Can wild foods positively contribute to a person's diet?
Many countries around the world struggle with food insecurity, forcing citizens to search for nourishment on their own.
Can avocado peels help curb a plastic waste problem?
Over the past two decades, the United States has been importing more and more avocados each year, underlining a growing obsession with the nutrient-dense fruit. Simultaneously, the U.S. and the rest of the world have been dealing with a growing environmental crisis spurred on by an overreliance on plastic. Could avocados — specifically avocado peels — provide a potential solution?
Cover crops contribute to soil health, study shows
Worldwide, farmers are being challenged with a variety of issues, including growing populations, a changing climate and soil degradation, among many others. To combat these challenges, researchers are looking for solutions and have begun to focus their work on the viability of sustainable agriculture practices, like cover crops.
An alternative to plastic
An alternative to plastic. Srinivas Janaswamy, an associate professor in South Dakota State University's Department of Dairy and Food Science, is exploring possible biodegradable packaging alternatives to plastic
Is AI helping small-scale farming operations?
Artificial intelligence tools can be found in nearly every sector of society and are quickly becoming this century's great technological advancement. In the agriculture sector, large-scale farming operations are utilizing AI to increase profitability, reduce environmental impacts and promote sustainable practices.
Butzin earns NSF CAREER award
Nicholas Butzin, assistant professor in South Dakota State University's Department of Biology and Microbiology, has been awarded a five-year, $1.3 million grant through the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program.
Restoring the river otter
In the late 1990s, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe reintroduced approximately 35 river otters into the Big Sioux River. Otters, which at one time could be found throughout the Upper Midwest, had become nearly extinct in South Dakota due to habitat loss, pollution and unregulated harvest. Following a successful reintroduction, the otters began to repopulate the rivers of eastern South Dakota.