Nominations are being sought for 2005 Wisconsin Junior State Fair dairy themes. Please submit suggestions to Ted Halbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison extension dairy youth specialist, by March 15.

The 2005 University of Wisconsin-Madison Short Course Reunion was held Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Coliseum Bar in Madison. About 125 Short Course alumni braved near-blizzard conditions to attend the annual event.

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy cattle judges was second high team overall at the 2005 Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show – Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest, Jan. 16 at Fort Worth, Texas. The Badger team placed first in oral reasons, Guernseys and Jerseys; second in Brown Swiss; and third in Holsteins. Six teams competed.

University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economists dusted off some long-idle superlatives to write their year-end review of the state’s farm sector, and they’re fairly optimistic about prospects for the year ahead.

It’s probably more effective to get vitamins and nutrients by eating fruits and vegetables than by taking dietary supplements, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher. And what’s more, your vegetable options may soon expand as lines of specialty red, yellow and purple carrots begin appearing in stores.

The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invites prospective students, including high school juniors and seniors, and their parents to preview what the Farm and Industry Short Course has to offer.

The annual Short Course Alumni Reunion is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Coliseum Bar (formerly Jingles) on Olin Avenue in Madison. The day will begin with a 10:30 a.m. seminar on estate planning by professor Phil Harris, followed by an 11:30 a.m. social hour. Phil Harris teaches farm law in Short Course and CALS degree programs. A turkey and ham buffet lunch will be served at 12:15 p.m. followed by a short program. As usual there will be ample door prizes donated by many agri-business companies.

There’s a new plant fungus among us in the United States and it’s not afraid to cross the Mason-Dixon line. Asian soybean rust, an aggressive fungus of legumes, was first detected in Louisiana in November, and in eight other states since then. Severe infestations can devastate soybean fields. But Craig Grau and Brian Hudelson, plant pathologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are poised and ready for it, should it enter Wisconsin during the 2005 soybean growing season.

Just as people clean up after dinner by running food scraps down the garbage disposal, cells get rid of proteins they no longer need by breaking them down with a special chemical pathway. Although it’s a simple concept a cell’s ability to clean house is very important, and it may hold the key to problems ranging from rotten tomatoes to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Keeping down costs is a key to making biologically based fuels an economical alternative to fossil fuels and a profitable enterprise for farmers,