An AGNR Cornerstone Event: Advancing Agricultural Production Systems

Advancing Innovative, Profitable, and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems Winners

1st Place - Kuan Ling Liu (ANSC): Identify cis-acting elements essential for glucocorticoid induction of growth hormone gene expression in chicken embryonic pituitary cells. 

2nd Place - Emily Johnson (PSLA): Effects of AVG (ReTain®) and 1-MCP (HarvistaTM) on fruit ripening, quality and preharvest fruit drop on Honeycrisp apples grown in the Mid-Atlantic.

3rd Place - Alireza Shokoohi (ENTM): Enhancing biological control by ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) through agricultural drainage ditch management practices. 

Our remaining four strategic initiatives categories had one 1st place winner each.

Ensure Healthy Watersheds and the Chesapeake Bay

Jennifer Steeple (ENST): Building an Artificial Neural Network to Predict Groundwater Levels of the Aquia Aquifer in the Coastal Plain of Maryland.

Establish a Healthy Food System and Ensure Global Food and Nutrition Security

Shuyi Feng (NFSC): Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Salmonella spp. in Onions in the United States.

One Health: Improve Human, Animal, and Environmental Health

Taiwo Bankole (NFSC): Mechanistic interplay in broccoli glucoraphanin-induced beneficial effects on obesity prevention.

Optimize Urban Environments Through Design, Green Technology, and Community Engagement

Emily McCoy (ENST): Increasing Energy Production of Food Waste to Bioenergy and Bioplastics.

Session: Protecting the Chesapeake Bay
Room: Benjamin Banneker
Topics & Presenters: "Effectiveness of Economic Incentives to Enhance Riparian Buffer Adoption and Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay" David Newburn, AREC
"Addressing Legal Needs of Maryland Agriculture" Paul Goeringer, AREC
"Advancing Maryland Cover Cropping to a Purpose-driven, Site-specific Model" Sarah Hirsh, UME

Session: 4-H and Youth Development
Room: Margaret Brent
Topics & Presenters: "Come AGsplore Maryland 4-H Youth Agriculture Programs" Sheryl Bennett, UME
"Curbing our Carbon Appetite" Chris Anderson, UME
"Career and Workforce Readiness through Collaborative Small Ruminant Applied Research 4-H Programs" Ashley Travis, UME

Session: International Agriculture
Room: Juan Ramon Jimenez
Topics & Presenters: "Feeding the World: It's Within Our Reach" Jimmy Smith, AGNR
"Opportunities and challenges in international agricultural extension: A case study from Liberia, West Africa" Nathan Glenn, UME
"Working Internationally Can Help You Be a Better Educator" Jon Moyle, UME

Session: Urban Agriculture and Small & Beginning Farmers
Room: Benjamin Banneker
Topics & Presenters: "Promoting Beneficial Microbial Diversity in Urban Agriculture Environments" Ryan Blaustein, NFSC
"Family Communications and Estate Planning: Leveraging FCS and Ag Law Expertise" Alexander Chan, UME
"So You Think You Want to Farm?" Kelly Nichols, UME

Session: Opportunities to Respond to Current Issues
Room: Margaret Brent
Topics & Presenters: "The Road to Equity: Northeast SARE's DEIJ Journey in Grantmaking" Nevin Dawson, UME
"Maryland Climate-Smart Ag Project" Terry Nuwer, Hughes Center
"The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program in Maryland" Emily Zobel, UME

Session: Progress and Profitability
Room: Juan Ramon Jimenez
Topics & Presenters: "Adaptation of agricultural land use to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion" Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, AREC
"A Grassroots effort on the Eastern Shore to produce and alternative crop, giant miscanthus, on marginal land" Haley Sater, UME
"Integrated Weed Management Strategies Using Spring Seeded Grass Cover Crops in Plasticulture Production" Kurt Vollmer, UME

Session: Specialty Crops and Local Foods
Room: Benjamin Banneker
Topics & Presenters: "Using Fruit Waste and the Sun to Manage Weeds in Organic Vegetables" Dwayne Joseph, UME
"Creating a Market for Specialty Crops through Farm to School" Christine Main, UME
"Dragging Oyster Farming into the 21st Century:  New Planning Tools and Innovative Technology" Matt Parker, UME

Session: Supporting University Learners
Room: Margaret Brent
Topics & Presenters: "Let’s Grow AGNR Experiential Learning!" Lindsay Barranco, IAA
"Implementing genome editing as a new tool in breeder's toolbox" Daniel Rodriguez Leal, PSLA
"Connect NOW with Our Future Agricultural and Extension Educators: Real-world Collaborations for Authentic Learning Impacts" Melissa Welsh, PSLA

Session: Agricultural Innovations
Room: Juan Ramon Jimenez
Topics & Presenters: "Agrivoltaics: Challenges and Opportunities" Nancy Nunn, Hughes Center
"Using Cover Crops for Livestock Grazing" Amanda Grev, UME
"Navigating Maryland's Renewable Energy Landscape: Empowering Rural Landowners" Elizabeth Thilmany, AREC

Randy Day

From March 2017 to July 2023, Randy Day served as the CEO of Perdue Farms, the fourth in the company’s history, leading the senior leadership team, including Perdue Foods, Perdue AgriBusiness and Perdue Farms corporate functions. Throughout his 43-year tenure at the company, he held positions in Perdue Farms’ two operating divisions, Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusines, beginning in distribution and sales in foods before advancing into executive level quality assurance, product development and logistics roles. Today, Randy acts as a Special Advisor to the Board of Directors for Perdue Farms.

Randy currently serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the National Chicken Council and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, on the Executive Committee of the National Turkey Federation and on the Technical and Regulatory Committee of the National Chicken Council. In his community, he served on the Board of the MidAtlantic YMCA, chaired the Secondary Education Advisory Committee for the Wicomico County Board of Education and participated in the Wicomico County Mentoring Project. He is a member of the Salisbury Paramedic Foundation Board of Directors, Greater Salisbury Committee and Council At Large of the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce.

Randy received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Western Maryland College and a Master’s in Poultry Nutrition from the University of Maryland – College Park and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Q&A with Randy Day

Tom Mazzone, Institute of Applied Agriculture, INAG237 GPS & Drone Applications in Surveying Course 

Terry Nuwer, Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, The Maryland Climate-Smart Agriculture Project

April Barczewski, University of Maryland Extension, Come AGsplore Various Maryland 4-H Youth Agriculture Programs

Chris Anderson, University of Maryland Extension, Healthy Animals|Healthy YOUth: A Zoonosis Education Program for Youth in Agriculture

Emily Zobel, University of Maryland Extension, The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program

Dr. Melissa Welsh & Dr. Colby Silvert, PLSA: Agricultural and Extension Education, Agricultural and Extension Education Program 

Debbie Simpkins, LEAD Maryland, Agriculture Leadership Program

Dwayne Joseph, University of Maryland Extension, Plant Identification Highlighting the "Know Your Foxtails" Factsheet

Vernelle Mitchell-Hawkins, University of Maryland Extension. Farmer Tech: Intergenerational Digital Support for Growers Program

Ag Production System (APS) Team Members, Advance Innovative, Profitable, and Sustainable Agriculture Production (APS) Team System Highlights

Shannon Dill, University of Maryland Extension, Women In Agriculture & Annie's Project Team 

University of Maryland Extension Poultry Team Members, University of Maryland Extension Poultry Team