2012-13 College Newsletter

2012-13 agricultuThe College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Naturalre Resources Exploring China: Students gain insight on agriculture halfway around the world 4 Study abroad program’s 8 Connecting college 28 Alumni play key role in 36 Class notes global reach with community state and agriculture Ag Newsletter 1 Find our research and outreach activities online North Dakota State University is a land- This publication highlights teaching activities grant university that provides educational of the college. Reports covering activities opportunities, information and technology of the ND Agricultural Experiment Station that enhances the economy of the state and NDSU Extension Service can be found as well as the quality of life for its citizens. at www.ndsu.edu/vpaue/annual_highlights. The faculty and staff of the NDSU College If you do not have Internet access and would of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural like to receive a copy of their latest report, Resources, the ND Agricultural Experiment please contact us. Station and the NDSU Extension Service are integrally connected and are critically important in allowing the college to carry out its mission. College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources North Dakota State University, Dept 2200 PO Box 6050 Fargo, ND 58108-6050 | 701-231-8790 M This year marks the 150th our citizens, to learn their needs and work side-by-side essa anniversary of visionary to improve lives. The power of land-grant institutions is legislation that fundamentally unique because our commitment to teaching, research changed America by offering and service through the Extension system benefits not higher education, opportunity just those at the university, but residents throughout the g and success to its citizens. The state. With that combination of tools, we work to solve E original 1862 Morrill Land-Grant the challenges of the people we serve. fro Act created institutions to teach courses related to agriculture and As we look ahead, these strengths make us well prepared the mechanic arts “in order to promote the liberal and to meet global needs. Our traditional challenge of feeding practical education of the industrial classes in the several the nation, and now the increasing markets of the world, M pursuits and professions in life.” will be a bigger challenge than ever before. We will need to th use advances in agriculture and all aspects of engineering The act was the cornerstone for great institutions like and science to meet the basic human demands for food North Dakota State University. Through the decades, the and water. Our land-grant institution’s education and E land-grant mission has proven to be essential to serving research will continue to expand into the studies of Pr the educational and outreach needs of our state and nutrition, genetics, plant pathology, soil science and nation, while also providing groundbreaking, forward- chemistry as the foundations for meeting that challenge. ES thinking research to solve many of our problems and open up the great economic development potential of our state It is an honor to work in a higher education setting and an id and nation. NDSU has grown into a tremendous university, honor to work at one of the nation’s top-ranked, student- joining such institutions as the University of Minnesota focused, land-grant, research universities – where we are E and University of Wisconsin. today accomplishing and contributing more to our state nt and nation than ever before in history ... and our most The Morrill Act may, in some circles, be best known for important work still lies ahead. providing broader access to higher education, and it did so while wisely envisioning a well-rounded higher education. Dean L. Bresciani A deeply held aspect of our mission is to reach out to M North Dakota State University and the faculty and staff who are using this state-of-the-art essa the College of Agriculture, Food facility. The Greenhouse Complex and our new Beef Cattle Systems, and Natural Resources Research Complex are excellent facilities for research continue to create excitement and education. They already have made an impact on g throughout this great state. In this recruiting and retaining world-class faculty and students. year of the 150th anniversary of E the Morrill Act, which established The Commodity Trading Laboratory in Barry Hall is fro land-grant universities such completed. This cutting-edge facility allows our students as NDSU, we celebrate our to obtain hands-on experience in a real-world trading commitment to our students and stakeholders and look room focusing on agricultural commodities. Our students M forward to providing continued service through our will gain invaluable skills and a knowledge base that teaching, research and outreach efforts. they can use effectively as they secure positions in th agribusinesses throughout the world. We believe it is Agriculture is truly experiencing a high level of interest the only agriculture commodity-focused trading room E as evidenced by the number of undergraduate students in the country. Bill Wilson, who worked with the NDSU d enrolled in our academic programs. I believe they Development Foundation to raise more than $1.8 million understand the opportunities that exist due to an to construct and equip the room, led this effort. A EA increasing world population, a variable climate and a fundraising effort is planned to permanently support the rapidly developing bioeconomy. And, we continue to hear operations and upkeep of the facility. n from a number of employers desperately in need of highly qualified graduates. As we explore new opportunities and I want to thank each of you for your continued support realignments to make programs more relevant for today’s and dedication to the college and NDSU. I believe you will societal needs, we are confident the college will continue be proud of the academic and research accomplishments to see a steady increase in enrollment. we will see in the not too distant future. The anticipated completion of Phase III of the NDSU Ken Grafton Greenhouse Complex is spring 2013. Phases I and II are now occupied, and we hear excellent reports from feature stories Study abroad program lets students view agriculture’s global reach In a country known as the world’s breadbasket and the largest coming from the U.S. They easily produce five times the pigs producer of many agricultural goods, it can be easy to lose as in the U.S., but half of them are raised one sight of the reach and impact of global production agriculture. at a time. It’s just a totally different production scheme.” Perhaps the best way for U.S. students to gain that insight is going halfway around the world. Christine Wanner is a senior majoring in agricultural education from Wishek, N.D. She hopes to pursue a career NDSU students did exactly that. The NDSU animal sciences as an agricultural instructor in North Dakota. She said the department, through the university’s College of Agriculture, experience helped her compare U.S. and Chinese production Food Systems, and Natural Resources, initiated the Global agriculture. “I want to be part of this industry in the future,” Food Production Systems Study Abroad Program. Its first trip Wanner said. “The trip gave me a broader global perspective was a 15-day visit to China in late May and early June. The on how the world feeds itself. It really hit home that faculty-led program focused specifically on agriculture and China does need us. They aren’t self sufficient and trade is food systems majors, but was open to all NDSU students. dependent on everybody.” “One of the things we talk about in the college is how global NDSU students were first introduced to China’s agriculture agriculture really is,” said David Newman, assistant professor production in Beijing where they visited the Chinese of animal sciences. “We work on the domestic piece all of Agricultural University, the country’s largest agricultural the time. We want students to realize that even if you don’t university. While Dahlen and Newman presented overviews live or work abroad, you need some understanding of it to on North Dakota, NDSU and how the Extension Service understand agriculture and the complexity of feeding such a educates producers, the U.S. and Chinese students interacted. huge population.” Dahlen said only two of the approximately 50 people they met in the university’s animal sciences department had Once in China, students followed the commercial production worked directly with animals. “What’s specifically lacking is of animals from birth to growing, feeding and sale facilities. their hands-on knowledge,” he said. The students visited commodity markets, studied the intricacies of marketing options producers have for their Newman said the Chinese students had little agricultural goods, visited meat processing facilities and studied background, often having to go back three generations to find it. processing methods and the movement of meat from “What I take away from that is don’t undervalue the potential processing facilities to domestic retail or export markets. you have by having an agriculture background that is so deeply rooted,” he said. “Those are skills that employers want.” “We wanted food production all across the board,” said Carl Dahlen, assistant professor of animal sciences. “From the time The program also stopped at historical landmarks in Beijing, it is planted or born all the way through processing and retail Xi’an, Shanghai and Hangzhou, including the Forbidden City, sales and imports and exports. How does a country feed itself?” the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army. They also saw silk and tea production. “To understand what’s going on in any Connecting across cultures country – whether business-related or to understand market The average farm in China is less than half an acre.

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