The UT Institute of Agriculture’s land-grant mission is to create opportunities for Tennesseans and residents of communities well beyond our state’s borders through practical solutions that improve their lives.
The stories that follow spotlight innovations that are helping people overcome addiction; expanding student access to higher education; making outdoor recreation safer for all; and helping producers in one of Tennessee’s keystone agricultural industries find new solutions to the heavy labor demands of plant nurseries.
Tackling a Tennessee Grand Challenge
In her first year, assistant professor and UT Extension nutrition and food safety specialist Kristin Riggsbee traveled the state to learn about communities’ family and consumer sciences needs. A priority that many agents spoke about was for research-based nutrition education they could deliver to people recovering from addiction at recovery centers, halfway houses, and correctional facilities.
Overcoming addiction is one of the grand challenges that the UT System is striving to help the state of Tennessee address. “Uniting this need and goal just seemed natural,” Riggsbee explains. So she applied for and secured a $98,000 UT System Grand Challenge grant to fund her efforts and those of a multifaceted team in developing nutrition education specific to the needs of those in recovery. Agents will trial the curricula in six counties. The team will assess its performance and finalize it for statewide use by year’s end.
“Cooking is something that research tells us leads to healthier nutrition,” Riggsbee explains. The lesson plans will educate individuals in recovery about sound nutrition and give them hands-on experience with cooking techniques they can use to prepare healthy foods and ensure food safety. “Cooking is something that threads people together. It’s a piece of our culture. People share and communicate and connect as they cook, and we believe this training will help position these individuals for success in many ways,” Riggsbee says.
4-H Project Work That Earns College Credit
Sophomore Delaney Turner is among the first Tennessee 4-H members to earn course credit in the Herbert College of Agriculture for her high school 4-H project work.
“Knowing I met college course requirements through my livestock project and state Skillathon team gave me confidence I could succeed in university study,” Delaney says. She believes this experience will give other 4-H members a confidence boost, too.
Tennessee 4-H Youth Development specialists, along with Herbert faculty, found that skills from level II portfolios for state 4-H contests often meet or exceed some 100-level course requirements.
In 2023, Tennessee became the first program in the nation to offer three credit hours for advanced 4-H project work. Since then, universities like Texas A&M, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Iowa State University have sought information about this innovative program.
Signage that Makes Outdoor Recreation Safer
Stretches of the Buffalo River can look the same. “We have even had locals require rescue and not be able to share their position correctly,” says Amanda Mathenia, director of UT Extension Perry County. The Buffalo is the community’s most popular tourist spot for boating, fishing, kayaking, and tubing, and the similar look challenges first responders in locating emergencies along the river.
UT Extension took action to improve recreationalists’ safety by joining with community partners to form the Buffalo River Blue Way Project. Across summer 2024, more than 130 GPS mile markers were installed on riverbanks and the thirteen bridges that span Perry County’s forty-two-mile section of the river. The signs help individuals accurately communicate their location during emergencies. Map kiosks installed at three popular access points allow visitors to familiarize themselves with the river layout.
“It provides us with peace of mind, knowing that people can safely enjoy our county’s natural ecosystems,” Mathenia says. “That is what Extension is all about: seeing a need and working together to make a difference.”
Automation to Meet Tennessee’s Nursery Industry Labor Needs
John Turner of Turner and Sons Nursery in Smithville, Tennessee, is experiencing one of the widespread issues businesses face today: worker shortages. “The (nursery) industry is facing challenges that will require producers to be more efficient with the limited labor that is available.”
Efficiency can come through automation, and UT Extension and UT AgResearch are developing robots and automation with a $10 million US Department of Agriculture grant to help overcome worker shortages in the nursery industry.
The Labor, Efficiency, Automation, and Production Team is working with local producers and eight other universities to automate tasks. Researchers Le Chen, Amy Fulcher, Margarita Velandia, Natalie Bumgarner, Taylor Ruth, Hao Gan, Alicia Rihn, and Susan Schexnayder are all principal investigators on the project.
Early prototype innovations that aim to improve nursery operations include PIPER (a harvesting robot), TALI (an automatic laser-based inventory system), A-IPM (a roving scout that automatically identifies scale insect pests), and ANDREW (a weed-eliminating robot). Resources such as financial tools, online classes, and mentoring programs will help producers adopt these technologies.
“We’ve increased salaries and benefits but still struggle to recruit workers,” says Terry Hines of Hale and Hines Nursery in McMinnville, Tennessee. “Investing in automation is essential for a sustainable future.”
Explore More on
Features
