Our most recent guest speaker was David Mayonado, the technology development representative from Monsanto.  He came to talk to us about Industry and Agriculture.  He showed us an interesting chart about the changing tools for agricultural pest management.  GMO’s and RNAi are used today for pest management.  GMO’s are genetically modified organisms that are used to increase yield, control pests, and increase drought tolerance.  Monsanto has been working recently with RNAi technology.  RNA interference is a natural mechanism to control the expression of a gene so it has the possibility to turn off specific genes.  Also known as gene silencing, scientists designed a type of RNA that matches part of an essential gene in the western corn rootworm.  Then, corn is genetically modified to produce the RNA.  When the rootworm ingests the corn, the RNA enters the cells and the cells react as if the RNA was a virus.  The cell turns off the targeted gene, which is essential for life in the rootworm.  This causes the worm to die.  This type of pest control is happening with corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. It was amazing to learn about the research going on with RNAi and GMO’s in the Ag industry.   David Mayonado taught us more about working in industry and let us know that there is a demand for agricultural scientists.

Our last field trip of the semester was to our own UD farm. As a pre-vet major, I had been on and taken classes on the farm before. Scott Hopkins, the farm superintendent, taught us about the social lives of bees and specifically what a “swarm” of bees was. I had never known much about them so it was very interesting to me to get insight into the lives of bees. We also went to the horse barn and Scott explained to us that horses are very challenging to work with  because they have very stubborn temperaments and are not seen as livestock animals anymore. Their transition to being considered pets has created some challenges for what they are to do with the horses, especially because they are a lot to care for. Land is in short supply as sustaining it and maintaining resources pose the greatest challenges for future farm operations.

The last guest speaker for the semester was David Mayonado, a technology development representative from Monsanto. He explained how important it is to keep developing new ways to improve the efficiency of growing food for our growing population. His company uses many revolutionary products such as GMOs. GMOs are genetically modified organisms. They are used to increase yield, better control of weeds, decrease the amount of pesticides applied to crops and improve soil quality. As time goes on the efficiency of growing food continues to increase. Besides GMOs the newest thing is called RNAi. RNA interference silences certain genes so that certain proteins are not produced and when pests such as rootworms eat it, it acts as a virus turns off genes needed to move proteins around in worm and it kills the worm. This is being developed in corn, potato and tomato plants for their respective pests.

Dan Severson, the New Castle County Extension Agent, came to speak with us about the livestock industry in Delaware. He explained that almost all farms are family owned farms but only 2% of the US population is involved in farming. The amount of animals has steadily declined since WWII because we are figuring out how to make them more efficient growers. The number of farms has also declined as there is a shift from many tiny farms to a few large farms.  We have the least expensive, most abundant and safest food compared to the rest of the world.

Our last field trip was a tour of the University of Delaware’s farm on South Campus.   Scott Hopkins, the farm superintendent, showed and taught us about the farm.  We started out on the bus and drove to Webb Farm, learning about the plants and crops that were growing along the way.  He showed us where the wetlands were, the bees and bee houses, the poultry houses, and what all the different parts of land were used for.  Once we arrived at Webb Farm, we went into the Equine building.  None of the horses were in the stable because they were grazing outside.  He told us that they spend a lot of their time outside and not in their stalls.  Scott Hopkins told us about how they decided to make the walls of each stall see-through so the horses feel more comfortable and can see each other.  He also told us about how horses can stop themselves when they are going into labor, they can be very unpredictable because of this.  We also had the chance to see the sheep and lambs while on Webb Farm, along with the composting area.   We saw a newer pile and almost done pile of compost, which was steaming.

After Webb Farm, we made our way to the Dairy Farm.  We toured the milking parlor and the research area.  The feeders in the research area were specific for only one cow to eat from it.  After the Dairy Farm, we enjoyed some ice-cream at the UD Creamery!  I enjoyed getting a tour of our farm on campus and learning more about what is happening with agriculture at our school.

James Adkins came in to speak to us about irrigation in farming. He began his lecture by explaining how irrigation for crops has been a vital part of agriculture since its beginning many thousands of years ago. When people first were figuring out how to farm, farmers relied solely on the flooding of the Nile. Today, farmers have many different technologies and far more reliable methods than waiting for a flood when it comes to irrigating crops. Different heads can be attached to the standard pivot irrigation systems to apply a more precise amount of water – more to the areas that need it and less to the areas that do not. Maps can be made with drones that show how the crops is doing in terms of needing more or less water. Farmers can adjust their watering applications accordingly so they do not waste any water.  With the new technology,present day farmers can be more precise with water applications and therefore have better yields of crops and more profits.