Retired Columbia County extension agent Rudy Van Fleet received a Short Course Service to Agriculture Award at the 2003 Farm and Industry Short Course Reunion, held Jan. 25 in Madison.

The family of the late Jim Crowley, a University of Wisconsin-Madison extension dairy specialist, gathered recently on the UW-Madison campus to install a plaque listing supporters of the Crowley Management and Extension Fund. The fund was established in Crowley’s honor shortly after his death in 1989.

Hazel Lee Shands, emeritus professor of agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, died Friday, Dec. 27, 2002. He was 94 years old.

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.

Lynndon A. Brooks, emeritus professor of agricultural engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, died Dec. 27, 2002 at his home in Madison. He was 77 years old.

With so many people using over- the-counter herbal supplements as a means to promote health, one UW-Madison researcher is wondering why we don”t hunt for health-promoting properties among the ordinary plants we grow for food.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison food scientist is using new technology to tackle an old problem in cheesemaking-and the solution could mean both a bigger market for the state’s dairy producers and reduced costs for cheesemakers.

Almost everyone has opened a container of yogurt and found a pool of liquid floating at the top. The watery substance doesn’t reduce the yogurt’s quality, but many consumers think that the presence of surface whey means that the yogurt is spoiled. As a result, most yogurt makers add stabilizers, such as pectin, to help keep the liquid from separating.

An updated 4-H Dairy Managerial Project Agreement form for the 2003 Wisconsin Junior State Fair is now available. The form spells out the responsibilities of those involved in the lease and manages the liability issues related to the agreement.

One of the biggest, broadest questions in the Discovery Farms Program is the following: If water quality needs to be improved, what are the best things we can do in land management to make it better?