Do-it-yourself lawn care is a multi-billion dollar business in the U.S. But excess phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizer can leach out of the soil and pollute groundwater. These two nutrients can also wash off landscapes and pollute surface waters and, eventually, the Chesapeake Bay.

Gary Felton and Tom Simpson recently joined with Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and Lebanon-Seaboard to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to reduce phosphorus (P) levels in commercial fertilizer. Scotts, with its hold on half the U.S. do-it-yourself (DIY) market, pledged last month to reduce P in their products by 50 percent over the next 2 years. They�ve also agreed to retool their entire DIY fertilizer line by 2008. After that, they�ll address nitrogen levels.

Felton, a bioenvironmental engineering and water quality specialist with Environmental Science and Technology and University of Maryland Cooperative Extension (MCE), worked closely with Scotts and Maryland�s Department of Natural Resources to hammer out the agreement. Simpson, coordinator of Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Programs and MCE educator, worked with all the bay organizations to obtain an agreement they all could live with.

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Thanks to collaborative research by Nutrition and Food Science�s (NFSC) Jianghong Meng, the food industry now can add biosensor techniques to its arsenal. Quick and inexpensive identification of pathogenic organisms in meat and poultry, says Meng, a microbiologist, can help keep consumers from suffering the ill effects of E. coli & Salmonella in those products. But what about keeping us safe from pathogens in spinach and other greens? That�s where NFSC�s Mark Kantor comes onto the battlefield. The media frequently seek out Kantor for his opinion about the latest calamity in the food and nutrition arena. A nutrition and food safety expert, Kantor also specializes in consumer education for University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. Below are recent media questions concerning E. coli-ridden spinach along with links to Kantor�s answers.

• Is the American food supply safe?
• Should bagged salad greens be washed before eating?
• But will washing remove all pathogens?
• So is it safe to eat uncooked bagged salad greens?
• Are cooked vegetables safe?
• What about using a detergent to wash vegetables?
• Why are companies producing unsafe products? Why don�t they do more to assure safety?
• What else can consumers do?

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You�ve heard of the oyster wars. But what about the manure wars? With the region�s traditional residential neighborhoods reaching the saturation point, new homes are sprouting up right next door to working farms. The result: a clash of cultures. A pretty landscape is what former urban- and suburbanites expect when they move to the country. Along with the sweet smell of clover.

But it�s the smells�and not of clover�along with fertilizer, pesticides, and slow-moving, road-clogging tractors that irritate and alarm newcomers. For farmers it�s the trespassers who treat their farms like public land, the traffic jams caused by the population influx, and newcomers complaining to the health department.

To avert the manure wars, agricultural business specialist Shannon Dill and land policy expert Lori Lynch co-authored �Improve Neighbor Relations: Farmers Advise Farmers.� Their diplomacy comes in leaflet form, featuring quotes from farmers themselves, who recommend setting up lines of communication with nonfarm neighbors and educating them about what farmers do and why. Dill, an agent with University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, and Lynch, a professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics, are planning another diplomatic effort aimed at newcomers.

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We at the college celebrated Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for. We�re thankful for University of Maryland Cooperative Extension�s Tom Simpson, coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Programs, whose recent appointment to EPA�s Science Advisory Board's Hypoxia Advisory Panel for the Gulf of Mexico makes him part of a team of nationally recognized scientists who will evaluate the scientific and technical problems of the oxygen-deprived area comprising the northern gulf and the Mississippi River Basin, as well as examining management and control options to help mitigate the problem. And, indeed, we�re thankful for bioenvironmental engineer Gary Felton, Environmental Science and Technology (ENST), and Tom Simpson for their groundbreaking work that led to Scotts Miracle-Gro Company agreeing to reduce the phosphorus content of its fertilizer by one half.

We�re thankful for Vet-Med�sTed Mashima for becoming board certified by the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and for Scott Glenn of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture for winning the 2006 Outstanding Academic Advisor Award.

We�re thankful for ENST�s Dick Weismiller whose associate directorship of the college�s International Programs Office led to his work with Romania�s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca. USAMV recently granted Dick the title of Doctor Honoris Causa for his contributions. We�re thankful for the work Dick and ENST colleague Brian Needleman are doing in helping develop and design the Smithsonian Soils Exhibit, scheduled to open by 2008 at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. The exhibit will help the public realize the critical role soils play in Earth's sustainability. We�re also thankful for Brian�s work with our Soil Judging Team, which last month placed first at the Northeast Regional Soil Judging competition in Maine, known for its glacially formed landscapes. As Brian notes, �judging� soil is a misnomer; it would be more accurate to say that team members describe, understand, classify, and interpret soils for various land uses.

And last but not least, we�re thankful for Gail Yeiser, our head of alumni and external relations, for her honorable mention from the 2005-2006 Board of Regents� University System of Maryland Staff Awards committee.

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