Randolph will help launch the first Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit with a screening of the documentary Growing Cities on Monday, April 14.
The summit will bring more than 100 people from around Virginia to Lynchburg to learn about ways to foster sustainable urban farms. Michael Van Ness, the executive director of the local, nonprofit farm Lynchburg Grows, asked Randolph College to host a viewing of Growing Cities to provide a national perspective on the issues the summit will address.
The College’s ongoing work in the field of sustainable food—including the growth of the Randolph College Organic Garden and student/faculty research on the topic—made him want to hold the film viewing here, Van Ness said. “Randolph has been going in this direction for a number of years, and we just thought it was a natural fit,” he said.
Growing Cities is a documentary about urban farming across the United States. It follows two filmmakers around the country as they interview people and show the ways urban agriculture promotes economic development and improves nutrition.
“It’s an inspiring film,” said John Abell, a Randolph College economics professor whose research focuses on the economics of sustainable food supplies. “It lets you know what the possibilities are. It shows lots of youthful enthusiasm for the whole farm-to-table movement.”
The screening will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Smith Hall Theatre. Hor d’oeuvres, including some local produce, will be served in the Alice Ashley Jack Room on the second floor of Smith Memorial Building beginning at 5:30 p.m. Abell will lead a discussion about the documentary.
For more information about the Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit, visit http://www.vaco.org/event/virginia-urban-agriculture-summit/
Showing posts with label organic garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic garden. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Randolph College Research Team Featured on Local News Broadcast
A Randolph College professor and two students shared their thoughts on organic farming during a story on WDBJ 7's evening broadcast September 4.
Adam Houlihan, a biology professor, Laura Word ’13, and Michael Taylor ’13 conducted research this summer (http://randolphcollege.blogspot.com/2012/07/grass-and-free-range-chicken-diets.html) exploring the best practices for raising healthy chickens that produce high-quality eggs. Using the chickens in Randolph’s Organic Garden, Word and Taylor placed one group of chickens in an area without grass and another in an area with grass. They then tracked the health and egg quality of the hens from each group.
Their research, which compared the benefits of two types of organic methods, is similar to research conducted by Stanford University published September 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The Stanford scientists studied the health benefits of organic and conventional foods. That study found that organic food is not necessarily healthier than non-organic food. The Randolph team, however, found there was a difference in the egg quality in free range chickens.
Houlihan, Word, and Taylor talked with Tim Saunders, a reporter from WDBJ 7. Randolph’s chickens and Einstein the rooster even got in on the action. The story aired Tuesday evening. Check it out at http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-no-health-benefit-to-organic-food-lynchburg-researcher-reacts-to-new-study-20120904,0,1947395.story.
Adam Houlihan, a biology professor, Laura Word ’13, and Michael Taylor ’13 conducted research this summer (http://randolphcollege.blogspot.com/2012/07/grass-and-free-range-chicken-diets.html) exploring the best practices for raising healthy chickens that produce high-quality eggs. Using the chickens in Randolph’s Organic Garden, Word and Taylor placed one group of chickens in an area without grass and another in an area with grass. They then tracked the health and egg quality of the hens from each group.
Their research, which compared the benefits of two types of organic methods, is similar to research conducted by Stanford University published September 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The Stanford scientists studied the health benefits of organic and conventional foods. That study found that organic food is not necessarily healthier than non-organic food. The Randolph team, however, found there was a difference in the egg quality in free range chickens.
Houlihan, Word, and Taylor talked with Tim Saunders, a reporter from WDBJ 7. Randolph’s chickens and Einstein the rooster even got in on the action. The story aired Tuesday evening. Check it out at http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-no-health-benefit-to-organic-food-lynchburg-researcher-reacts-to-new-study-20120904,0,1947395.story.
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| Laura Word '13 explains the differences in eggs. |
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| Tim Saunders of WDBJ 7 gets up close and personal with one of Randolph's hens. |
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| Adam Houlihan, a Randolph biology professor, talks about organic gardening and farming with Tim Saunders. |
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| (Left) Michael Taylor '13 works in the Organic Garden while Tim Saunders (center) shoots video with Laura Word '13 (right). |
Friday, July 20, 2012
Grass and free-range chicken diets: Students lead research with organic garden chickens
Two Randolph students are leading a study to help determine the best practices for raising healthy chickens that produce high-quality eggs.
Laura Word ’13 and Michael Taylor ’13 are conducting this research with chickens in the Randolph College Organic Garden. They placed one group of chickens in an area without grass, and another in an area with grass. Then they started tracking the health and egg quality of hens from each group.
Word, who wants to become a veterinarian, thought of the research idea because she was interested in seeing how a grassy habitat would affect chickens. “You would think that if they have grass, they would be much better; but being a scientist, I can’t just trust my gut.”
Word and Taylor each received a grant from the Randolph Innovative Student Experience (RISE) program, which provides grants to help students pay for research and other scholarly endeavors. Word also received a Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges summer fellowship to fund the project.
After putting the chickens in different environments, they provided an identical corn and pellet ration to each group. They weighed the chickens, checked them for parasites and bacteria, and analyzed their eggs.
The researchers were surprised to find that the chickens among the grass gained weight more slowly than the other chickens. They produced fewer eggs, but the eggs had higher quality according to several measures.
Word plans to continue this research project in the fall to try answering other questions. For example, is the lower egg production caused by the age of the hens? Or could Einstein (the sometimes overprotective rooster who watches over the forage group) be causing them stress?
Adam Houlihan, a Randolph biology professor working on the research with the students, said this project gives context to the poultry industry’s free-range practices. “Free range, by definition, simply means that the birds have been given some period of time outdoors,” he said. “It doesn’t define the quality of the outdoor space, and it doesn’t define the period of time.” Some free range chickens are given an outdoor field of dirt or gravel, although some farmers are pushing for raising chickens with grass.
“This tiny little experiment with 28 birds has the potential to change some of the ways that the industry conducts business,” Houlihan said.
Laura Word ’13 and Michael Taylor ’13 are conducting this research with chickens in the Randolph College Organic Garden. They placed one group of chickens in an area without grass, and another in an area with grass. Then they started tracking the health and egg quality of hens from each group.
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| Getting chickens to sit in a bucket long enough to be weighed isn't always easy, but it is an important part of the research Laura Word ’13 and Michael Taylor ’13 are conducting. |
Word, who wants to become a veterinarian, thought of the research idea because she was interested in seeing how a grassy habitat would affect chickens. “You would think that if they have grass, they would be much better; but being a scientist, I can’t just trust my gut.”
Word and Taylor each received a grant from the Randolph Innovative Student Experience (RISE) program, which provides grants to help students pay for research and other scholarly endeavors. Word also received a Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges summer fellowship to fund the project.
After putting the chickens in different environments, they provided an identical corn and pellet ration to each group. They weighed the chickens, checked them for parasites and bacteria, and analyzed their eggs.
The researchers were surprised to find that the chickens among the grass gained weight more slowly than the other chickens. They produced fewer eggs, but the eggs had higher quality according to several measures.
Word plans to continue this research project in the fall to try answering other questions. For example, is the lower egg production caused by the age of the hens? Or could Einstein (the sometimes overprotective rooster who watches over the forage group) be causing them stress?
Adam Houlihan, a Randolph biology professor working on the research with the students, said this project gives context to the poultry industry’s free-range practices. “Free range, by definition, simply means that the birds have been given some period of time outdoors,” he said. “It doesn’t define the quality of the outdoor space, and it doesn’t define the period of time.” Some free range chickens are given an outdoor field of dirt or gravel, although some farmers are pushing for raising chickens with grass.
“This tiny little experiment with 28 birds has the potential to change some of the ways that the industry conducts business,” Houlihan said.
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