in this course, and we often have a wide variety of instruc-tion within each class,” Stafne said. “We’ve had people come back and take the course again to expand their knowledge.”

Grape production continues to increase in Oklahoma

By Trisha Gedon

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Ivol said both he and his wife enjoy their prox-imity to OSU and take advantage of the knowl-edge that is available.

“I’ve been making wine for about 30 years, and the secret is to keep things clean and sanitized and control the temperature,” Ivol said. “If you can do that, you eliminate most all of your prob-lems.”

Stafne said the research station in Perkins features about 25 different types of grapes in the variety trials being grown, including both

on and off root stock. OSU also is involved in a number of other variety trials including trials at Woodland Park Vineyard, as well as an herbi-cide trial at a new research plot in Bixby. Other research includes working on how to find and screen for crown gall, a bacterial disease that comes on plants from nurseries.

“The demand for wine grapes will continue to grow and will continue to impact the economy of the state,” Stafne said. “It’s exciting to be part of such a young industry and see where it’s go-ing to go.” ▲

The course meets monthly from March through September, which coincides with the growing season. Topics covered each month are suited toward what growers are experiencing at that time of year.

One couple who said they have benefited greatly from the grape course and OSU is Jeanette and Ivol Hane, owners of Woodland Park Vineyards in Stillwater.

The couple owns 66 acres northeast of Stillwa-ter, and they got started in the grape business in 2000 thanks to a grant from The Kerr Founda-tion, Inc. They attended their first grape manage-ment course in 2001. Currently, about 10 acres are dedicated to growing grapes.

“We had about 15 vines for several years, and then we just started planting more and more,” Jeanette said.

“We do it all from the vine to the glass,” Ivol said. “We grow the grapes, process them, bottle the wine and sell it. We currently grow nine va-rieties of grapes, mainly hybrids, for our wines. We have about 20 different wines to sell.”

Although the Hanes do have to purchase some of the grapes needed for their wine, they hope to grow all of the grapes needed within just a few years.

Jeanette also worked with the OSU food sci-ence program when she opened the Gardens Restaurant at the winery in 2008. In addition to the winery and restaurant, the couple recently opened a wedding venue. The facility is open for private parties as well.

Not only is Ivol instrumental in growing the grapes, but he also has built some equipment that helps with the management process. His “pride and joy” is a heater that can raise the temperature of the vineyard by up to 20 degrees.

“My biggest challenge is the weather. The grapes can get hurt with those late spring freezes,” he said. “This heater blows warm air over the vineyard.”

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Fire is nothing new to Oklahoma. Throughout history, this land has been burned by Ameri-can Indians, sparked by lightning, lit from a campfire and cooked from a burning cigarette butt. Through it all, the land has been improved through the use of fire.

“Historically, this land burned anytime of the year, and it’s still here and it’s still good,” said John Weir, Oklahoma State University Coopera-tive Extension rangeland ecology and manage-ment specialist. “It burned then, why wouldn’t it burn today?”

The answer to that question is, it will. It might sound crazy, but prescribed burning during the summer months is just as, if not more, effective than the traditional spring burns.

“We’re trying to get rid of that old mentality that people grew up with that you can’t burn in the summer because it doesn’t benefit anything,” said Weir. “It’s not what they imagine in their minds; that it’s going to kill the grass, that it’s a raging inferno and that it can’t achieve goals that we need.”

The Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources held a Fire Field Day in the summer of 2009 at the OSU Range Research Sta-tion, in which approximately 100 people were delivered a clear message.

“You can burn in any month of the year and some of the months that a lot of people don’t

think about burning in, like July and August, are actually some of the better conditioned months to burn,” said Jim Trapp, Oklahoma Coopera-tive Extension Service associate director. “The burning conditions are more conducive and you’ve got more days that you can get it done. If you restrict yourself to February, March and April, you don’t have that many days where you have a good chance to burn, and you may not be able to get the burning done that you should for the management practices that you are trying to achieve.”

There were attendees of the field day from all over the state and surrounding states. They heard from specialists regarding the effects on invasive plant species, wildlife, cattle produc-tion, soil nutrient levels and other aspects deal-ing with prescribed fire.

“This field day was all about reintroducing fire in both an environmentally or ecologically safe way, and an economically feasible way,” said Keith Owens, natural resource ecology and man-agement department head. “People got a chance to see how easy this was to do, and how safe it was compared to what they are used to in the winter.”

Toward the conclusion of the event, a patch burn demonstration allowed the attendees to get a firsthand view of the effectiveness of a summer burn. While the conditions were not ideal—with very low wind speeds, high humidity and damp grass—Weir and his team proved their point. ▲

Burning up fire misconceptions

By Sean Hubbard

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“Extension programs, such as this money man-agement program, really assist Oklahomans in making positive changes in their lives,” said Glenn Muske, OSU Cooperative Extension inter-im associate dean, assistant director, family and consumer sciences. “It’s important for county educators to continue to partner with commu-nity leaders and work on the issues affecting their communities. It’s Extension’s mission to deliver research-based, objective information to help Oklahomans solve problems, promote leadership and manage resources wisely. This program is a good definition of the mission we uphold.” ▲

Writing hot checks can definitely put those who write them in the hot seat.

Oklahoma State University Cooperative Exten-sion educators in Caddo, Grady, Jefferson and Stephens Counties deliver educational program-ming through interactive sessions to help those in the hot seat turn their financial management practices around for a much cooler future.

Writing a check when there are not sufficient funds to cover has an impact on many. For the person writing the check, penalties in Oklahoma range from up to one year imprisonment and fines up to $5,000. In some cases, it is consid-ered a felony, and writing bogus checks can lead to a 10-year prison sentence.

Oklahoma merchants lose millions of dollars each year as a result of bogus checks, and ulti-mately those costs are passed onto the custom-ers, said Susan Routh, Grady County Extension family and consumer sciences and 4-H youth development educator.

In 2007, the District Attorney’s office for District 6 of Oklahoma received 9,623 bogus checks.

Due to Extension’s excellent track record with Financial Management Education programs, the DA’s office approached the family and consumer sciences educator in Grady County and pro-posed a partnership.

Making $ense of Money Management is a financial management training for bogus check offenders. A four-hour class was developed and allows individuals to improve their financial management skills and increase knowledge about financial opportunities. Goals of the pro-gram include:

• Helping individuals develop their financial management skills including maintaining a checking account, developing and maintain-ing a household financial management plan, building confidence and managing finance.

• Introduce the OSU Cooperative Extension family and consumer sciences programs to a nontraditional audience.

• Decrease the recidivism of bogus check of-fenders.

Routh said the interactive sessions include topics covering balancing a checking account, financial goal setting, savings strategies, credit management and development of a financial spending plan.

During 2008, the program gave five classes in Grady, Caddo and Stephens Counties with a total of 53 participants completing the class. A total of $9,000 in fees has been waived for class participants. Each district court has mandated that a convicted bogus check writer must attend the class.

“The program is really changing attitudes and making a difference in these peo-ple’s lives,” Routh said.

The program’s post data results show Making $ense of Money Man-agement has assisted participants in decreasing their household debt lev-el by 42.9 percent, and when asked about the level of satisfaction with their current financial situation, 57.1 percent reported an increase since completing the class.

Comments from participants in-clude, “This class gave me hope. I can improve my situation,” and “I now write down all money transac-tions. I’m going to have a positive balance at the end of the month!”

With encouraging reactions like these, the program will continue to assist troubled individuals get their finances on the right track.

Making $ense of Money Management By Katie Reim


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What happens when you combine food process-ing with culinary arts? You get the recipe for the Oklahoma Culinary Research Alliance, or OKCRA.

Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) teamed up with the OSU-Institute of Technol-ogy Culinary Arts Program in Okmulgee to form OKCRA and help advance value-added products from processing to presentation.

The PartnershipThe objective of this relationship is to create and identify end-use ideas for ingredients and food items using principles in innovation, said Andrea Graves, the FAPC business planning and marketing specialist and chair of the OKCRA committee.

“It’s the goal of this collaboration to improve ex-isting food products, expand product lines, cre-ate new products, exploit the health attributes of these products and enhance labeling opportuni-ties for Oklahoma,” Graves said.

OKCRA relies on the expertise and resources of the FAPC to identify opportunity areas in the food industry, combined with an innovative, highly specialized culinary arts class at OSU-IT that was developed specifically for the purpose of this collaboration.

The ClassAs a function of the academic curriculum as-sociated with OSU-IT, the approach utilizes a one-semester model to achieve the objectives for each project, said Jason Marsh, OSU-IT Culinary Arts faculty member and instructor for the class.

“The class exposes the students to a more in-depth understanding of a product by learning and seeing where a specific product comes from and how it reacts under different situations,” Marsh said. “It allows them to better understand their role as culinarians on how to prepare a product. The class also allows the culinary arts program to create partnerships and outlets for

new products to be developed and, in turn, exposes the student to products and companies they are more likely to use in the future after leaving the program.”

Since the creation of the alliance in 2008, OKCRA has assisted with two projects and plans to tackle another project in 2010.

Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner®

The first project addressed by OKCRA was to enhance and facilitate the movement from com-modities to value-added products in the beef industry.

“The beef industry, in part with the Beef Check-off, is currently investigating methods to bring additional value to the beef chuck,” said Jake Nelson, the FAPC value-added meat processing specialist. “Multiple sectors of processing indus-tries could benefit from new or novel methods of fabrication, further processing and final prepara-tion for the consumer.”

To properly evaluate this partnership, OKCRA invited industry leaders to a luncheon during the first half of the 2009 spring semester and a dinner at the end of the semester to showcase the innovative approaches applied to the beef products developed by the students.

Heather Buckmaster, executive director for the Oklahoma Beef Council and attendee of the mid-semester luncheon, said culinary students bring an interesting dynamic to recipe formulation.

“Culinary students often do not have precon-ceived ideas toward new beef cuts, so they bring

very open minds toward experimentation,” Buckmaster said. “Merging new product devel-opment with culinary initiatives can help propel new products into the marketplace.”

Pork. The Other White Meat®

The second project of OKCRA focused on the uses of two fresh ham muscles: the pork eye and the pork cap.

“For this work, we asked the culinary group to focus on the idea of creating dishes from these cuts that could be applicable in a casual-dining, foodservice application,” Nelson said. “This was a direct result of input we received from Seaboard Foods when they expressed a desire to place fresh ham cuts into the marketplace. Traditionally, ham muscles from the pork car-cass have been routed to either luncheon or deli meats, or into seasonal or festive applications like a Christmas ham.”

OKCRA held a luncheon at the conclusion of the 2009 spring semester to highlight the top inno-vative approaches to the pork products devel-oped by the culinary class.

David Eaheart, director of marketing for Sea-board Foods, attended the lunch and said he was very impressed with the students and the end products.

“We recently have been talking about how we can add value to under utilized pork cuts,” Eaheart said. “We are proud to partner with the FAPC and OSU-Institute of Technology. The state of Oklahoma has been very good to us.”

By Mandy Gross

Food processing + culinary arts = OKCRA


Eaheart said the OKCRA project helps Seaboard Foods understand how to package and present these new products to different distributors and foodservice operators.

“Our customers want to know what they can do with the products; so now we can tell them here’s a new cut and here’s what you can do with that cut,” Eaheart said. “This work shows the complete solution with these pork cuts.”

The Next StepsOKCRA is eager to work on a third project in 2010 and help develop new and innovative products for the Oklahoma food industry.

“The alliance is always looking for ideas to explore in helping an Oklahoma company, com-modity, product or innovative process,” Graves said. “I encourage anyone who has an idea or suggestion for future OKCRA projects to please contact the FAPC. There are endless opportuni-ties resulting from OKCRA, which could benefit many Oklahoma companies and the food indus-try.” ▲

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It has been a whirlwind year for the Oklahoma 4-H Program as the organization celebrated its centennial.

It is very likely that when W.D. Bently started the first “Corn Club” in Tishomingo in 1909, he had no idea the long-lasting impact it would have on Oklahoma’s youth. A century later the program is still going strong, has more than 141,000 mem-bers from all 77 counties and continues to follow the 4-H motto to “Make the Best Better.”

Charles Cox, state 4-H program leader, said there have been a number of statewide centennial cel-ebrations throughout the year, as well as many activities on the county level.

“The culmination of this year’s centennial events just took place in early November with the Green Tie Gala,” Cox said. “The gala took place at the Skirvin-Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City, and everyone had a wonderful time remi-niscing about all the good times they had in the past and all the fun yet to come. It definitely was a once-in-a-lifetime event for everyone who attended.”

Jessica Stewart, state 4-H marketing coordinator of promotions and special programs, said one of the highlights of the evening was recognition of the Centennial Families adult winners and the Centennial Families youth winners.

“We were looking for adults and youth who exemplify the 4-H program. We had many nomi-nations, and it was hard to narrow it down and name the winners,” she said.

Adults who received the Centennial Families Award were Ruth Ann Givens, Ellis County; An-nette Stowers, Cleveland County; Dea Rash, Payne County; and John Pfeiffer Jr., Logan County.

Pfeiffer’s 4-H legacy goes back to the days of the first Corn Clubs.

“My grandmother, Elizabeth Pfeiffer, belonged to the first Oklahoma 4-H Corn and Canning Club in Orlando. Our family sees 4-H as the most significant way to get kids started on the right track,” Pfeiffer said. “I firmly believe my early experience in 4-H gave me the confidence to feel I could be a leader and I could be a part of ‘mak-ing the best better.’”

“Five generations have learned leadership, citi-zenship and project skills ranging from domestic sciences in the 1920s to horse and science and technology skills in today’s 4-H,” Stowers said. “Each of the past generations not only were 4-H’ers, but also became club leaders and certi-fied volunteers.”

Youth Centennial Families winners include Aar-on Sharp, Payne County; Austin Rhye Kindschi, Logan County; Taler Sawatzky, Custer County; and Cheyne Sierra Wright, McClain County.

“Over the years, the Oklahoma 4-H Program has helped mold the lives of many of today’s state and national leaders,” Kindschi said. “The Oklahoma 4-H Program has adapted its projects to enhance and embrace the youth of today and tomorrow.”

“Seeing the friendships that develop and grow within the 4-H program has made the biggest impact on me,” Sharp said. “It seems that the work invested as a 4-H member grows and de-velops through the years. What a legacy!”

A centennial activity that currently is in prog-ress is Oklahoma 4-H: Generations of Clover, a compilation of Oklahoma 4-H’s history featuring pictures, stories and county histories. Stewart said the book will feature historical and present-day stories from each county in the state and will be available in spring 2010. Books may be

preordered for $39.99 plus shipping and han-dling. Visit the Oklahoma 4-H Web site at http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu or call 405-744-7960 for more information about the book.

The Oklahoma 4-H Program teamed up with Stan Clark, owner of Eskimo Joe’s, to create a special, one-of-a-kind 4-H Centennial t-shirt. The graphics depict the early years of 4-H to today’s technology projects. The design also features the well-known Eskimo Joe and his dog Buffy.

“Working with the people at Eskimo Joe’s was a great experience, and it’s great to see so many people wearing the special centennial shirt,” Stewart said.

Another exciting centennial event that just ended was the corn maze at P-Bar Farms. Loren Leibscher, owner of the farm located between Weatherford and Hydro, cut the 4-H centennial logo into his corn field. Various stations within the five-acre maze contained 4-H trivia ques-tions to help participants navigate their way through the maze.

The 2008 and 2009 Oklahoma State Fair and Tulsa State Fair featured special centennial ex-hibits. Both fairs will feature centennial exhibits again in 2010.

Oklahoma 4-H’ers who had an interest in gar-dening were instrumental in planning, design-ing and installing the 4-H Centennial Garden at the OSU Botanical Garden in Stillwater.

“Their creativity and enthusiasm resulted in a magnificent garden that was a wonderful addi-tion to the OSU Botanical Garden,” Stewart said.

Gallagher-Iba Arena, formerly known as the 4-H Clubs and Student Activities Building in the 1940s, features a special collection of 4-H memorabilia.

Oklahoma 4-H Program going strong after 100 yearsBy Trisha Gedon

“When National 4-H celebrated its centennial in 2002, Oklahoma 4-H marked the occasion by establishing a special display in Gallagher-Iba Arena,” Cox said. “The display showcases the beginnings of 4-H programs and has visual ex-amples of how the 4-H program continues to im-prove the quality of life in Oklahoma. Currently the display also features memorabilia focusing on the state program’s centennial celebration.”

With the year coming to a close, 4-H’ers, volun-teer leaders, and state and county staff across Oklahoma are building the bridges that will take the 4-H program through the next 100 years.

“As we’ve done over the past century, our pro-gramming will remain relevant to what today’s youth are interested in. We’ll continue to de-velop new project areas as technology and other fields advance,” Cox said. “And the program will remain strong in the agricultural related projects as well. As much fun as the past 100 years have been, it’s exciting to envision what the next century will bring us.”

For more information about becoming a 4-H member or volunteer leader, please contact your local county Extension office. ▲

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It kicked off with game-show flair and “50 things you need to know about Afghanistan,” but it was the beginning of the Oklahoma State University Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ intensive training program for Oklahoma Army National Guard members who are serving in that war-torn country in 2009 and 2010.

Things proceeded apace in August with division faculty and staff traveling to Camp Gruber near Muskogee to provide still more hands-on train-ing for the soldiers, an idea that first developed during the earlier training sessions on OSU’s Stillwater campus, in recognition of the value the division was providing to the guard’s mission.

“Our primary mission is to reinvigorate the knowledge and skills of Afghan farmers in many aspects of agriculture,” said Col. Mike Chase, mission commander of the Oklahoma unit. “This includes, but is not limited to, animal husbandry, agronomy, pest management, fi-nance, forestry and environmental stewardship, down to sales of farm implements and the trans-portation of farm goods.”

The United States National Guard Bureau initi-ated the agricultural-improvement program for Afghanistan after suggestions by Gen. David Petraeus and others in U.S. Central Command that there was a vital need for agribusiness de-velopment teams manned by National Guards-men from rural areas to train Afghans in modern farming techniques.

Guard leaders hope the agricultural teams can help build trust among the Afghan people, thereby helping to improve the nation’s fragile security situation. President Barack Obama has made stabilizing Afghanistan one of the primary objectives of U.S. foreign policy.

The Oklahoma Army National Guard contacted the division in December 2008, looking for technical assistance to prepare guard members to meet responsibilities related to “nation build-ing.”

“Our agribusiness team is composed of three elements: headquarters, agricultural subject-matter specialists and a security force,” Chase said. “We built our ag team based on the mission analysis and availability of people. Although we have specialists in each field, we needed to ensure that our people had sufficient knowledge and understanding across disciplines to assist one another in the field. OSU has been invalu-able in helping us to accomplish this.”

Troops in Oklahoma’s 1-45th Agribusiness De-velopment Team will serve approximately 10 months in Afghanistan, operating in the Paktia province in the south.

A country approximately the size of Texas, Af-ghanistan was once a regional leader in the pro-duction of many agricultural-related goods, and the country’s vineyards even made it a major supplier of raisins to Europe. However, decades of armed conflict have taken a disastrous toll.

“Afghanistan has the potential for good produc-tion of wheat, apples, honey and leather goods, among other crops,” said David Henneberry, the division’s International Agricultural Programs director. “Sheep and goats are the mainstays of Afghan livestock production. The challenge is to move Afghan producers forward agriculturally despite the often limited and low-tech resources available locally.”

Chase and his fellow officers were well aware of the challenge when they were putting together the approximately 60-member 1-45th Agribusi-

ness Development Team. He feels the unit is well balanced, able to draw upon practical experience and formal education in the animal and plant fields.

“We have a veterinarian, a young woman who has poultry production experience, someone whose family owns and operates a horticultural nursery, and a number of individuals who have a broad general background, including a vo-cational agriculture teacher and some who are graduate students in agriculture at OSU,” Hen-neberry said.

Agriculture accounts for about 45 percent of Af-ghanistan’s gross domestic product and employs about 69 percent of the country’s workforce. However, there is a shortage of food, with 45 percent to 55 percent of children 5 years of age or younger suffering from malnutrition. Only one in every eight acres in Afghanistan can be cultivated.

Given Afghanistan’s largely agrarian society, the choice of asking for assistance from OSU’s DASNR was an obvious one for the Oklahoma Army National Guard.

“Our state and federally mandated land-grant mission is to help improve the quality of life for individuals, their families and their communi-ties, across Oklahoma and beyond,” Henneberry said. “It’s widely recognized that our faculty and staff have extensive experience in doing just that, be it locally, statewide, regionally, nation-ally or internationally.”

“All of us in the division consider it an honor and pleasure to help train our Oklahoma sol-diers for their mission,” said Carol Jones, an assistant professor with the division’s depart-ment of biosystems and agricultural engineer-ing. “Improving agricultural practices is the foundation for enhancing the quality of life of an impoverished country’s residents. For the National Guard to try and do this in an area of active conflict such as Afghanistan is truly a worthwhile and challenging undertaking.” ▲

DASNR helpS OklAhOmA ARmy NAtiONAl GuARD GeAR up fOR AfGhANiStAN miSSiON By Donald Stotts

Pursuing partnerships to add value to Oklahoma

By Mandy Gross

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Adding value to the state’s food industry is a key component of Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center. The FAPC has succeeded by establishing significant partnerships.

One such partnership is between the FAPC and Cozzini, Inc., a company headquartered in Chicago that offers products and services in food processing. As a part of this partnership, Cozzini provided the FAPC with one of its core industry offerings known as the SuspenTec® system. The system was installed at the FAPC in June 2009, and the equipment will remain at the FAPC for one year.

The SuspenTec® process involves mixing a brine solution with lower-cost materials, such as meat trimmings, and injecting the mix into more costly whole muscle products to add value to the products, while lowering the cost of the finished goods.

“This is not new technology; it’s probably over 20 years old,” said Jake Nelson, FAPC meat pro-cessing specialist. “Meat products sourced from nearly all red meat and poultry species have utilized this technology; however, there is one area that some see as an opportunity for further development, and that would be fresh beef ap-plications, such as steaks and roasts at retail for the consumer.”

The Beef Innovations Group of the National Cat-tlemen’s Beef Association recently emphasized this opportunity. NCBA-BIG identified Suspen-Tec® as a potential technology to improve the palatability of certain fresh beef cuts. In January 2009, the FAPC approached Cozzini about a partnership, and Cozzini recognized an oppor-tunity by having its equipment at the FAPC and graciously agreed.

Keith Shackelford, marketing vice president for Cozzini, said the partnership with the FAPC is a great opportunity to train up-and-coming pro-cessors in the SuspenTec® technology.

“The technology is proprietary and the only type of equipment of its kind in the meat industry,” Shackelford said. “The technology is difficult to fully understand and appreciate until you can see it in a demo/production environment. Having the equipment housed at the FAPC gives processors an opportunity to observe the tech-nology in direct operation.”

The partnership between the FAPC and Cozzini also provides an opportunity for all parties to capture value from each other, Nelson said.

“The synergies resulting from Cozzini’s long history of processing knowledge combined with FAPC’s comprehensive laboratory and testing facilities creates ideal conditions to determine benefits and limitations associated with using the SuspenTec® technology in production sys-tems,” Nelson said.

Tony Mata, NCBA consultant, said NCBA-BIG is at the beginning of this exploration but is excited to explore the SuspenTec® technology in beef.

“We got interested in the technology after see-ing what the pork industry has accomplished using the process,” Mata said. “We were very impressed.”

Seaboard Foods, a producer of pork products, is a successful Cozzini SuspenTec® customer. Shackelford said the beef industry can further benefit from the technology as well. Having the equipment housed at the FAPC allows NCBA-BIG to have access to the equipment and en-hance the awareness of the technology.

During a meeting between industry and aca-demia discussing the lack of flavor and tender-ness in muscles of the beef round, NCBA-BIG strategized that the SuspenTec® technology could help with the tenderness and flavor of round muscles.

Since the installation in June, the group has con-ducted two exploration trials using the equip-ment at the FAPC.

“It’s a complex technology,” Mata said. “Identi-fying the right type of components has been the main focus of the two trials so far. We haven’t been able to produce samples that we can say are representative of what we are looking for, but adjustments have been made. During the third attempt, we hope to get the right setup and produce samples for market testing and con-sumer research.”

Mata said the end goal is a significant improve-ment in flavor, tenderness and juiciness in round muscles validated via consumer research, and to bring the performance of those muscles as steak material for grilling.

The relationship between the FAPC and NCBA goes back almost 10 years, Mata said. Through the years, NCBA, via partnerships with the FAPC, has benefited from the technical resourc-es and capabilities the center offers.

“Conducting research at other institutions can be a challenge because their primary objectives are research and teaching,” Mata said. “FAPC of-fers the ideal environment for industry research, and we can move at a faster pace.”

NCBA-BIG is not the only organization that is taking advantage of the SuspenTec® technology being housed at the FAPC. Chef’s Requested Foods of Oklahoma City will evaluate the poten-tial use of this technology in existing products and the creation of new items.

In addition, Cozzini and other processors that work with Cozzini will have access to the equip-ment for their specific and necessary use.

If throughout the course of the 12-month dura-tion of housing the equipment there is a need to keep the equipment longer, Nelson said the agreement made between the FAPC and Cozzini could be extended, renewed or amended.

“Partnerships like this provide our clients and stakeholders access to current industry tech-nologies and knowledge,” Nelson said. “This is a tremendous opportunity.” ▲


Awareness of the role research and development will play in the diversification of Oklahoma’s future energy portfolio was in full evidence during Gov. Brad Henry’s 2009 State of the State address, wherein he spoke about the need for government agencies to tighten their budgets – with a notable exception, Oklahoma’s invest-ment in biofuels, particularly cellulosic ethanol.

“Oklahomans are expanding the possibility and viability of cellulosic ethanol, and it’s critical that we continue our commitment to this vision-ary enterprise,” Henry said.

Among those fully engaged in the “visionary en-terprise” is the Oklahoma State University Bio-fuels Team, which is examining the sustainable bioenergy potential of numerous lignocellulosic feedstocks, from straw and woody materials to sorghum, switchgrass and many other varieties of natural grasses.

“Prime benefits of these energy crops are that they minimize negative effects in regards to the world’s food and fiber needs; demand relatively low inputs such as fertilizer, which result in a higher energy return; and are naturally adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions,” said Ray Huhnke, director of the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ Biobased Products and Energy Center.

The center was created in 2008 to better meet ever-increasing demands for the university’s widespread scientific expertise regarding bio-fuels. The OSU Biofuels Team is a multidisci-plinary, multi-institutional effort, comprised of scientists and engineers within the division; the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology; the University of Oklahoma; and Brigham Young University.

When Oklahoma Secretary of Energy Robert We-gener spoke to division faculty and staff during the spring of 2009, he took several minutes to specifically praise the OSU Biofuels Team, cit-ing that “the days of cheap, secure and plentiful energy are over.”

The OSU Biofuels Team:Working toward tomorrow’s prosperity today By Donald Stotts

“OSU is second to none when it comes to biofuels, with leadership and expertise in every aspect of research and development,” he said. “There is no substitute for diversification of Oklahoma’s energy portfolio. Energy infrastruc-ture is the backbone of our economy, account-ing for one-seventh of our total tax dollars. We must strengthen and expand our partnerships to prosper.”

Wegener cited the partnership between OSU, OU and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation through the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center as an example of the state positioning itself for suc-cess in the coming decades.

In 1970, approximately 70 percent of the oil used in the U.S. came from domestic sources. In 2007, that number was 35 percent. Factor in the increase in global demand, the nationalization of 80 percent of the world’s oil reserves, carbon tax legislation and renewable fuel standards and it is clear that American energy policy is under-going change.

Wegener said research and development of new technologies that increase efficiency or create new energy sources represent the passport to Oklahoma’s energy future.

Sweet SuccessOne particularly promising aspect of OSU’s biofuels research is the team’s ongoing study of sweet sorghum, with the aim of making pos-sible the effective production of ethanol in the farmer’s own field.

Sweet sorghum can be grown throughout temperate climate zones of the U.S., including Oklahoma. It provides high biomass yield with low irrigation and fertilizer requirements. Best of all, producing ethanol from sweet sorghum is relatively easy.

“Press the juice from the stalk, add yeast, allow fermentation to take place and you have etha-nol,” said Danielle Bellmer, a biosystems engi-

neer with DASNR’s Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center (FAPC). “Unfor-tunately, the simple sugars derived from sweet sorghum have to be fermented immediately.”

Throw in the expense of constructing and op-erating a central processing facility that would only operate four to five months of the year when sorghum would be available in Oklahoma and the challenge multiplies.

The beginnings of a possible solution pre-sented itself when entrepreneur Lee McClune approached FAPC scientists seeking their assistance in testing his newly designed field harvester capable of pressing and collecting juice from sweet sorghum. His proposed pro-cess involved using the harvester, large storage bladders for fermentation and a mobile distilla-tion unit for ethanol purification. The FAPC and DASNR’s initial involvement in the project was to look at the feasibility of fermenting the juice in the field.

“We’re examining such things as juice extrac-tion efficiency, whether or not pH (acidity) or nutrient adjustment of the juice is needed and various environmental factors,” Bellmer said.

The goal is to make production of ethanol from sweet sorghum economically viable by using an in-field processing system that minimizes trans-portation costs and capital investment.

Equipment such as the harvester and other tech-nology could be owned individually or coopera-tively with a number of producers sharing and possibly helping one another process ethanol from sweet sorghum.

Farming for FuelIn Oklahoma, the potential processing sce-nario might look like this: Plant sweet sorghum around mid-April, and then stagger plantings for two to three months. This would provide a harvest window of August through November.

“Ethanol yields in Oklahoma could range from 300 gallons to 600 gallons per acre, depending on biomass yield, sugar content and juice ex-pression efficiency,” said Chad Godsey, biofuels team member and OSU Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist with the department of plant and soil sciences.

Currently the team is working to determine the maximum possible harvest window for sweet sorghum in Oklahoma.

“Obviously, the longer the harvest window, the more ethanol state farmers will be able to pro-duce,” Godsey said.

OSU Biofuels Team researchers also are study-ing environmental parameters that may af-fect the feasibility of on-farm fermentation. A producer must be able to ferment the juice in the field during Oklahoma’s harvest season for sweet sorghum, which occurs in the fall when temperature extremes are highly possible. Tem-perature can speed up, slow down or derail the fermentation process.

Test plot sites are maintained at Oklahoma Agri-cultural Experiment Station facilities across the state, allowing OSU Biofuels Team members to conduct research on sweet sorghum under local conditions.

“We would like to do with sweet sorghum what the Brazilians have done with sugar cane,” Bellmer said. “In Brazil, sugar cane ethanol pro-vides a large percentage of their fuel needs.”

Sustainable SuccessTo take full advantage of the environmental and economic potential of biobased energy, members of the OSU Biofuels Team stress that Oklahoma must develop and invest in ways to produce biofuels that do not negatively affect food, feed and fiber needs that rely on the production of agricultural crops.

“Evaluating the best types of biomass to grow, the best conversion processes to use and the best


places to locate conversion facilities are neces-sary if Oklahoma and the nation are to create an industry that is successful and sustainable,” Huhnke said.

Perennial prairie grasses like those in Oklahoma produce less erosion because the plants root well, are not tilled and generally need little or no fertilizer.

Other states have a vigorous biofuels industry that is dependent on corn to produce starch-based ethanol. Corn lacks the spreading roots that help perennial grasses hold soil and plant-ing corn generally is performed using soil-loos-ening tilling practices to allow seeds to sprout more efficiently.

Use of cellulosic biomass – plant material from grasses and forage, forest waste products and similar sources – seems to be a vital component to avoiding the negative economic and environ-mental effects related to corn-based ethanol pro-duction experienced during the past few years.

OSU Biofuels Research Attracts Funding to the StateYanqi Wu, a plant breeder with OSU’s depart-ment of plant and soil sciences, explains that the ultimate goal is to help meet the world’s energy needs in economically viable and envi-ronmentally sound ways through the creation of renewable energy sources from high-yield, high-quality plants.

“It’s a simple concept, but the science needed to realize the goal can be quite involved,” said Wu, whose biofuels research has received a boost thanks to additional funding provided through the Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimu-late Competitive Research.

EPSCoR is in the midst of receiving $20 mil-lion from the National Science Foundation and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education at a rate of $4 million annually. The funding


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supports a collaborative project led by Huhnke; Lance Lobban of the OU School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering; and Ki-rankumar Mysore of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.

Wu and his fellow collaborating scientists are studying DNA to identify genomic regions re-sponsible for the major components of biomass switchgrass. They are also examining the gene expression profiles associated with switchgrass development and the makeup of plant structure as it relates to biomass yield. A third major fac-tor of their research is plant stress resistance, a key to protecting biomass yield potential.

“Dr. Ranmanjulu Sunkar’s work with small RNAs is extremely exciting and cutting edge,” Wu said. “Small RNAs are important because they regulate plant gene expression.”

Wu, Sunkar and Ramamurthy Mahalingam, who like Sunkar is a member of the OSU depart-ment of biochemistry and molecular biology, in essence are attempting to create cost-effective feedstocks that then can be converted by micro-bial and chemical processes to produce desired products such as biofuels.

Of course, producers must be able to grow and harvest the improved feedstocks and then get them to market. While producers have extensive experience in handling hay crops for animal feeds, the quality characteristics needed by the biofuels industry are different.

“Our research shows while round bales shed rainfall better, the reduction in dry matter loss does not overcome the advantage that square bales have in efficient use of storage and truck-ing space,” said Carol Jones, assistant profes-sor with OSU’s department of biosystems and agricultural engineering.

Division studies found that square bales pro-tected with tarps or placed in covered storage maintained feedstock quality as well as round bales and are approximately 20 percent more efficient in the use of storage space.

“Minimizing the expense of moving feedstock from the producer to the biorefinery is vital to the success of a sustainable biobased economy,” Jones said.

The potential payoff of a fully realized, sustain-able biobased economy is obvious, not only at the pump for consumers but in the revitalization and prosperity of rural communities. ▲

OSU Biofuels Team, partners receive $4.2 million grantOklahoma State University and its partner institutions in industry are receiving $4.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to con-tinue groundbreaking work in the development of biofuels.

“This funding targets large-scale produc-tion, a critical step building upon more than a decade’s worth of scientific study by OSU and our partner researchers,” said Ray Huhnke, director of the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ Biobased Products and Energy Center. “We’ve been conducting small-scale studies in feedstock production and harvest logistics for years. This new level of research signifies the final step in providing reliable supplies to a biorefinery.”

It is a belief echoed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In May, the EPA published proposed changes to the renewable fuel stan-dard program. Based on the proposed rules, the EPA was of the opinion that approximately 85 percent of the production of dedicated energy crops in the U.S. by 2022 would come from Oklahoma.

The $4.2 million in funding will enhance the division’s ability in using large-scale feedstock production research fields to evaluate the economic and environmental sustainability of switchgrass, mixed-species perennial grasses and annual biomass cropping systems. Feed-stock quality characteristics, as desired by the biorefinery industry, will be assessed under varied harvest, handling, storage and pre-processing scenarios.

“The competition was extremely fierce, with more than 1,000 pre-proposals being submit-ted nationally for the USDA-CSREES funding,” Huhnke said. “In the end, we were one of about 10 projects to receive funding.” ▲


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If there’s a public garden in your city or town, or a beautiful landscape around a public building, there’s a good chance the local Master Gardeners had something to do with it.

Since its inception in 1978, the Oklahoma Master Gardener Program continues to beau-tify cities and towns across the state. Due to rapid urban growth in many parts of the United States, coupled with an increased interest in the environment and home gardening, the program continues to grow.

“I didn’t understand the whole service component of the Master Gardener Program either,” Ortez said. “I really enjoy the things we do because they’re educational and beneficial to the residents in our county. Our primary focus is to try to educate people in growing plants, both ornamental and edible.”

Ortez said one main project the Payne County group has is an ongoing gardener series that he implemented several years ago. One Tuesday per month the group hosts a formal presentation that is free and open to the public. Topics cover all areas of gardening including pruning, veg-etable gardening, lawn care and what to plant to attract wildlife.

“We try to time the topics with what gardeners need to do at that particular time of year,” he said. “In the spring, we talk about starting veg-etable plants. Our efforts really are focused on trying to educate the public.”

One project the group worked on was relocating some flowers, trees and shrubs from a house be-ing torn down and using them in the landscape for a Habitat for Humanity home.

“Working hand in hand with Habitat for Human-ity is a wonderful way to give to our commu-nity,” Ortez said.

Currently, there are about 25 to 30 Master Gar-deners in Payne County and Ortez said they all take turns teaching the monthly educational classes.

“We’re very fortunate to have the Extension office and OSU to turn to for help,” he said. “When a question comes up that we don’t have

Master Gardener Program continues to grow By Trisha Gedon

Headquartered at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, the Master Gardener Program originated 31 years ago in Oklahoma County, the state’s most urbanized county, said David Hillock, OSU Cooperative Extension consumer horticulture specialist. In 2008, 256 more par-ticipants were trained, bringing the total number of Master Gardeners to more than 5,300 across the state. There are more than 1,000 Master Gar-dener Programs in the U.S. with an estimated total of up to 60,000 trained individuals.

“Although the number of counties participating in the program has fluctuated over the years, it remains to be a very productive organization and has reached more than 1.5 million individu-als in 2008 through phone replies and office visits, and roughly 1,246 educational programs are taught by certified Master Gardeners,” Hill-ock said. “We currently have about 25 counties participating in the program.”

Nathan Anderson, OSU Cooperative Extension director of the Payne County office in Stillwater, said the Master Gardeners are an important part of the county Extension office.

“We currently don’t have a horticultural spe-cialist in the Payne County office, so the Master Gardeners take turns coming in once a week to answer any questions that may come in from residents in the area,” Anderson said. “They’re an extremely beneficial asset to our county.”

Dick Ortez, who is a member of the inaugural class of Master Gardeners in Payne County, said he thought becoming a Master Gardener would make him an expert in gardening.

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the answer to, we have these two places to turn to.”

Ortez said the Master Gardeners also take their programming into the public schools.

Hillock said Master Gardeners put in between 40 hours and 56 hours of volunteer time, partici-pating in activities such as speaking at club and civic meetings, providing expertise at education-al exhibits, serving as 4-H horticulture project leaders, assisting with horticulture mailings and newsletters, teaching horticulture activities at nursing homes and maintaining demonstration gardens.

“Master Gardeners participate in an intensive eight- to 13-week course where they receive between 40 and 56 hours of course work on sub-jects such as basic plant science, lawns, house-plants, irrigation, soils, diagnosing pest prob-lems, vegetables and other related topics. When they complete the training portion, all Master Gardener trainees are then required to pass an exam,” Hillock said. “Only then can the trainees be certified and awarded the title of Oklahoma Master Gardener.”

Membership is extended for one year and those individuals who wish to continue in the pro-gram must complete 20 hours of continuing edu-cational training during each year of activity. In addition, a minimum of 20 hours of additional volunteer service is required.

The Master Gardener Program is a highly effec-tive means of extending the knowledge of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service to the residents of Oklahoma. In 2008, the Oklahoma Master Gardeners put in nearly 57,000 volunteer hours that were valued at more than $893,000.

“When a Master Gardener is recruited, the Okla-homa Cooperative Extension Service obtains horticultural skills in addition to any number of other abilities such as public speaking, teaching and designing, as well as many other desirable talents,” Hillock said. “They are a wonderful as-set to Extension and the state of Oklahoma.” ▲

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DASNR researcher continues groundbreaking

work on poxviruses

DASNR researcher continues groundbreaking

work on poxviruses

Smallpox has a nasty history throughout the world. Caused by poxviruses, smallpox is one of the few disease-causing agents against which the human body’s immune system is ineffective in its defense.

Junpeng Deng, a structural biologist in the de-partment of biochemistry and molecular biology at Oklahoma State University, and his first-year doctoral student, Brian Krumm, are making strides in the fight against poxvirus.

By solving a three-dimensional crystal struc-ture of a poxvirus protein in the act of disarm-ing a human immune molecule, interleukin-18 (IL-18), the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources researchers made a major breakthrough. Their research is the first step toward a pharmaceutical medication for poxvirus-caused diseases, an aid in national and international security efforts and a treatment for autoimmune diseases.

“There are still a lot of questions to be an-swered. This is just the beginning,” Deng said. “This opened up a new area to explore: How we design medication for autoimmune diseases. We want to provide more and more structural insights.”

The human immune system is rendered helpless against poxviruses partly because the viruses block IL-18 from sending out a signal to the im-mune system. The body acts as if everything is fine, and the deadly disease takes over.

“We know now how the proteins communicate with each other,” Deng said. “In the future, we can design a drug to stop the poxvirus from blocking the IL-18 protein.”

Deng described solving the structure as “kill-ing two birds with one stone,” in the sense that there is very limited medication to treat autoim-mune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most preva-lent autoimmune diseases in which IL-18 is too active, leading to the body attacking its own cells. Seeing how IL-18 interacts with the poxvi-By Sean Hubbard

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ruses will help with the development of effec-tive inhibitors against overreaction.

This project, in collaboration with Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, recently re-ceived some good news. Deng was recently awarded a four-year $1.34 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue this research.

“Obtaining federal funding is a highly competi-tive process that involves intensive peer re-view and evaluation by experts throughout the scientific community,” said Gary Thompson, biochemistry and molecular biology department head. “A grant of this magnitude awarded by the NIH reflects both the importance of this research and the quality of the OSU team conducting the research.”

While solving the three-dimensional structure was the first hurdle, it tells only part of the story. That research allowed the understanding of where the poxvirus attaches to the IL-18, but Deng is now looking at how the IL-18 is func-tioning.

In a nutshell, the IL-18 must bind with its two receptor proteins on the cell membrane to activate the human immune response. Deng’s proposal to the NIH was to study the mechanism of how the signal that activates the immune response is occurring and is regulated.

“No one really knows how the interleukin-18 activates its receptors,” said Deng. “Once we know where it binds and how it activates, the story will then be more complete.”

There has been something bugging research-ers at Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources over the past six years.

With the recent four-year extension to a Na-tional Institutes of Health grant totaling more than $930,000, Estela Arrese and Jose Sou-lages, two researchers from the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, will try and answer the question of how insects’ lipids support life.

“The results of this work have potential ap-plications for agriculture, in terms of insect control, as well as for human health in our understanding of lipid metabolism,” said Gary Thompson, biochemistry and molecular biology department head. “Both areas fulfill aspects of the land-grant mission, which is to tackle issues that are important to the region and to the citizens of the state of Oklahoma.”

This information will allow the researchers to develop a protein drug to bind to those receptors to regulate the immune system activities.

Deng is hopeful this research will provide sci-entific knowledge and be applicable to practical issues regarding human health and security.

“This contribution is significant because it will fill the gap of our current knowledge on inter-leukin-18’s activation pathway and will provide important clues on how to modulate IL-18 activ-ity,” he said. “It may benefit efforts in develop-ing treatments against some autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, in developing immuno-therapies against other infectious diseases and cancer, and in combating bioterrorism.” ▲

The human health aspect of the research may have been what allowed the continuation of the previous six years of work funded by the NIH. In-sects transmit numerous diseases such as malar-ia. For example, if one can find a way to control the reproductive cycle of mosquitoes, one would have the possibility to prevent the transmission of malaria or dengue.

“The reviewers probably saw the connection be-tween this study and human health,” said Arrese, associate research professor. “We may be able to use the information found on insects and apply it to more complex systems, such as humans. In many ways, insects can be used as model sys-tems to elucidate basic common mechanisms. That is the way science works.”

Agricultural producers should be buzzing with ex-citement, as they may see a more effective control method of insects produced from this research.

“Fat is essential for insect life. They need to accumulate a certain amount of fat to be able to reproduce,” said Soulages, associate pro-fessor. “Despite the importance of fat for the insect life, basic questions on how insects use fat remain unanswered.”

The extension of the grant will allow Arrese and Soulages to further their understanding of the mechanisms of fat utilization in insects.

“Once you understand the mechanisms, a number of possibilities will open,” Arrese said. “One of these could be finding some protein that is essential and unique to insects. Such a protein could be a potential smart tar-get for the design of environmentally friendly insect-control strategies.” ▲

Funding granted for research with human health implications



Thousands of Oklahoma school children are gaining a better understanding of how the food they eat makes the journey from the farm to their dining table, thanks to a new interactive exhibit called Farm to You.

Farm to You is a walk-through exhibit geared toward kindergarten through 6th grade students and is a collaborative effort of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, 4-H, family and consumer sciences and agricultural education programs, Oklahoma State University depart-ment of nutritional sciences, Oklahoma State Department of Health WIC services and South-west Dairy Farmers.

“The exhibit is a wonderful hands-on way for children to explore the relationship among agri-culture, food and health,” said Diana Romano, a registered dietitian who serves as the Farm to You coordinator.

In its inaugural year, Farm to You reached more than 14,000 students in 25 counties across the state.

The exhibit features nine stations that take the students from the farm, to the market and through the body. The stations that make up the agricultural and health adventure include Cheeseburger Farm, The Market, Healthy Cool Café, Mouth, Stomach, Small Intestine, Muscle, Bone and Skin.

Students spend about six minutes at each sta-tion participating in hands-on activities and different exercises. Romano travels through the exhibit with a stopwatch in hand to ensure things run like a well-oiled machine.

“Because the exhibit takes about 54 minutes to go through, it’s very important we stay within our time limit so the students don’t have to wait long before taking their turn,” she said.

The Cheeseburger Farm teaches kids that farms provide foods that are important to their health and helps them make the connection between their food and the farm it comes from. Students match farm animals and plants with the compo-

nent of the cheeseburger it provides. They also match each component of the cheeseburger with the appropriate MyPyramid food group.

The Market shows kids how food moves away from the farm and is packaged for sale. It also in-troduces them to food labels, teaches them how to read the labels and how to use that informa-tion to make healthy food choices. The Market lets students follow the path of milk from the farm, to the store and to their table.

The Healthy Cool Café shows students that the school cafeteria offers a variety of food from each of the food groups and stresses the impor-tance of eating a variety of foods. At the Healthy Cool Café students evaluate a tray of food for variety using the MyPyramid food groups and color as criteria.

The Mouth station teaches kids that they need a healthy mouth to enjoy their food. Presenters demonstrate how to brush and floss properly. Older students (4th through 6th grades) also learn about diseases associated with tobacco use by observing a model of a mouth that is diseased by tobacco use and comparing the function of a healthy and diseased lung model.

The Stomach station shows students how the stomach is part of the digestive system and helps break down food into nutrients that are used to help the body grow and be healthy. They also learn that feelings of hunger and fullness are cues to help control eating. Students walk through the esophagus and enter the stomach where they compare the inflation of a balloon to feelings of hunger and fullness. They also

discuss how food is digested into different nu-trients.

The Small Intestine station teaches kids that the nutrients from food are absorbed in the small intestine and stresses the importance of fiber and water for a healthy small intestine. Students walk through a maze with villi suspended from the ceiling and use the scientific process to pre-dict and observe absorption.

The Muscle station emphasizes that muscles need foods rich in protein and carbohydrates and how exercise helps make muscles strong and flexible. Students are able to feel muscles move and use resistance bands to participate in stretching and strengthening exercises.

The Bone station teaches participants the impor-tance of dairy foods and exercise to help build strong bones. Students identify items from the dairy food group that build strong bones and ob-serve a model of healthy and weak bones. They learn the importance of having at least three dairy servings a day.

The Skin station teaches students that frequent hand washing is important to good health. Students use Glo Germ™ gel to experience how germs are spread. This station also informs children how to protect skin from burns, cuts, scrapes and bruises.

The objectives of Farm to You include help-ing children learn that farms provide food for good health; learning to use food labels to make healthy choices; learning how the digestive system works; discovering how important physi-cal activity and personal hygiene are to good

Farm to You takes kids on fun food journey

By Trisha Gedon

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health; improving eating and health behaviors; and increasing awareness among parents, school personnel and community members about the importance of teaching children healthy habits.

Deana Hildebrand, OSU Cooperative Extension nutrition specialist, said it is important for chil-dren to know where food comes from and how their food choices relate to their health.

Poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles among Oklahoma’s youth indicate the need to educate children on the importance of eating healthy and being physically active.

“The importance of the information available in this exhibit can be found in the major health issues prevalent in our target audience,” Hilde-brand said. “Children in kindergarten through 6th grade don’t normally consume enough fruits and vegetables. They often have excessive calo-rie consumption and low physical activity lev-els, which contribute to being overweight. This age group also has a high prevalence of dental decay, low consumption of milk and dairy foods, and a high rate of smoking among ado-lescent and teens. Being overweight as a child increases the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. Eating habits and lifestyle practices develop early in life, so it’s important to promote a healthy lifestyle at an early age. And the Farm to You exhibit does just that.”

Allison, a student who went through the exhibit during the last school year, said she learned a lot.

“I like the mouth and sitting on a tooth,” Allison said. “Because of Farm to You, I am going to try to eat healthier.”

“Any school that wants to have the exhibit should contact their local Cooperative Extension office first,” Romano said. “The county office then contacts me and I schedule it.”

The school must have a 40-foot by 40-foot space available, at least eight volunteers to set it up and take it down, and nine volunteers to be sta-

tion presenters. Ideally the school should have between 250 and 450 students available to walk through the exhibit.

Farm to You is free for any school, but the school is responsible for obtaining the volunteers.

“Many children don’t know where food comes from and how their food choices are related to their health,” Hildebrand said. “This exciting adventure will help Oklahoma children make the connection.” ▲


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An Oklahoma State University laboratory has achieved something that no other university laboratory in the state has done.

The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Prod-ucts Center (FAPC) Analytical Services Labora-tory is now accredited by the American Associa-tion for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) in the chemical field of testing.

“This prestigious accreditation enhances cred-ibility for the FAPC Analytical Services and allows us the opportunity to provide the same quality services as always; but, now with the recognition from A2LA, the FAPC clients will have the assurance of the quality of services,”

said Guadalupe Davila El-Rassi, the FAPC analytical services manager. “We believe the accreditation will serve as a catalyst to broaden and promote our services to clients across the state of Oklahoma.”

El-Rassi said the FAPC Analytical Services team worked together for several months to complete all necessary requirements for this accredita-tion. Although it was a rigorous challenge, the team combined the necessary skills to meet the objective.

The FAPC Analytical Services is now accredited to the International Organization for Standard-ization (ISO) 17025:2005 based on internation-

FAPC Analytical Services receives national accreditation By Brooke Clay

ally accepted criteria for technical competence and management system requirements necessary to consistently deliver valid test results. The certificate and the scope of accreditation can be found in the database of accredited laboratories at www.a2la.org/scopepdf/2790-01.pdf.

“It was hard work, but we were enthusiastic and are very proud of the success of our team,” said Veneta Banskalieva, senior research specialist for the FAPC Analytical Services Laboratory.

Very few laboratories in the state have been ac-credited by A2LA, said Angie Lathrop, the FAPC Analytical Services Laboratory senior research specialist.

“There is only one other chemical testing labora-tory in Oklahoma that has been accredited by A2LA, and we are the only A2LA accredited university laboratory in the state,” Lathrop said. “There may be labs in Oklahoma that obtained their ISO 17025 accreditation from another orga-nization. However, according to research, I only found one other university in the U.S. that has an accredited chemical laboratory through A2LA.”

The accreditation scope granted is to perform the following tests on food, dairy and plant products: percent moisture/loss on drying; per-cent ash; determination of crude protein by Leco Combustion Method; percent fat of meat, animal feeds, grains, plant tissues, butter and margarine, yogurt, and nuts and seeds by Soxtec; and per-cent carbohydrates by subtraction.

“The food industry in Oklahoma is progressive and demands service providers be third party accredited,” said Roy Escoubas, the FAPC direc-tor and professor. “The ISO is an international gold-standard accreditation, and our ISO accredi-tation for analytical services allows the FAPC to best serve our Oklahoma food industry clients.”

For more information about the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center or the FAPC Analytical Services, please visit www.fapc.biz.▲

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First line of defense in battle against ‘creepy crawly monsters’First line of defense in battle against ‘creepy crawly monsters’By Sean Hubbard It sounds like a bad 1950s movie: Out-of-control “creepy crawly monsters” merrily chomp their way across the United States, treating homes, trees and other wood products as the latest in fast-food snacks.

Termites cause from $2 billion to $6 billion in damage and repairs each year in the U.S., under-scoring the importance of the proactive stance taken by Oklahoma State University’s depart-ment of entomology and plant pathology.

In March 2001, the Endowed Professorship of Structural and Urban Entomology was created within the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, with Brad Kard selected to the position after a national search.

The graduate program in termite research began when Kard joined the OSU faculty. Since its in-ception, two doctoral degree students and three master’s degree students have graduated from the program. There are currently two doctoral degree students in the program.

“The program is putting professionals into the structural and urban entomology profession,” he said. “We’ve established a viable, applied and basic research program.”

Kard and his team published a study in the January 2004 Journal of the Kansas Entomology Society on a comprehensive statewide termite survey, the first of its kind in Oklahoma. The results showed that termites were prevalent in every county.

According to the report, differences in reported termite distributions are partially due to the lack of a comprehensive survey of Oklahoma.

The first report of its kind in Oklahoma com-pleted the objectives of the study, which were: to determine the termite species of the state, identify potential species range within the state,

collect winged reproductives and gather sea-sonal flight data that might aid in correct species identification. The study is continually being updated and expanded.

In the battle against “creepy crawly monsters,” the department of entomology and plant pathol-ogy has an extensive outreach presence through Master Gardeners, private citizens and pest con-trol association members by training them on appropriate threat and management practices.

“We’re also heavily involved with the certifica-tion of pesticide applicators in the state,” Kard said. “If you want to be a pest management pro-fessional in the state, you have to go through us and the Pesticide Education Safety Program.”

The department also practices vigilant surveil-lance of termites, keeping a close eye on the Formosan termite, which has caused billions of dollars of damage throughout much of the U.S. coastline – from Virginia to the Texas and Mexico border – and is making its way to Okla-homa. This highly destructive species has been confirmed as far north as Denton, Texas.

“It’s really a tremendous threat, much more than people know because they haven’t seen it,” he said. “We don’t want to be reactive on this one. We want to be proactive.”

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent in the New Orleans area in attempts to stop this species, with very limited success. The colony numbers are much larger than native Oklahoma termites, and they eat living plants, not just dead wood.

“In the Hawaiian Islands alone, this particular termite does $100 million-plus in damage and repair costs,” Kard said. “We continually talk to pest management professionals in Oklahoma to train them on what the Formosan termite looks like. They’ve put up traps and luckily haven’t caught any yet.” ▲


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By Ron Dahlgren

It started with faculty members nearly 20 years ago and grew into a widely adopted game that became an embodiment of the land-grant mis-sion of teaching, research and Extension.

Its full name is the Fed Cattle Market Simulator, which was quickly dubbed the Packer-Feeder Game by students.

“In the late 80s, a few of us with an interest in livestock marketing met to talk about a grant proposal to help us study captive supplies and industry structure issues,” said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Exten-sion livestock marketing specialist.

At first the focus was on an experimental market approach.

“Price discovery and competition issues have plagued the beef industry for three decades, so we set out to create an experimental research tool to address these market structure and pric-ing issues,” said Clem Ward, retired OSU Coop-erative Extension livestock marketing specialist.

The first incarnation of the game was developed by then professor, now Associate Director of OSU Cooperative Extension, Jim Trapp.

Trapp said the concept for the game came from a workshop he participated in called the Green

Revolution. It employed a format to examine the adoption of technology in the third world to show why adoption wasn’t automatic.

Two grants allowed the team to write software exclusively for the simulator and to upgrade hardware. The game is designed to place stu-dents in the roles of either buyers or packers of cattle in an industry setting.

“We can simulate several weeks or even months of market dynamics and interactions for the par-ticipants,” Peel said. “On one hand it’s about the buyer and the seller coming together and price discovery. That’s the core. On the other hand they learn about costs, breakevens, anticipating changing marketing conditions as well as busi-ness concepts that are not traditionally taught.

“A major key is that all participants are making a market function, but at the state of knowledge that they each have, so it’s exactly like the real world. One participant may try to initiate a sophisticated marketing strategy while another may simply be trying to figure out what’s going on. Thus everyone learns at their own level.”

As such, it also became a great teaching tool for not only corporate audiences but Extension audiences as well.

At the end of the 90s, the actual markets began moving more toward grid and formula pricing and away from cash markets, which was the basis for the original version. Again, the game needed to be modified.

“Modifications allowed us to revise the software and create a wireless system that this genera-tion of students really like,” Ward said. “ In our current version, we have handheld computers similar to those used by packers in the industry. We originally wondered how we were going to get 60-year-old producers in Extension groups to use them, but they have been great and very willing to learn the technology.”

Trapp, Ward and Peel all concur that the revi-sions of the simulator were never anticipated, expecting the game to run its course after perhaps three to five years, not the 20 years that have passed.

Ward said this game opened immense doors and let them do things they never dreamed.

“It brought a lot of positive attention to us as faculty, to our department and to the univer-sity,” he said. “It opened doors to the industry and gave us great opportunities for Extension and classroom teaching.”

The Packer-Feeder Game was taught every spring as part of the departmental special prob-lems class, as well as a special session or exer-cise for other classes such as marketing. It was also used in Peel’s introduction to agricultural economics course.

During the 90s, the simulator remained un-changed. But after later upgrades and much suc-cess, some challenges surfaced and, as a result, the latest incarnation of the game has not been used as much in the classroom due to difficulty in accommodating the wireless technology in a class of 200 students.

“Our main use most recently has been with our Master Cattleman Program, our work with the Samual Roberts Noble Foundation for their AgVenture program and our industry work with Cargill,” Ward said.

After Ward’s retirement, Kellie Raper took over his reign.

“I feel fortunate to help with the game,” said Raper, agricultural economics assistant profes-sor, livestock marketing specialist. “My col-leagues did all of the developmental work, and I get to step in and take part. It’s so much fun to watch folks learn without realizing they’re learning. All of this has me greatly excited about the future of the Packer-Feeder Game.” ▲

Fed Cattle Market Simulator:It’s not just a game

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By Donald Stotts

Internet surfers can see some of the ways in which Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources is enhancing management of the state’s water sup-plies, with a simple click of the mouse.

Located at http://agwater.okstate.edu, the Web site for DASNR’s Water Research and Extension Center went live in July 2009.

A key focus of the site is to provide access to the latest goings-on in the division relative to its many and varied water-related projects, said Dave Engle, center director and holder of OSU’s Thomas E. Berry Endowed Professorship.

“People might be surprised at the depth and breadth of the division’s water programming, everything from water quality and hydrology to plant breeding for drought tolerance and water-use efficiency,” he said. “In fact, DASNR has more investment in water research, education and public service than any other entity in the state.”

That means division efforts for sustaining Okla-homa’s agricultural water supply can have a sig-nificant, potential effect on the state’s economy and the health and well-being of residents and the environment.

“Decisions made by Oklahoma producers, agri-cultural processors and value-added industries about their water use and management have never been more key than today, with demand for water increasing from multiple users and interest groups,” Engle said.

The center is helping division scientists to more effectively conduct cutting-edge research on emerging water issues such as economics of

water policy, land-use effects on water yield and effects of climate uncertainty on water resourc-es, especially as they relate to agriculture and natural resource management.

“We’re also trying to make it as easy as possible for division scientists to integrate their exper-tise,” Engle said. “For example, developing best management practices that will be used by farm-ers and ranchers requires a process in which re-search and Extension must work together more closely than ever, all the while adjusting to the complexities of public decision making. Water is a very emotional issue for many people.”

Then there is the next generation of scholars, leaders and scientists.

“Water will be an increasingly pressing issue for society, whether the specific issue is a matter of policy, conservation, hydrology, or plant breed-ing and genetics,” Engle said. “Oklahoma and the region need innovative, sustainable and– most importantly–the right solutions when it comes to our water resources.” ▲

Water center showcases efforts to enhance ag water use


Enhancing sustainability of agriculture water supplies

The DIvision of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Water Research and Ex-tension Center facilitates the development of work groups, project teams and educational programs that meet and sustain Oklahoma’s agricultural water needs.

“It not only provides an effective means to identify priority issues, it strengthens our ability to develop grants, contracts and cooperative agreements with local communi-ties, government agencies, private industries and tribal nations; all of which are important to developing solutions to agricultural water issues in the state,” said Bob Westerman, DASNR assistant vice president for program support.

Rising input costs for crop and animal pro-duction demonstrate the need for the imple-mentation of water conservation measures.

“These include improved soil management practices, irrigation methods, efficiency of farm water storage and transport of water, as well as an overall economic assessment of agricultural enterprises to allow owners and operators to manage existing water supplies more prudently,” Westerman said.

In addition, genes have been identified that are being incorporated into existing plant varieties to make them more drought and stress tolerant.

“Plant breeding has been going on for thou-sands of years; today, advances in science are allowing us to develop improved variet-ies more quickly and efficiently than ever, which can help maximize water use,” said Westerman, who led OSU’s department of agronomy for many years. ▲

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It is an age-old dilemma for college students: You graduate and look for a job, but the employer only wants candidates with experience. But how can you get experience without first getting a job?

For one group of Oklahoma State University students that dilemma has been all but solved thanks to a capstone course during the senior year. Biosystems and Agricultural Engineer-ing students enrolled in BAE 4012/4023 Senior Design, will essentially get a year’s worth of work experience while drawing upon what they have learned in their previous years of college courses.

“We work with real Oklahoma companies, on real projects,” said Paul Weckler, OSU bioma-chinery associate professor. “We work with OSU applications engineers, our department advisory committee and alumni to help identify compa-nies and projects that need engineering work. Then we assign teams of students to meet with the client, identify their needs, do the design work and build a prototype.

“One of this year’s projects is for J-M Farms, a large mushroom producer in Miami, Okla.”

Weckler has taught the class for nine years. Dur-ing that time, projects have included the devel-opment of a robotic tease boar for a breeding farm; a method of constructing artificial islands in rivers to provide nesting habitat for the Least Tern; a 42-foot tandem disc that folds up so it can pass over rural bridges and under power lines; a bermudagrass sprigging machine; a back-yard windmill hydrogen generator; and several machines for cutting down cedar trees.

“The projects we take on fulfill a real need for the companies we work with,” Weckler said. “Sometimes a project will help a company that has no other option for research and design. Sometimes it will serve to answer an engineer-ing problem that may result in a new or im-proved product further down the line.”

Through it all, the student teams perform much as an engineering team would in the workplace.

“The difference, of course, is in the class they can afford to learn and make mistakes without fear

By Ron Dahlgren

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An interdisciplinary Classroom in the real world


of being fired,” said Weckler. “And the students have the resources of the entire department and faculty to draw upon to help them be successful.”

An added dimension beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year, thanks to a $465,000 USDA higher education challenge grant, is the addition of agricultural economics, agricultural commu-nications and mechanical engineering students to the design teams.

“This has allowed our teams to focus on an entire concept for the companies we work with, rather than just the engineering aspect,” Weckler said. “We can do an analysis of the costs of pro-duction as well as suggest an entire marketing campaign for the product.”

With that grant OSU introduced a one-semester class called Innovations, said Dan Tilley, agri-cultural economics professor and associate di-rector of the New Product Development Center.

“This class was a precursor to the two-semester senior design class. It was designed to bring the students from the various disciplines together to teach them problem solving, teamwork, to be in-novative and to be sure they were committed to doing the two-semester senior design class.

“From an agribusiness perspective, we find that the best practices show us that multidisci-plinary, or multi-functional, teams work best. Gone are the days when research and develop-ment came up with a product then ‘tossed it over the wall’ and then let finance, marketing and other sections of the company figure out what to do with it.”

The entire thrust is aimed at teaching students the skills they will need in today’s industrial environment.

Cindy Blackwell, agricultural education, com-munications and leadership assistant professor, said from the communications perspective, it allows her to greatly expand upon her regular curriculum.

“I teach a campaigns course where we work on real projects for real companies, but the Innova-

could not get into, and for our kids to understand that process is great. In my campaigns course I teach event management, but I could never work in project management for a scientific, engineer-ing or business aspect. The same goes for learn-ing about the legal issues of design, something else we can’t teach in ag communications.”

This class gives students a whole new realm of skills that increases their marketing in the work-place, she said.

The faculty involved all agree the students will be better prepared when they leave school and enter the workforce.

OSU is the lead university for this USDA grant but it also includes the University of Nebraska (UNL) and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. ▲

tions/Senior Design sequence captures the dynam-ics of the campaigns course and so much more.

“It’s wonderful to see the interactions between the students from the various disciplines, their communications, even their frustrations as part of their teamwork. I hear communications stu-dents giving engineering design suggestions, and vice versa, because they have a totally different perspective and can offer different approaches. It’s truly brainstorming in the most positive sense of the word.”

Blackwell also said that this series of classes allows her to provide her students with lessons she otherwise could not fit into the standard communications curriculum.

“Patent and trademark searching is one item I

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Cattlemen and cattlewomen from across Okla-homa have experienced gains in many areas of their cattle operations due in part to the Okla-homa Master Cattleman Program.

The program was introduced in 2004 and since has graduated 540 students. Currently, 60 par-ticipants are enrolled from across the state. The goal of the program is to enhance profitability of beef operations and quality of life of beef cattle producers by providing them with essential in-formation for all facets of beef production, busi-ness planning, risk management and marketing.

Carol Crews, at the End of the Trail Ranch north of Pawhuska in Osage County, has a commercial cow-calf operation and also raises Piedmontese cattle. Crews has been involved in the cattle in-dustry for nearly 15 years. She bought the ranch for horses, but soon got into the cattle business.

The Master Cattleman Program has allowed her to take the knowledge she gained from the program and to apply it to her herd. The results have been very rewarding.

“The program taught me a lot about the differ-ent areas of cattle operations and the industry, and I also learned about body condition scoring cattle, stocking rates and all the financial aspects it involves,” she said. “It was nice to meet with other ranchers in my area and discuss the issues we were facing on a local front.”

Crews said she recommends this course to both young and experienced ranchers.

“There are a lot of new technologies and ad-vancements happening in the cattle industry,” Crews said. “The coursework allows participants to gain a lot of knowledge and learn from profes-

sors who have a lot of experience in this area. I am still in contact with some of the specialists and refer to them when I have questions.”

Becoming a Master Cattleman requires comple-tion of a core curriculum in addition to some elective hours.

“To be a Master Cattleman means to have completed a series of short courses designed to enhance a producer’s knowledge of sustainable practices in production, business management, marketing, herd health and natural resources,” said David Lalman, Oklahoma State Univer-sity Cooperative Extension beef specialist and program coordinator. “Class members also must complete the required curriculum for the pro-gram and show an understanding by passing the exams relative to each area.”

Participants in the program use educational curriculum based on the Oklahoma Beef Cattle Manual and producer certification process.

The Oklahoma Beef Cattle Manual covers recent information on many topics including the demo-graphics of the Oklahoma beef industry, eco-nomics, marketing and risk management, leasing arrangements, livestock insurance, forage pro-duction, grazing management, drought manage-ment, beef quality assurance, waste management and biosecurity.

Lalman said this is a very comprehensive resource for beef production in Oklahoma, and class participants are able to refer to this manual during and after the class.

For continuing education, every year the Master Cattleman Summit takes place at OSU where past and current participants of the program

gather to gain hands-on experience from fea-tured cattle experts from across the country.

Lalman said the summit is a great opportunity for cattle owners to come listen to speakers and visit with other producers from across the state about current and future trends in the cattle industry.

The Master Cattleman Program is offered through the local Cooperative Extension office, and producers have two years from the time of registering to finish the program. ▲

Master Cattleman Program: A benefit to producersBy Katie Reim


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Oklahoma Gardening is your television program for all aspects of gardening in Oklahoma. Join host Kim Rebek and her team of specialists every week as she presents helpful research- based information for the yard and garden, visits beautiful locations around the state, and shows the how-to of food production and preparation.

On OETA stationsSaturdays at 11:00 a.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.with additional airing on OETA OKLA

“TV you’ll grow to love”

Saturday morningsat 7:30 on

SUNUP.okstate.edu

• In the last three years, the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources has generated intellectual property that includes 11 patents and 11 license agreements totaling $1.9 million. Major successes have been achieved with feed additives, biofuel conversion, turfgrass, forage and wheat varieties, and precision application technology.

• The division generates more than $12 in annual sales for each dollar invested in research and Extension.

• More than 141,000 young people across Oklahoma are currently tak-ing part in 4-H educational programs and activities of-fered through the Oklahoma Cooperative Ex-tension Service.

• Oklahoma State University is the South-Central Regional Center for the national Sun Grant Initiative, es-tablished to create new solutions for America’s energy needs and revital-ize rural communities.

• OSU, the University of Oklahoma and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foun-dation form a three-way partnership

that is the foundation of the $40 million Oklahoma Bioenergy Center es-tablished by Gov. Brad Henry in 2007.

• The Oklahoma Cooperative Exten-sion Service’s Community Nutrition Education Programs (CNEP) lever-aged state monies to bring in more than $3.7 million in federal nutrition education program funds in fiscal year 2009. During this period, CNEP educational efforts had a positive effect on the health and wellness of

5,591 low-income fami-lies, with more than 96 percent of adult gradu-ates demonstrating a positive change toward a healthy diet.

• A 10-year economic impact study revealed that firms assisted by the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricul-tural Products Center at OSU led to the total direct, indirect and induced impacts of 52,490 jobs and more than $6.4 billion in economic activ-ity for Oklahoma in 2006. The levels of economic activity that responding

firms directly attributed to the FAPC totaled 157 jobs and almost $93 mil-lion in annual sales. Bottom line for Oklahoma: $93 million in annual sales is a great return on a $3 million annual investment.

• The Oklahoma Agricultural Experi-ment Station system is responsible for 37 percent of research expendi-tures at OSU. Agricultural research through the Experiment Station gen-erated more than $21 million during the 2008 fiscal year in new contracts awarded.

• Scientists in the division have regu-larly developed new and enhanced technology that supports Oklahoma’s $4.6 billion beef industry, $1 billion wheat industry and $450 million turfgrass industry. A study by the world’s largest private, not-for-profit science and technology development firm discovered that the division is generat-ing divi-dends in wheat, livestock and turfgrass eco-nomic impacts

Division Facts: Did you know?


programs covering 21 different countries with 169 students and 23 faculty taking part.

• The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources provides 16 majors and more than 70 study op-tions to students pursuing careers in science, business, education, engineering, biotechnology, natural resources and communications. ▲

producers millions of dollars, not just in Oklahoma but worldwide.

• More than 300 superior plant vari-eties have been developed and re-leased through the Oklahoma Agri-cultural Experiment Station system.

• Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service county offices enhance OSU’s commit-ment to Oklahoma com-munities, where county Extension educators work side-by-side with residents to address lo-cal issues and concerns.

• In 2009 the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of-fered 19 agricultural study abroad

that total more than $750 million an-nually.

• The Oklahoma Agricultural Experi-ment Station is home to the National

Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity. The institute provides key training services for the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and local and state law enforcement.

• Researchers in the division have developed and improved groundbreak-ing precision agriculture technology that has saved


Students helping other students succeedStudents helping students is the name of the game in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Several programs, such as the Student Academic Mentors (SAM), Student Success Leaders, Ag Stu-dent Council and many student clubs and organizations, are what help drive the college. Upperclass-men go through an interview process to be selected for the positions.

“Our Student Success Leaders recruit outstanding students, serve as Student Academic Mentors in our living and learning community, and assist fellow students in all aspects of career planning, from resume building to internships, to interviewing,” said Ed Miller, CASNR associate dean. “All of our service leadership positions are voluntary, and all support the culture of service to others.”

There are nearly 50 SAMs that help CASNR freshmen get headed in the right direction when they step on the Oklahoma State University campus.

“The students, faculty, staff and our graduates have made service to others a critical part of the learn-ing experience,” Miller said. “You learn so much about yourself when you help someone else.” ▲

State Appropriations + ARRA* + Carryover

Federal Appropriations

Grants and Contracts

Revolving, Station Sales + Carryover

Endowments

*American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

$77.9066%

$10.189%

$14.7312%

$13.5311%

$2.302%

$77.9066%

$10.189%

$14.7312%

$13.5311%

DASNR FY 2010 Funding Sources (Millions)

Total: 118.64 M

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAidStillwater, OK

Permit No. 191

Oklahoma State UniversityDivision of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources102 Agricultural HallStillwater OK 74078-6019

create / innovate / educate / Go STATE

Documents

The Division Triangle