VOICES The Science Behind Your Food

By Catherine Woteki

When people think about where their food comes from, many think of the farmer or rancher —and rightly so. But few think of the scientists working behind the scenes to support our agricultural producers, keeping them productive and our food supply safe.

Food, agriculture and natural resource scientists are involved in the biggest challenges facing the world today: ensuring food safety and security, keeping food producers productive amidst a dramatically changing climate, creating the bioenergy sources of the future and improving food quality and availability to encourage healthier diets. Some of the best and brightest minds in America are in labs across the country, rolling up their sleeves to solve these diverse problems.

In fact, agricultural scientists in our land grant universities and USDA labs have a history of finding the answers most urgently needed by society. We have to make sure this dynamic engine for innovation and problem-solving keeps going. That means making sure we continue to attract the best and brightest students to the agriculture, food and natural resource sciences. As Dean of ISU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, I saw firsthand the excitement and fulfillment students can gain studying science—and as they progressed through their careers. Now, as USDA’s chief scientist, I have the privilege of overseeing the scientific agencies where many of those students will continue their research—and that enthusiasm endures.

In short, I’m happy to keep the flame burning for agricultural, food and natural resource research. It’s an exciting field of science, and one that will continue to offer good jobs well into the future. ISU is a key player in this effort, and I look forward to working together to ensure that agriculture continues to fulfill its vital role.

SHOW AND TELL…AND TASTE

Whether it’s sampling new varieties of tomatoes right from the garden or seeing the latest techniques for growing muskmelons, the Research and Demonstration Farms show Iowans they can grow their own food.

Each summer Iowa gardeners get a chance to preview plants to grow the next year at field days at the farms’ Home Demonstration Gardens.

“If tomatoes are ready we’ll do a taste testing of different cultivars or varieties. We had hot peppers one year and people loved doing a taste test to see which one met their needs,” says Cindy Haynes, associate professor of horticulture, who coordinates the project.

One of this year’s goals for the field days was to get children more involved in gardening with several flowers and vegetables named after storybook characters. A blight-resistant tomato, a new variety of sweet corn and a seedless cucumber were included for grown-up gardeners.

Home Demonstration Garden field days were held this year at the Armstrong, Northeast, Muscatine Island, Northern and Horticulture Station Research Farms. The Muscatine Island Research Farm, in the eastern border town of Fruitland, got its start helping melon growers, who raise muskmelons that bear the name of the area.

Haynes says the farm also contains the state’s only All-American Selections (AAS) trial site that grows new varieties of vegetables to see how they perform. If they are judged ready for gardens they are released to suppliers.

Vince Lawson, superintendent of the Muscatine Island farm, says the most interest is focused on projects dealing with sweet corn and vine crops, like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and melons. The garden spot, which uses irrigation on the area’s sandy soils, also has projects involving tomatoes, potatoes, cherry trees and watermelons.

On the other side of the state, the Armstrong farm near Lewis also has a number of projects devoted to food production, many involving a high tunnel, a hoop structure that allows growers to extend the growing season. The farm also is an AAS display garden that showcases the newest winners.

The farm’s greenhouse has served as an educational tool for local vegetable producers allowing them to rent space and learn about greenhouse management and plant propagation. Bernie Havlovik, Armstrong farm superintendent, says there also are several outdoor vegetable trials including using farm compost as fertilizer, companion crops for pest control and growing marginally hardy blackberries with a collapsible trellis.

The Neely-Kinyon farm, affiliated with Armstrong, specializes in alternative agricultural approaches including projects that grow organic vegetables under no-till, mulched, tilled and with cover crops soil treatments as well as an organic grape trial.

“All our horticultural research is scaleneutral,” says Kathleen Delate, professor and organic crops specialist in the horticulture and agronomy departments. “Practices used in the experiments—planting, fertilizing, pest management—follow what a commercial grower and a homeowner can do for organic production.”

At the Horticulture Station near Ames, superintendent Nick Howell says most of its projects are applied research geared to commercial growers, many who want to fill the demand created by the local food trend. “What you end up with is data that’s useful and practical for a grower,” he says.

One example is a research project to see how long strawberries can be grown into the fall using a high tunnel. Another produced a dozen crops last summer to determine if high-value crops would justify a tunnel’s crops.

Click here for Cindy Haynes’ zucchini bread recipe.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Nutrition research is discovering the critical role nutrients play in staving off disease.

Kevin Schalinske, a professor of food science and human nutrition, studies how dietary nutrients, and specifically B vitamins, keep metabolic pathways functioning smoothly. When certain B vitamins are lacking, the pathways are disrupted and can lead to development of cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and birth defects.

“The more we understand about how to keep these pathways from being disrupted, the better chance we have to intervene through diet or other approaches,” Schalinske says.

Along these pathways, assemblies of molecules called methyl groups are formed. Many of the body’s essential chemical reactions rely on methyl groups to make compounds active or inactive or to turn genes on or off. “If you don’t have the nutrients available to make enough methyl groups, you have genes being turned on or off that shouldn’t be. The result can be diseases or further health complications.”

Schalinske’s research has identified many diseases related to an imbalance of nutrients in these important pathways.

In lab research funded by the American Diabetes Association, Schalinske found a specific enzyme played havoc with methyl group metabolism in diabetic mice. It could provide a link between diabetes and related health complications. In other studies, he’s examined how compounds in soyfoods may help prevent breast cancer and how amino acids found in eggs may reduce cardiovascular disease risks.

“The exciting part of the research is that the results could impact the health of millions,”says Schalinske. “Understanding the relationship between nutrition, metabolic processes and diseases lays the foundation for developing intervention strategies, including future dietary recommendations.”

Schalinske teaches several nutrition courses, including one in epigenetics, which he says is one of the hottest areas of nutrition. Epigenetics suggests that you are what you eat—and your children are what you eat, too.

“Do your dietary and lifestyle choices ingrain themselves in your genes and not only impact your health, but the health of future generations?” he says. “These are questions that will take a lot more work to understand.”

Click here for Schalinske’s Mexican chicken recipe.

TEAMING UP TO SUPPORT LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION

By Laura Miller

Like a stool relying on environmental, economic and community legs for support, a new program to help Iowans feed themselves as well as the rest of the world has a three-point approach: What do producers need to know? What does the research tell us? Does it all make economic sense?

Answers will come from new hires funded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University Extension and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture: Joe Hannan in the field, researcher Ajay Nair and applied economist Craig Chase.

Together they lead a team to develop local food production, increase opportunities for new farmers and help existing producers diversify.

Joe Hannan: Man of many crops Hannan is extension horticulture field specialist for central and western Iowa, a position added November 2010. He mworks directly with commercial growers of fruit and vegetable crops to diagnose problems and offer consultation.

During the past season he has seen a large influx of new growers setting up operations, many of whom are starting Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) menterprises. He worked with five strawberry growers across the state to fine tune their fertility program using foliar sampling. He’s also looking at the effectiveness of biodegradable plastic mulches to control weeds in tomato crops.

So far, he’s had no shortage of clients—or questions.

“I might touch on 30 different crops in one day, but you can’t know everything. We use a team approach to answer questions and provide service,” he says.

His first client had a tall order: how to expand from a half-acre plot to a two-acre enterprise. Hannan recalled: “We had a lot to talk about—soil fertility, equipment needed to scale up, post-harvest handling, food safety, labor costs, weed control. Next year he plans to expand again because there’s a huge unmet market in the Des Moines area.”

Hannan (’05 horticulture, MS ’11) worked five years at the Muscatine Island Research Farm where he grew melons,sweet corn, tomatoes and berry crops before accepting this position. At the same time he managed the vineyard at the Southeast Research Farm near Crawfordsville.

Ajay Nair: Ready to launch
Nair is a new assistant professor in horticulture with a focus on sustainable vegetable production. His appointment spans extension, research and teaching. He joined the college in July 2011.

Nair has cast a wide net that extends from his home in northern India where mango and guava are grown to Kerala Agriculturale University in southern India, home to rice, coffee and tea plantations. Graduate studies took him to the University of Maine to learn about propagation and greenhouse production, then to Michigan State University where he worked on cover crops, transplant production and crops such as tomato, cucumbers, asparagus, onion and celery.

The common lesson? Diversity helps the soil, which improves production. “It’s all about balance, having a variety of crops in the mix, not just one or two,” Nair says. “Having a diverse portfolio is exactly what they tell you in financial management and it works in agriculture, too.”

He’s interested in cover crops to increase soil fertility, also ways to extend the growing season. He has researched row covers to control cucumber beetles and modify the microclimate for enhanced crop growth. Other research explored how rye and hairy vetch cover crops change plant growth, increase beneficial soil microorganisms and improve nutritional quality of fruit.

Nair has been meeting with vegetable growers to identify production challenges to develop his research and extension program. In fact, he planted his first plots only weeks after moving to Ames. He currently is researching mustard cover crops (a biofumigant that can control some
pathogens and nematodes) and season extension of an early winter lettuce crop under high tunnels. He also plans to study biochar, a byproduct of renewable fuel production, in horticulture crops.

Craig Chase: Right person, right time
Chase (’80 MS agricultural economics, ’94 PhD rural sociology) is not new to Iowa State or sustainable systems, but his 27 years of experience in extension and job as interim program leader at the Leopold Center made him a perfect fit for the partnership. Chase is extension’s statewide local food systems specialist and the coordinator of a new Local Food and Farm Program created by the Iowa legislature.

He explains his role like this: “One of the first questions that farmers ask, whether we’re talking about tillage, cover crops or any change, ‘Will I make money?’ My job is to look at the research, look at the production question and help determine whether a new practice or system has long-term sustainability from an economic viewpoint.”

Farmers who want to “scale up” production for larger markets will need to understand food safety and a “new way to do business.” However, Chase is convinced that change already is taking place in development of “food hubs” where any producer can contribute. Examples include a former school in northeast Iowa, which is an aggregation point for the GROWN Locally farmer network, and an old convenience store in Ogden where four growers distribute produce.

“Nobody is suggesting that we’re going to change the landscape of Iowa, but we will provide opportunities for people to get into agriculture,” he explains.

Click here for Chase’s refrigerator pickles recipe, Nair’s potato and peas curry recipe and Hannan’s tips for perfect grilled sweet corn.