When CALS alum Joe Glauber was named chief economist in February 2008, his office was issuing some of its most optimistic reports in decades. Now he’s reporting 50 percent drops in exports and forecasting huge drops in net farm income.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in marketing and human resources, Sara Brummel joined UW-Madison’s Babcock Hall Dairy Store in December as store manager.

News about late blight in has raised concerns among retailers, processors and other users about the availability and quality of stored potatoes in Wisconsin this winter, reports Bussan disputes that.A.J. Bussan, UW-Madison extension vegetable specialist. But Bussan doesn’t think that either quality or quantity potatoes will be a problem.

The study shows that Wisconsin agriculture contributes in a significant way to the state’s economic base despite the acute financial pressures caused by low prices for several products including milk and cheese as well as high input costs. The study’s findings indicate agriculture’s economic activity increased 14.9 percent, up from $51.5 billion, from a similar study conducted in 2004 using data for 2000.

This summer, Doug Soldat is saving for a not-so-rainy day. He’s banking rainwater, up to 8,000 gallons of it, enough to keep the lawn at UW-Madison’s O.J. Noer turfgrass center lush through the driest weeks of summer.

For the first time this summer, UW Housing’s Dining and Culinary Services is sourcing some of its produce from a small plot in Allen Centennial Gardens on campus.

While at the UW-Madison, biochemist Har Gobind Khorana helped crack the genetic code, completing a set of experiments that garnered him a Nobel Prize in 1968. Shortly thereafter, he went on to synthesize the first artificial gene. Now he is being honored at a symposium titled

Nestled within the twisting fungus gardens of leaf-cutter ants exists a complex symbiotic web that has evolved over millions of years. Now, with the help of a major genomic sequencing grant from Roche Applied Science, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be able to analyze these interactions at the molecular scale.

UW-Madison emeritus professor Larry Meiller is the first recipient of the Wisconsin Tree Legacy Fund’s Joyce Kilmer Award in recognition of his efforts to promote tree research and education.

When it comes to regulating nanotechnology, a new study reveals that the views of nanoscientists differ from those of the general public. Researchers found that while the public tends to focus on the benefits – rather than potential environmental and health risks – when making decisions about nanotechnology regulation, scientists mainly focus on potential risks and economic values.