September 2004

Welcome to Purdue Agriculture Report, an e-newsletter for business and community leaders on research, academics and Extension across Indiana and around the globe.

The country was at war, the economy floundering and people needed skills to transition into a new age. Those were the conditions that paved the way for passage of legislation in the 1860s that established land-grant universities, such as Purdue.

Today, we face similar themes, and the land-grant mission to improve lives and livelihoods is as critical as ever. The land-grant university still plays a vital role in growing new economies and equipping people for new technologies.

State leaders invest in higher education knowing that first-rate research universities boost the economic fortunes of the state, by providing rationale for corporate locations, high-wage manufacturing activities and high-tech industrial expansion.

Land-grant universities have worked under this model from the beginning, particularly within agriculture, through our research experiment stations and Extension programs. Now, we are adapting the model to encourage innovation and entrepreneurism among our faculty and students. This occurs not only through training and education, but with deliberate involvement in start-up companies as well.

Major changes in agriculture, food and natural resource industries require innovative solutions. These innovations will come from discoveries in basic life sciences; new processes that increase the value of food products; improved food nutrition through an understanding of basic biochemistry; and solutions to environmental issues, such as animal waste, that sustain the agriculture industry and rural development.

Does an emphasis on economic expansion crowd out the university's traditional mission? No, I don't believe so. Serving the state can mean many things to many people, but, in the end, a strong combination of creativity and discovery will continue to fuel our country's success.

Farmers who hire a neighbor to perform fieldwork or other common jobs are paying more today than four years ago, according to a recent Purdue University study.

"Indiana Custom Rates 2004" found that while custom rates for tillage, planting and harvesting have gone up, they aren't significantly higher than in 2000, the last time the study was issued. In some cases, the rates are about the same or lower, said Craig Dobbins, a Purdue Extension agricultural economist.

The Purdue study lists about 60 custom farming services in such areas as land preparation and machine rental. Each listing includes an average rate, a range of high and low charges, and the number of people who supplied cost information on those services. read more

Identifying tick genes could halt disease

Ticks as small as a freckle can transmit a number of illnesses for which there is no vaccine and, in some cases, no cure. These creatures even could become bioterrorism weapons.

To find new ways to control the tiny animals and halt the spread of the pathogens they carry, Purdue University researchers and colleagues from the University of Connecticut Health Center, the University of Notre Dame and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are undertaking the job of unraveling the genetic makeup of one variety of the creature, called the deer or black-legged tick.

"This will be the first time researchers have explored a tick genome in depth," said Purdue's Catherine Hill, project co-principal investigator. "It's crucial to learn how ticks spread serious illnesses because of the global health threats these diseases pose." read more

Indiana farmland remains a good buy, and an even better asset.

An annual Purdue University survey indicates all classes of Hoosier cropland were worth more in June than in the same month a year ago. This marks the 16th straight year farmland values have gone up.

The Purdue Land Values Survey found that an acre of bare land averaged between $2,131 and $3,278 in value, depending on its production potential. Poor quality, high quality and average quality land increased in value by 8.4 percent, 8 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively, during the 12-month period.

The jump in land values was the highest since 1996-97, when values soared 12 percent to 15 percent statewide, said Craig Dobbins, a Purdue Extension farm management specialist. "This is one of the stronger increases we've seen in the last several years," Dobbins said. read more

Antioxidant protects metal-eating plants

An antioxidant, a type of compound that prevents certain types of damage to living cells, appears to allow some kinds of plants to thrive on metal-enriched soils that typically kill other plants, says a Purdue University scientist.

This finding, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, provides an important new insight for the development of plants that could be used to help clean polluted sites. The work also answers a fundamental question for researchers studying how certain types of plants tolerate levels of metals in their tissues that are toxic to most other plants.

"We were able to clearly establish for the first time that plants that create and accumulate high cellular levels of the antioxidant glutathione are much more nickel tolerant," said David Salt, associate professor of plant molecular physiology in Purdue's horticulture department. read more

For professional and amateur winemakers, the Grape and Wine Fall Workshop will offer a hands-on learning experience from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 at Meigs Farm, the horticulture research farm at Throckmorton Purdue Agricultural Center in Lafayette. The workshop includes a tour of Purdue's newest research vineyard, featuring more than 50 grape varieties, as well as several opportunities to practice real-world winemaking techniques in Purdue's wine research lab. read more

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