January 27, Tucson
US (AZ): Meet the CEAC Covering Environments Seminar speakers
At 4:15 PM, Dr. Gene Giacomelli (Director of CEAC & Professor ABE) will give his presentation entitled “CEAC Leading Activities for the New Age of Arizona Agriculture”.
In this inaugural seminar of the Spring semester, Dr. Giacomelli will discuss how today's research activities at CEAC – including both instructional and outreach programs – have positioned CEAC at the University of Arizona to reach national leadership in meeting current and future food production needs within controlled agriculture environments.
Giacomelli's forward looking presentation will demonstrate how a global shift in agriculture, dictated by diminishing resources (water, arable lands), increasing deleterious weather conditions and societal demand for safe, high-quality vegetables, is focusing on crop production in protected environments to meet the nutritional needs of the accelerated growth in the world's population.
As director, since 2000, Giacomelli has been highly instrumental in leading the activities and projects which have positioned CEAC for its present success and its continued leadership in the technology and biology of producing food crops anywhere, anytime, regardless of external environmental conditions. This forward looking and innovative culture, fostered at CEAC, is arguably best demonstrated by the Mars-Lunar Greenhouse Project which is designed to provide fresh crops to astronauts in extraterrestrial environments. Based on plant science and environmental technologies, this self-sustaining facility is positioned to be the model system on which life away from earth would be supported.
In the monthly seminars to come, CEAC faculty, staff and students will describe their own contributions to the national and global needs to produce food crops in the novel and complementary branch of production agriculture in controlled environments. Together this semester's presentations will create a map for the future directions of controlled environment agriculture research and instruction at the University of Arizona and elsewhere.
At 4:45 PM, Dr. Stacy Tollefson (Asst Professor ABE, CEAC Faculty) will take the stage and deliver her presentation entitled “My CEAC Experiences with Organic Hydroponics”.
Dr. Tollefson is the newest faculty member to join the CEAC team. But, she is not a newcomer to CEAC itself, having earned her PhD here and having been involved in the teaching greenhouse crop production courses over the past several years.
In addition to her expertise in greenhouse management, hydroponic crop production and integrated pest management in controlled agriculture environments, Tollefson has focused her attention on the study of liquid organic fertilizers, including compost teas as a vehicle for producing hydroponically-grown vegetable crops which would qualify them as organic according to USDA regulations.
Tollefson's research expertise has earned her a seat on the USDA Hydroponic and Aquaponics Task Force which was tasked with describing current hydroponic organic production systems being used in the industry today and analyzing the practices to determine their compliance or non-compliance with current NOP regulations. This position is not only an important achievement for Tollefson but also puts in the limelight the CEAC, CALS, and the University of Arizona contributions to the national scene in this important and emerging area of agriculture in the USA and abroad.
In her presentation, the second in the CEAC Covering Environments seminars, Dr. Tollefson will update us on her progress in using various liquid organic fertilizers for the production of vegetable crops grown hydroponically. Looking to the future, Tollefson will share her vision of how hydroponics and organics will be integrated to grow healthier, more nutritious and safer foods.
A networking, get acquainted session, with light refreshments, will take place between 3:45 to 4:15 pm at the CEAC lecture room (1951 E Roger Rd, Tucson). A Q&A period will follow the talk.
For more information:
ceac.arizona.edu/ceac-seminar-series