A Rich and Even More Productive Future

After tornado, OARDC picks up the pieces, looks forward to rebuilding

The Sept. 16 tornado tore through the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) at speeds of up to 130 mph and more than enough strength to damage buildings, flatten greenhouses, uproot trees, and leave a trail of destruction and debris all over the Wooster campus.

But administrators, faculty, staff, and students have responded with equal swiftness and determination to the disaster. The campus is being cleaned up, buildings are being repaired, employees are back at work even as some of them have been relocated to other buildings, and research activities continue despite the fact that experiments have been lost or delayed.

"We have made tremendous strides since the day of the tornado through remediation efforts that have gotten us back on our feet, and will continue to move forward with renovation projects in the coming months," said OARDC Director Steve Slack. "I am always amazed at how people step up in times of emergency, and this situation has been no exception."

The tornado damaged the Research Services Building (administration), the Agricultural Engineering Building, the Simon Rice House (Police Station), the Stone House (a historical building), several Research Operations grain and storage facilities, and most of the campus's 26 greenhouses. The storm also wrecked havoc in Secrest Arboretum, which lost more than 1,500 large trees and a newly built pavilion.

Many plants were lost in the greenhouses, setting back research projects by crop scientists and plant pathologists for months or even years. However, the most critical data (such as DNA and related materials) was salvaged.

"There will be some changes proposed and considered as the total recovery process is mapped out and evaluated by the university," Slack explained. "This process will allow us to do things differently and hopefully better than before. The resilience shown by everyone in the OARDC community speaks well to a rich and even more productive future."

Such determination was echoed by Ohio State President Gordon Gee, who toured the campus less than 24 hours after the tornado.

"Obviously, this is a devastating loss to this beautiful campus and the Wooster community, but also to the many people who have put a lot of time and effort making this place a great institution," Gee said. "But I'm impressed by the resilience of our people who are already looking to the future, to recovery. It shows the strength of the Ohio State spirit."

More information is available at http://oardc.osu.edu/tornado.

-- Mauricio Espinoza

Secrest Arboretum: After the Storm, Renewal

Secrest took a huge hit. But people and nature will bring it back.

Ohio State University's Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, blasted by a tornado on Sept. 16, has weathered at least two other big storms in its 100-plus-year history. And bounced back.

"It's inevitable that a forest will be hit by a storm in its life," Arboretum Program Director Ken Cochran said. "Renewal is a natural process afterward."

For now, cleanup in the arboretum continues. And Cochran and staff are planning the best ways to renew it. Replanting will play a big part. So, in some places, will natural reforestation --simply letting nature take its course.

"A forest can be renewed following these situations," Cochran said. "What's important to do is to understand the science and to move ahead based on that science."

See a slide presentation on the tornado's damage at http://go.osu.edu/BC7.

Ohio State has announced a Secrest Arboretum tornado fund. Cash gifts to the fund will go directly toward the arboretum's renewal efforts. Learn more at http://www.giveto.osu.edu/secrestfund. Or call 330-464-2148.

The arboretum is part of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). The center received major damage to buildings and greenhouses from the storm.

Both the main OARDC campus and the arboretum remain closed to the public at this writing.

-- On April 19, 1963, a "violent storm" left 426 trees "shattered, root sprung, and overthrown," according to the arboretum's website.

Cochran came to see that damage while in college. He said the storm "leveled just about everything" in a narrow swath between the arboretum's dawn redwood and white pine/ ponderosa pine plantings.

-- On March 22, 1955, a 70-mph gale knocked down 212 trees, also according to the arboretum's website.

The recent tornado had the biggest impact yet. It devastated about 30 acres of the 120-acre arboretum, including a new visitor pavilion, display gardens, and more than 1,500 large trees. The National Weather Service rated the twister as an EF-2 on a scale of 0–5 with winds of up to 130 mph.

-- Kurt Knebusch

OARDC Beyond Wooster and Columbus

Ag research stations across state serve as field labs, outreach hotspots

The Buckeye state's agricultural landscape has it all: grasslands and livestock on the steep terrains of eastern and southern Ohio, large grain farms on the western flatlands, fruit and general farming in the rolling hills of the central counties, and abundant vegetable and fruit production along Lake Erie.

Such diversity requires agricultural research that takes into consideration the various crops and animals raised by Ohio farmers and the particular growing conditions and challenges experienced by those farmers. That's where OARDC's outlying agricultural research stations come into play.

Spread all over Ohio, these stations provide facilities (and more than 3,000 acres) for OARDC scientists to conduct field experiments that address differences in soil type, terrain, climate, water supply, marketing opportunities, and human and natural resources.

Staffed with a resident manager and technically trained personnel, each outlying station also provides an opportunity for producers to see research in action under conditions similar to those experienced on their own farms. Field days and other kinds of educational activities are common throughout the year at the research farms, often held in collaboration with OSU Extension specialists.

"The outlying research stations are critical to the delivery of site- specific field research in Ohio," OARDC Director Steve Slack said. "I am personally pleased by the active participation of local stakeholders on the advisory committees for each station; they provide us relevant and timely feedback about current programs and future needs."

Just to cite a few examples, research and outreach conducted at OARDC's outlying stations:

-- have been instrumental in the development of Phytophthora- resistant soybean varieties, which could save Ohio farmers up to $120 million a year in production losses;

-- directly support the $22.7 million a year fresh vegetable industry in the muck soils of north central Ohio;

-- contribute to the growth of northeast Ohio's grape and wine industry, which generates more than $35 million in income for people in that part of the state; and

-- has led to the development of reproductive protocols for beef cows that can boost pregnancy rates by 17.5 percent, resulting in millions of dollars in savings and increased production.

1. Northwest Agricultural Research Station, Wood County

2. North Central Agricultural Research Station, Sandusky County

3. Muck Crops Agricultural Research Station, Huron County

4. Wooster Campus, OARDC, Wayne County

5. Ashtabula Agricultural Research Station, Ashtabula County

6. North Appalachian Experimental Watershed, Coshocton County

7. Pomerene Forest Laboratory, Coshocton County

8. Western Agricultural Research Station, Clark County

9. Columbus Campus, OARDC and OSU, Franklin County

10. Eastern Agricultural Research Station, Noble County

11. Ohio State University South Centers, Pike County

12. Jackson Agricultural Research Station, Jackson County

-- Mauricio Espinoza

Granular Technology Offers More Options for Effective, Safer Ag Products

Liquid pesticide applications are the most reliable way of ridding food of pests and diseases, while providing a high-quality, consistent product. But those products can also be an environmental hazard, finding their way in the water supply through run-off or spray drift. The Ohio State University has embarked on an effort to put safer, more effective applications in farmers' hands.

Through a $5 million Third Frontier Grant, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center researchers are evaluating granular technology developed by The Andersons, Inc., that more effectively contains, transports, and delivers fertilizer and pesticides, or other biologically active ingredients, to specific areas. The result is a more effective and environmentally safer product, activated only when exposed to water.

The OARDC project makes up two components. One is to find a way of getting the product on the plant; little technology exists to effectively apply a granular pesticide product.

"Our goal is to develop equipment that will apply dry products as close to liquid products as possible in terms of precision and allow them stay on the plant surface much longer," said OARDC agricultural engineer Erdal Ozkan.

Researchers are developing equipment that will apply the dry product where it's needed and keep it on the plant, which will be achieved by introducing moisture to dry product granules as they travel from the dry application equipment to the target.

The second component answers the question, "How well do granular pesticides work?"

Entomologist Celeste Welty is using cabbage as the crop of choice for evaluating the granular product and comparing its efficacy to conventional liquid applications.

"If we are successful with the proper application equipment and if the products work, it will mean a safer alternative to liquid products and a reliable product for farmers," said Ozkan.

-- Candace Pollock