Winter 2013

Pacific Invasion

Launched by a tsunami, hitchhiking organisms make landfall on an Oregon beach.
Canola in the Valley

Science sheds light on a heated topic.
Q. How can kids learn where food comes from?

A. Teach the teachers (in the Summer Ag Institute).
Good for the Bird, Good for the Herd

A ranching community works together toward rangeland conservation.
Fish on Facebook

Where to go when your friends are finned.
Bringing Barley Back

An old grain finds new prominence for healthy diets and distinctive brews.

Sections

Update
Editor's Note

Thoughts from editor Peg Herring

photo by Lynn Ketchum

Flower power

Girls rule if you’re a hop. Only female plants produce the pine cone-looking flowers that give beer its flavor, aroma, and bitter bite. “Females do all the work,” says OSU’s hops breeder, Shaun Townsend. Almost 1,500 of these lovely ladies are spiraling skyward at OSU’s hop field near Corvallis. It’s here that the hops doc is shaking up the gene pool, hoping to create varieties that will knock the socks off microbrewers who are in search of unique-smelling hops beyond the classic citrus. He sprinkles their young flowers with pollen, nurtures their offspring, then keeps the ones that resist diseases, boast high yields, and have desirable fragrances.

Depth of Field

photo by Lynn Ketchum

Flower power

Girls rule if you’re a hop. Only female plants produce the pine cone-looking flowers that give beer its flavor, aroma, and bitter bite. “Females do all the work,” says OSU’s hops breeder, Shaun Townsend. Almost 1,500 of these lovely ladies are spiraling skyward at OSU’s hop field near Corvallis. It’s here that the hops doc is shaking up the gene pool, hoping to create varieties that will knock the socks off microbrewers who are in search of unique-smelling hops beyond the classic citrus. He sprinkles their young flowers with pollen, nurtures their offspring, then keeps the ones that resist diseases, boast high yields, and have desirable fragrances.

Flower power