Agriculture

Grass-Fed Beed: Better for the World Around Us

Evan 10 Comments

Cows

Cows grazing in pasture at sunrise.

 

Aliza Majewski—Pre-veterinary Science

Ayana LaSalle—Sustainable Food and Farming

Rachel Foley—Animal Science

When Betty Jo learned that she needed to choose between veganism and her health, she made the only sensible decision—she began eating meat. Betty Jo was a vegan for 14 years, however, deficiencies in her diet developed that could only be overcome through the consumption of meat. She called the Whisnant family, a local farm she found online, in hopes of purchasing a cow for herself. Thus began a waterfall of events that would change the Whisnant family forever. With Betty Jo’s call, the Whisnant’s realized there was a growing consumer demand for beef that is raised humanely, healthily, and outside of factory farms and that they could easily revamp their farm to meet this demand. With proper marketing and management, pasture-raised cattle would allow them to have the successful future farm they desired. In their current financial state, there was not enough demand and income to keep the family working at the farm, but grass-fed beef would change that. This realization was the turning point, the future that could support the entire family. The Whisnant family knew then, as did Betty Jo, that grass-fed beef was better for the animal, the consumer, and the environment. Betty Jo was vehement that, if she was going to eat meat again, it would only be the best, not only for herself but also for the animals and the planet. And so began the family company: American Grassfed Beef. (Whisnant, M. & Whisnant, P., n.d.) Continue Reading →

Partial Harvesting in the Northeastern United States

Evan 13 Comments

Raina D’Orazio, Pre-Veterinary Medicine

Whitney Comeau, Animal Sciences

William Rueda, Building and Construction Technology

Chloe Rutkowski, Building and Construction Technology

[Untitled Diagrams of Clearcutting and Partial-Harvesting]. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/fm101/silv/index.htm

[Untitled Diagrams of Clearcutting and Partial-Harvesting]. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/fm101/silv/index.htm

Introduction

You wouldn’t expect to walk into a health food restaurant and be served a salad with no organic ingredients. The means would not be consistent with the ends, and you would distrust the company. A health food restaurant validates its interests in its consumer’s dietary choices by using organic ingredients in its dishes. Similarly, any company that markets its products to clients with certain values needs to make itself credible by creating its product in a manner that reflects the those same values. Here, sustainable construction is that salad, and sustainable forestry practices are the necessary organic ingredients.  Continue Reading →

Public involvement by Massachusetts’s landowners is a crucial factor in the fight against the hemlock woolly adelgid infestation

Evan 18 Comments

Lauren Johnston: Animal Science

Emily Casey: Natural Resources Conservation

Zach Cross: Natural Resources conservation

 

Trees are often seen as the strongest of plants, sort of permanent structures that dominate and decorate our landscapes.  But what if I told you that a small insect was changing that? Would you be skeptical, afraid or both? The hemlock woolly adelgid is an invasive insect running rampant through the Northeast, targeting the dominant canopy tree species of eastern and Canadian hemlocks. Landowners with this infestation on their property experience not only the great loss of these native New England canopy trees, but property damages and value declines when no management efforts are taken. But there is hope! With little time and money investments by private landowners, this infestation can be controlled before its too late to see our hemlocks in abundance again.   Figure 1 exemplifies just a portion of the vast loss of hemlocks in a Pennsylvania forest.

Figure 1 Skeletal remains of hemlocks plagued by HWA infestation shown in the PA forest (http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/the-last-of-the-giants/).

Figure 1 Skeletal remains of hemlocks plagued by HWA infestation shown in the PA forest (http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/the-last-of-the-giants/).

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The use of controlled fires to reestablish shrubland habitat for the New England cottontail

Evan 12 Comments

One of the most recognizable backyard animals is the rabbit. It quietly hops among the grass in your lawn, foraging for food. It has brown ears, big black eyes, long hind feet, and a small tuft of a white tail. You think, oh it’s a bunny. Or perhaps you can correctly identify it as a cottontail. What you are likely seeing is an eastern cottontail, a prolific, invasive rabbit that was introduced to New England and spread rapidly throughout the region. In addition to being a general pest that destroys our gardens, the eastern cottontail impacts native species and can serve as a vector for harmful diseases to both our family and pets (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, n.d.). But did you know that New England also has an environmentally beneficial native cottontail? Continue Reading →

Veal Calves

Evan 13 Comments

You’re at an upscale Italian restaurant and decide to splurge on veal parm, but have you ever thought of where that meat comes from? That calf you are enjoying was taken from it’s mother hours after birth and for it’s short time on this earth fed an inadequate diet and kept in a tiny crate where it couldn’t even turn around. Wouldn’t you be willing to spend afew extra dollars to know your dinner lived a better, less stressful life? Veal calves are the male offspring of the dairy dams and are therefore an unavoidable ethical dilemma. Although it cannot be stopped there is much room for improvement. In most states restricting movement to simply standing up and sitting down, purposely feeding inadequate milk replacers, and providing unsanitary living conditions are only some of the terrible things veal calves suffer through (MSPCA, 2014). These everyday stresses cause a weakened immune system leading to diseases and many stereotypic behaviors (Leadley, Sojda, 2004). These negative effects can decrease the quality if the meat produced by the farms these animals call home (Centner, 2009). The welfare and quality of life of veal calves on high production farms will be improved by improving diet and housing.

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The Feasibility and Environmental Benefits of Utilizing Woody Biomass in Massachusetts

Evan 98 Comments

For a long time now man has dug for coal as a source of energy and it is still utilized globally. In coal burning power plants combusting coal generates energy and it heats up water that creates steam. The steam moves a turbine that creates electricity. Electricity uses over 90% of coal produced in the United States, accounting for 39% of the country’s electricity consumption. The United States is starting to make an effort to cut back on coal use for electricity, while other countries are starting to increase their use (Magill, 2014). Globally, in the past decade, the number of coal power plants has grown and so has carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Within the next forty years 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide will enter the atmosphere from coal power plants (Magill, 2014). These high carbon dioxide emissions devastate our environment. Fortunately, there is a growing movement to switch to renewable energy sources, which could offer better alternatives to coal.

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Sustainable Timber Harvesting in New England

Evan 34 Comments

Conor Cappe (Envirisci), Chris DeGrass (NRC), Jon Hardy-McCaulif (NRC)

One hundred feet tall and eighteen inches in diameter. That is the size of a tree that represents how much timber product is used annually by the average American. Paper products, wood for construction or fuel, and items like furniture or wood chips for a garden. It raises the question: Where does your tree come from? While this is a vastly oversimplified question, the source of wood products is just as important to know as the source of the food you are purchasing and eating. Continue Reading →

Welfare and Production Benefits of Laying Hens in Enriched vs. Conventional Caging Systems

Evan 12 Comments
By: Lindsey Youngman, Kristina O’Keefe, and Casey Sullivan

 

Laying hens housed in a typical battery cagehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_01.jpg/220px-Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_01.jpg

Laying hens housed in a typical battery cage       Retrieved from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_01.jpg/220px-Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_01.jpg

 

 

Introduction

The stench of decaying flesh filled the air as an undercover investigator by the name of “Scott” walked between the rows of battery cages at Sparboe Farms in Iowa. Rats darted across the egg plates and flies swarmed the chickens, feasting on a meal of a long deceased hen. He watched as other workers grabbed hens by the neck, slamming them in and out of cages too small for movement. The cages extended the length of two football fields, each festering with vermin and decay (Ross, 2011). Above all the rot, however, were innocent lives being held captive in the most inhumane conditions. Continue Reading →

Animal Feed as a Solution to Food Waste

Evan 31 Comments

Samantha Alpert – Animal Science
Chris Astrauckas – Animal Science
Joe Bynoe – BCT

Dairy cattle Molinos Champion S.A. (2009.). Retrieved from http://www.feedmanufacturers.net/animal/livestock/cattle-2/
Dairy cattle
Molinos Champion S.A. (2009.). Retrieved from http://www.feedmanufacturers.net/animal/livestock/cattle-2/’

As a child, there were probably many times when you couldn’t finish the food on your plate. Instead, you slipped it under the table to your pet dog or cat, hoping your parents wouldn’t notice. However, they usually did and you usually received a scolding. Now, imagine if rather than something for which people were scolded, this was put into large scale action by businesses across the country.

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The Case for Biological Controls Against the Emerald Ash Bore

Evan 34 Comments

By: Eric DeLeo, Brendan French, Ross Howard

 

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Spring 2014

The Emerald Ash Borer and Why its a Problem

Invasive species seem to be popping up everywhere in North America lately. From exotic plants choking out native vegetation in our forest, to zebra mussels clogging up pipes in our lakes and ponds. Invasive species of all types are on the rise and now it’s our job to try and prevent them from spreading, and possibly eradicate them from our native environments.

There is one invasive species in our region that has caused significant damage to our Ash tree species, Fraxinus Spp. The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is an invasive wood boring insect from Asia that infest and kill our native ash trees, let it be green, white, or black ash. EAB was first detected in Michigan in 2002. However it was suspected to arrived there in 1998 getting itself established in the environment for a few years before being noticed. Researchers believe EAB made its way to America via untreated ash wood like pallets used for stabilizing cargo in ships transporting heavy consumer goods from Asia. The ash wood pallets are usually treated with high heat or toxic fumes, but are suspected to have been mistreated in the case of EAB. Since 2002 EAB has established itself firmly in our forest, killing ash trees and has developed a range spanning from Canada to Georgia and from Colorado to New Hampshire. The pest is in nineteen different states and two Canadian provinces, and is now an international pest that seems to be making its mark with little sign of slowing down. Continue Reading →