Agriculture Science Today

Agriculture Science Today


Latest Episodes

Agriculture Science Today 013 – Vampire Plants
November 13, 2014

Tim and Steph bring you a spooky Halloween episode on the parasitic plants named dodders that have the ability to thrive by sucking their nutritional needs out of a host plant.

Agriculture Science Today 012 – Phantastic Phage
June 08, 2014

This week Tim and Steph discuss bacteriophages and their uses in health and food safety. What is a bacteriophage? Bacteriophages are viruses that invade bacterial cells and cause the bacterium to lyse, or split open, and subsequently die.

Agriculture Science Today 011 – Colostrum: It’s Not Just For Antibodies
May 08, 2014

  - This week Tim and Steph discuss colostrum, its importance to neonatal (baby) animals, and its role in extending the communication between mother and offspring outside of the uterus. What is Colostrum?

Agriculture Science Today 010 – “Middens and Mariculture” The Science of Ancient Clam Gardens
April 25, 2014

This week Tim and Steph interview Amy Groesbeck about research that she took part in on ancient clam beds on the coast of British Columbia. A seasoned “coastal girl” as she calls herself she had a lot of passion speaking to us about the ancient maricul...

Agriculture Science Today Episode 009: “Sneaky Staph”
April 16, 2014

This week Tim and Steph talk about Staphylococcus Aureus which is a major pathogen for both humans and animals. We discuss briefly how it is handled in a human medicine setting as well as in agriculture, primarily from a dairy farming perspective.

Agriculture Science Today Episode 008: “Calf Smarts”
April 08, 2014

Agriculture Science Today Episode 008 - “Calf Smarts”   - This week Tim and Steph talk about group housing dairy calves and some new research that suggests the practice may help them be smarter cows better able to deal with change.

Agriculture Science Today Episode 007: PEDv “The Sticky Virus”
April 01, 2014

Agriculture Science Today Episode 007 PEDv “The Sticky Virus” This week Tim and Steph talk about the pig disease Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus or PEDv with Dr. Bob Morrison of the University of Minnesota. The virus is highly pathogenic,

Agriculture Science Today 006: “Sexy Goats”
March 27, 2014

Sexy Male Goats   - Today Tim and Steph discuss male goats and their unique (lady goats may say sexy) scent, also known as pheromones. They note the first pheromone discovered in moths in 1959 named bombykol and stink fights among lemurs and ant ...

Agriculture Science Today 005: “Chinese Bees”
March 17, 2014

Effects of landscape on bumblebees to ensure crop pollination This week we review a paper on the effects of different land use types surrounding squash fields on the ability of bumblebees in conjunction with honey bees to pollinate the crop.

Agriculture Science Today 004 : “Phytase, phytate and phosphorus (oh my!)”
March 11, 2014

Phytase and Nutrient Management This week we discuss the enzyme phytase mostly as it relates to dairy nutrition but with a few nods to pigs and chickens. Nutrient management on farms and water pollution is a concern we discuss as it is part of the jus...