Habanero peppers are notorious for their fiery kick, but a new twist in pepper breeding offers a gentler experience. Researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) have developed two new varieties of habanero peppers that retain all the flavor and fragrance of the original without feeling hot in your mouth.
Patricia Stock is the new head of the Department of Horticulture in Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. She recently traveled to Chile and Argentina to work on building new collaborations with research institutions and universities there.
Each state features advantages and disadvantages impacting its unique agriculture industries. There are many considerations for hobby farms to balance.
"Ferrero's support over the years has helped cement Oregon as a world leader in hazelnut orchard productivity and nut quality," said Nik Wiman, Associate Professor in Oregon State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "Ferrero's latest support helps us to meet new challenges and provide effective solutions for growers to improve grower profitability and industry sustainability."
“We were interested in the fact that there have been native plant studies in the eastern U.S., but not much on the West Coast,” Jen Hayes, who does her research as part of the OSU Garden Ecology Lab. “We wanted to see if we set up a study with Pacific Northwest natives and their cultivars if we could see any trends in pollinator visitation and utilization. There wasn’t a strong and clear result. That’s not what people want to hear but in ecology the answer is often, ‘It depends.’ It rings true here, as well.”
Emily Carlson went on to work in natural resources nonprofits and local governance as she figured out what bug to devote her time to. This experience set her up well to pursue a doctorate at Oregon State University, where she conducted research in the Honey Bee Lab and Pollinator Health Program.
Alexander Butcher’s passion for food — which led to culinary school and a 10-year career as a professional chef — has now brought him to Oregon State University to pursue a Ph.D. in entomology.
Jim Myers, a professor of vegetable breeding and genetics at the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, has a depth of knowledge on plant breeding. Want to know about emasculating pea flowers? He’s your guy. Curious about how to dehybridize a plant variety? Myers can tell you.
Oregon’s annual hazelnut crop is worth about $110 million, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Oregon State University estimates the state produces more than 65,000 tons of hazelnuts a year.
A coalition that includes three Oregon State University Extension Service researchers was awarded a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve organic seed production, both in the Pacific Northwest and nationally.