MAES News
April 1, 2009
- Relocated Saginaw Valley Research Farm Expands Research in Thumb
- MSU Wins Federal Funds to Create Biofuel Research Center with Michigan Tech at UPTIC
- MAES Researchers Question Effectiveness of Warning Labels on OTC Drugs
- Small Investments to Battle Soybean Pest Paying Off Big, Says MAES Scientist
- Rising Cost of Food Issue Guide Available
- Equine Industry Contributes More Than $1 Billion to Michigan's Economy
- Michigan Tourism Industry Expected to Decline in 2009, Experts Say
To expand research opportunities and improve grower access to research results, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station has a new location and a new name for its field research station in the Saginaw Valley.
One of 15 MAES specialized research facilities around Michigan, the 250-acre Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center will open April 3 at 9923 1/2 Krueger Rd., 4 miles north of Frankenmuth. It replaces the 120-acre Saginaw Valley Bean and Beet Research Farm in Saginaw.
"We needed more land to expand our mission and to more fully meet the needs of an important agricultural region in Michigan," said Doug Buhler, MAES associate director. "We're also looking forward to developing more of a focal point for MAES, MSU Extension and MSU programs in the Saginaw Valley/Frankenmuth area with this new location."
Most of the state's dry bean and sugar beet production is located in the Saginaw Valley and Thumb area. Michigan is the country's leading producer of black beans and the No. 2 producer of dry beans, an industry that added more than $104 million to the state's economy in 2007. The state is also the country's No. 4 producer of sugar beets, with a $124 million production value in 2007.
"Michigan's climate, soil profile and growing season vary dramatically from north to south and east to west, so the geographic location of MAES field stations are critical to providing accurate, economically relevant information to growers," explained Jim Kelly, faculty coordinator for the Saginaw Valley field research station. "Although very uniform, the soil types at the former farm were only representative of about 5 percent of the soils in the region. The new farm better represents the soil type and weather variables of the area, which is important because the climate can change every 10 miles due to lake effect."
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Field station faculty coordinator and MAES dry bean breeder Jim Kelly says the new farm better represents the soil type and weather variables of the area. |
The new research farm also is located in an area close to where the state's major cash crops -- beets, beans, corn, wheat and soybeans -- are grown.
"The previous site was a little out of the mainstream since it was on the west side of Saginaw -- it was a less convenient for farmers to visit," Kelly said. "Farmers like to see results from an area that's adjacent to their own because they get a sense that the research conducted at the farm relates better to their operations."
"We've created a great opportunity for bean growers and processors in Michigan to have a strong basis for research," said Bob Green, executive director of the Michigan Bean Commission. "There is close collaboration between MSU scientists and industry researchers at the facility. It brings everyone together so anything new and leading edge gets transferred to the industry fairly quickly."
"There's been extensive research performed at the old Saginaw Valley Beet and Bean Research Farm that has helped advance the dry bean and sugar beet industries in Michigan," said Ray VanDriessche, director of community and government relations for the Michigan Sugar Co. "The cooperative working relationship between MSU and these groups has produced research that has allowed Michigan growers to be national leaders in a variety of commodities and the new farm will allow us to strengthen that leadership. There will also be an opportunity to conduct research on other rotational crops like corn, wheat and soybeans. These are crops we already have in rotation with sugar beets and dry beans, so it makes for a very good fit."
The former research farm, which is owned by dry bean and sugar beet groups, will be donated to MSU to sell.
"The money will be used to help pay for the cost of the new land, facility construction and infrastructure improvements," said Chuck Reid, director of the MSU Land Management Office. "We are extremely grateful for this generous investment in the new farm to help ensure its success and a sustainable future for Michigan agriculture."
MSU Wins Federal Funds to Create Biofuel Research Center with Michigan Tech at UPTIC
Research to turn trees into liquid fuel got a boost with the approval of the $410 billion federal omnibus spending bill. The bill allocates $1.4 million for a new biofuel research program at the MAES Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center (UPTIC) in Escanaba.
The funds will allow MSU and Michigan Technological University scientists to work together to find solutions to the most complex problems facing the forest-based cellulosic biofuels industry, using trees as raw materials for renewable fuels such as ethanol. The funding for the center comes from the U.S. Department of Energy and is being distributed by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC).
"The Forestry Biofuel Statewide Collaboration Center will be a place where new and existing research, development and outreach projects at Michigan State and Michigan Tech can be focused," said Ray Miller, MSU forest biomass development coordinator. Miller also serves as UPTIC director and oversees forestry research at Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station properties in the U.P. UPTIC is one of 15 MAES field research stations around Michigan.
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Ray Miller serves as forest biomass development coordinator and UPTIC director. |
"The central U.P. is heavily forested and is at the heart of both the existing forest products industry and the emerging wood-based biofuels industry," Miller continued. "It's the perfect place to investigate and demonstrate the best ways to use our vast forest resources to expand the state's rural economies in environmentally, economically and socially sustainable ways."
Martin Dober, MEDC vice president of new markets, said the research at the center will build on work funded through the state's Forest Feedstock Supply Chain Center of Energy Excellence. MSU and MTU received $2 million through this program to support the Mascoma Corp.'s proposed cellulosic ethanol plant in Chippewa County.
"Michigan State and Michigan Tech have been working in partnership with the MEDC to encourage and support the development of Michigan's forest bioeconomy for more than a year," said Steve Pueppke, director of both the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies and the MAES. "We welcome this additional support that will allow us to expand the work we've begun and increase the scope to include the entire state."
Other budget bill funds, categorized as U.S. Department of Agriculture special research grants, are to go directly to MSU. They include $500,000 of a multistate $4.5 million grant for wood utilization research, $346,000 to share with the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for fire blight research, $346,000 to combat the plant pathogen Phytophthora and $266,000 for sustainable agriculture research. Michigan State also will share in a $3.8 million energy and water appropriation for a Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research.
MAES Researchers Question Effectiveness of Warning Labels on OTC Drugs
Medicine packages barrage consumers with information, some required to be "prominent" and "conspicuous." But marketing claims and brand names still overshadow critical fine print on non-prescription medications, MAES researchers found.
In a study published in the March 30 Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, MAES researchers examined the effectiveness of two required warnings on over-the-counter medications, specifically their relative prominence and conspicuousness.
"We wanted to be able to quantify how well warning statements in over-the-counter drug packaging were working to convey information to consumers," explained Laura Bix, MAES packaging researcher and lead author. "To be effective, warnings about the lack of a child resistant feature, or those that alert consumers to potential tampering of the product, need to be read and comprehended at the time of purchase."
Medicine labels carry brand identification and descriptions of contents; quantity; price; ingredients; dosage; directions; barcodes; and warning statements. Federal regulations require packages that do not have a child resistant feature, for example, to conspicuously state that the product is not intended for homes with small children. Such packages are blamed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a number of child poisonings every year.
Bix and her colleagues quantified the relative prominence and conspicuousness of five different label elements on the packages of OTC pain-killers: the tamper-evident warning; the child-resistant warning; the brand name; the drug facts information; and statement of claims such as "extra strength." They also evaluated how well test subjects remembered information presented on the product packaging.
Using an eye tracking device, the researchers found that people spent the most time looking at the brand of the product and significantly less time looking at the tamper-evident and child-resistant warnings. Study participants also recalled the brand of the products at a higher rate. While two-thirds recalled one or more brands that they viewed during the course of the study, only 18 percent recalled warnings related to alcohol and 8.2 percent recalled that the product was not to be used in households with young children. Not one recalled warnings about tamper-evident features.
The researchers also found that the brand and product claims were significantly more legible than the warning statements. They noted that the higher legibility of the brand name wasn’t surprising, given the importance of brand identification in purchasing decisions.
"Little specific guidance exists from the federal government regarding what it means to be 'prominent' or 'conspicuous,' yet, this term is used quite frequently in the regulations that dictate labeling for a variety of product," Bix said. "Our findings call into question whether or not these warnings are working, but do not indicate why. An array of reasons should be investigated: these could include design and graphics, consumer experience and previous knowledge and whether or not consumers recognize the potential consequences of missing or disregarding this information."
"Finding effective ways to get people to read and heed warnings on over-the-counter drugs is critical to their safety and well-being as well as those around them -- especially children," MAES Director Steve Pueppke said. "This research is an important step toward using consumer-focused science to improve design and labeling elements for these medications."
Follow-up research being conducted by one of Bix’s graduate students, Raghav Prashant Sundar, is looking at the same noticeability, recall and legibility issues for prescription drugs bearing prescription warning labels -- the colorful stickers often applied at the pharmacy.
Bix's study is available online at the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science website.
In addition to Bix, other MAES scientists involved in the research are Rafael Auras, MAES packaging scientist, and Maria Lapinski-Lafaive, MAES risk communication scientist.
Small Investments to Battle Soybean Pest Paying Off Big, Says MAES Scientist
The small amount of money put toward research and education on fighting the tiny yet destructive soybean aphid will pay big dividends in the coming years, said an MAES economist, thanks to a research and outreach system developed during the past 50 years.
State and federal governments have spent $17 million on soybean aphid research and education since 2003, MAES agricultural, food and resource economics researcher Scott Swinton said. The net economic benefit of that integrated pest management work, or IPM, should reach $1.3 billion during the next 15 years, he said. That’s an annual rate of return of 180 percent.
"This is an example of what a good payoff you can get as a result of long-term research," Swinton said. "There's been a half century of research into integrated pest management. In the process, a lot of techniques were developed and lots of understanding was gained about the relationships between crop and pest life cycles, infestations and the weather to decide when it’s necessary to control them without wasting money and creating health risks."
Integrated pest management "takes a comprehensive approach to pest management that balances economics with environmental and human safety, as well as with what makes sense on the ground in the local community," said Michael Brewer, MSU IPM Program coordinator.
Controls, which might include chemical and biological methods, are put into action only after a carefully determined cost-effectiveness threshold is crossed. Fewer than 250 aphids per plant, for example, probably won't affect soybean yield, and early use of insecticides could actually kill beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps.
"For me it's almost like having a good national defense system in case you're attacked in a time of war," Swinton said. "Having a good IPM research and outreach system enables you to respond rapidly to invasive species such as the soybean aphid."
Soybeans are the second largest cash crop in the United States. The harvest exceeded 3 billion bushels in 2005 with sales of $17 billion. Two-thirds of the crop goes to poultry, pig and cattle feed, and about a third is exported, according to government figures.
Soybean fields could be left insecticide-free in the Midwest until just five or 10 years ago, when aphids began to appear in the north central states. By 2005, 22 percent of soybean acreage nationally was being treated for the sap-sucking pests, which stunt plant growth and transmit viruses. Michigan's acreage treatment rate had risen to 42 percent by then, and Minnesota's to 56 percent.
Swinton and doctoral student Feng Song calculated the cost of state and federal soybean aphid research and outreach programs since they began in 2003 and the net benefits to growers and consumers during the next 15 years. They presented their research results at the Sixth International IPM Symposium in Portland, Ore., March 24.
Michigan State's IPM research and Extension work is supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, Project GREEEN and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Rising Cost of Food Issue Guide Available
To provide opportunities to consider how best to respond to issues around the rising cost of food, MAES scientists, MSU Extension educators and other MSU researchers worked with stakeholders, experts and state residents to develop an issue guide for informal public forums to help participants explore the complex dynamics that confront our food and agriculture system.
The 31-page guide, "The Rising Cost of Food: What is our Food Future?" presents three ways to address the rising cost of food:
- Taking personal stock, reassessing lifestyle, values and choices.
- Local matters: re-embedding food in community.
- Increased food production: more people means more demand.
The ideas that come out of the informal forums will be compiled and shared with organizations, concerned citizens, media and policymakers.
The guide and accompanying moderator's manual are available online. For more information, contact Jan Hartough, MSUE state coordinator for public deliberation, at hartough@msu.edu.
Equine Industry Contributes More Than $1 Billion to Michigan's Economy
A recent study of the Michigan equine industry showed that the state is home to more than 155,000 horses, mules and donkeys and delineated where they are and how they are used. Now an analysis of that study has determined that the industry generates more than $1 billion a year for the state’s economy.
"The Economic Impact of the Michigan Equine Industry" was the result of a joint effort by investigators from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and MSU Extension. It was developed using the results from the 2007 survey by the Michigan field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service.
In addition to the overall economic impact, the analysis showed that the equine industry generates $150 million in income across the state, and that horse owners and facility managers spend nearly $60 million on grain and supplements, $44 million on hay and $44 million on capital improvements, and pay $40 million in property taxes each year.
"These are sizable numbers, and they really underline the value of the entire equine industry, from pleasure riding to breeding to racing," said Karen Waite, MSU Extension equine specialist. "Michigan equine enthusiasts spend money on everything from veterinary and farrier services to trucks and trailers, they travel and build barns -- all of which generate economic activity for our state."
The equine industry analysis may have relevance for decision makers in urban and rural communities alike who are facing decisions about zoning and recreational facilities.
"This summary of the economic impact of the Michigan horse industry is a critical document for decision makers across the state to examine," said Val Vail-Shirey, executive director of the Michigan Equine Partnership. "The numbers show the strength of the industry and exactly what the industry means to Michigan. The Michigan horse industry is strong and viable, especially when given the tools to thrive financially."
Other uses for the survey results include justification for business development or expansion plans or information for farmers who are considering providing feed or hay to the equine market.
"For those already involved in the equine industry and those considering it in the future, the availability of sound, current economic information is of considerable benefit," said Marilyn Graff, Michigan Horse Council board member. "This applies whether they are considering expanding a current operation, beginning a new project or even restructuring their existing operation."
To see a summary of "The Economic Impact of the Michigan Equine Industry," visit www.horsescountinmichigan.com. The Michigan equine survey was conducted with support from the MSU Animal Agriculture Initiative, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Equine Partnership, MSU Extension, the Michigan Horse Council, the Brighton Trail Riders Association, the Pontiac Lake Horseman’s Association, the Proud Lake Trail Riders’ Association, the Michigan Draft Horse Breeders Association, the Michigan Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, the Augusta Township Mounted Patrol and the Highland Equestrian Coalition.
Michigan Tourism Industry Expected to Decline in 2009, Experts Say
The Michigan tourism industry is expected to decline by 3 percent to 4 percent this year, according to a forecast presented by MSU scientists at the Driving Tourism 2009 Conference in Detroit.
After a review of last year's economic, transportation and weather conditions and a summary of 2008 Michigan tourism activity, MSU tourism analyst Don Holecek gave his projections for 2009. His projections on tourism volume, prices and spending are based on discussions with a dozen of the state's industry experts.
"We're looking at a decline of 3 to 4 percent in travel volume and spending," Holecek said. "But compensating for that will be a decline in travel prices of a percent or two. If gas prices stay down in the $2 range that they're at now, we could see a 4 to 5 percent decline in prices, which will make Michigan’s travel product even more affordable."
With Michigan's economy already in recession in 2008 and gasoline prices at historically high levels, the tourism industry obviously faced major challenges last year, said Sarah Nicholls, MAES community, agriculture, recreation and resource studies scientist.
"Data indicate that the industry did indeed struggle last year, registering a modest decline in tourist numbers, but tourist spending held up better than might be expected in such a difficult market environment," she said.
The "Pure Michigan" advertising campaign, generally favorable weather, and high quality and modestly priced Michigan travel products played roles in offsetting the negative economy in 2008.
"This year will be an even more challenging year for Michigan's tourism industry because this state, which is typically the source of about 70 percent of our tourists, has slipped even further into recession, and the economies of the other states that we rely on for out-of-state visitors are far weaker than they were last year," Holecek said.
Holecek said that, once people realize that they need a respite, Michigan tourism industry leaders want them to be aware of all that this state has to offer and the broad range of cost options offering exceptional value.
"Travel involves several factors, with income being only one of them," he said. "The other important one is time. It may be enforced leisure for many, but people will have more time on their hands than they’ve had in the past. If the industry can tap into that and offer options that are in line with people’s budgets, Michigan tourism could be impacted favorably."
Nicholls and Holecek presented their conclusions at the “Driving Michigan Tourism Conference” on March 23.
