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WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources
@wsucsanr.bsky.social
84 followers 110 following 51 posts
Inspired solutions for the future of agriculture and the environment.
https://csanr.wsu.edu/
Posts Replies Media Videos
wsucsanr.bsky.social
CSANR’s Georgine Yorgey and Allie Higginbotham visited the Qualco Digester and Werkhoven Dairy with the Washington State Dairy Federation.

🐄⚡ The digester turns manure into methane to power a generator that produces electricity for Snohomish PUD.

#WasteToFuels #RenewableEnergy #WSU
Generator occupies large indoor space. Dairy calf looks out of enclosure.
November 12, 2025 at 10:17 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🎥WSU’s Chad Kruger joined Fox News Seattle to talk about how solar panels and farms could share land.

Chad appears ~13:52:
🔗 www.fox13seattle.com/video/1736991

#Agrivoltaics #CleanEnergy #FutureOfFarming #WSU
Screenshot of Fox news anchor at left and Chad at right.
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Take the guesswork out of grazing.

Our meetups teach you how to use StockSmart, a free online tool. Bring your questions and find out how others are putting the data to work.

🗓 First Wednesdays , 10–11 a.m. PT
🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/stocksmart

#Rangelands #Ranching #StockSmart #WSU
October 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Participants from across WA and beyond are building piles, learning from CSANR’s Doug Collins and other experts, and touring sites like Silver Springs Organics at the Compost Facility Operator Training with WSU and WORC.
#HotCompost #WSU
Two participants share a laugh. Speaker with microphone and safety vest in a compost facility. Two participants smile in front of a white barn. Participants in class look at a laptop and their notes.
October 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Rangelands field trip > spreadsheet

Last week, students, postdocs, faculty, and staff from SEAS⁺ and CSANR saw the system behind the models.

Swipe to see the view.
#KnowYourGrasses #Rangelands #WSU
SEAS+ lab members making bouquets from dry rangeland flora. Curious black and brown beef cattle. Rangelands expert Tip Hudson describes grass to researchers. Brush and grass in eastern WA rangelands.
October 6, 2025 at 11:19 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
What happens when kids shop for their own produce? 🥕🍎

Researchers Annie Salafsky & Amanda Musser created a Youth Farmers Market with BIOAg funding—students chose local veggies over sweets!

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/youth-farmer...

#FarmToSchool #LocalFood #WSU
Sign on board in front of school gym says Youth Farmers Market 2024. Kid adds fresh produce to bag. Kid inspects inside of fresh red bell pepper. Kid peruses fresh produce in baskets on table with black WSU logo tablecloth inside school gym.
September 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Get CSANR’s latest news and insights. Subscribe to News & Perspectives:
🔗 bit.ly/CSANRnewslet...

#OnceMonthlyAtMost #WSU
Montage of recent and upcoming editions of CSANR e-newsletter, featuring stories about BIOAg projects, gardening books, and a call for proposals.
September 22, 2025 at 11:27 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🪰Why hesitate on IPM?

WSU PhD student Molly Sayles studies how people—not just insects—shape pear psylla management in Wenatchee Valley orchards.

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/why-growers-...

#WSU #NeighborEffect #Wenatchee
📸 Molly Sayles presents on IPM at the WSU Tree Fruit Extension Field Day, Sunrise Research Orchard (Photo: Scott Weybright).
September 16, 2025 at 10:54 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
From fields to fuel: Cover crops like triticale + hairy vetch could become biofuel, cutting emissions 70%+.

🔗 Open access: bit.ly/CoverCropBio...

#WSU #VeryHairyVetch
📸CSANR's Teal Potter and Doug Collins in front of a triticale plot at the Puyallup research site. (Photo credit: Chad Kruger)
September 15, 2025 at 10:47 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🐄 Bad Guts → Good Compost 🌱

With rendering plants closing and costs rising, slaughter byproducts are a problem. CSANR-funded research offers a solution.

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/composting-o...

#GutFeeling #OffalNotAwful #WSU
WSU Extension's Rachel Wieme leads a demonstration in Tenino. Photo credit: Sarah Lemon (WSDA)
August 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🌨️💰Get up to $5K for projects that teach soil conservation to K–college students in the Palouse & Inland Empire region.

WA/ID colleges, NRCS, and Conservation Districts: apply by Oct. 31.

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/kaiser

#Palouse #Spokane #Moscow #Pullman #NiceDirt
Students gather for awards and a career discussion during the 2024 Whitman County Soil and Land Evaluation Day, hosted by the Pine Creek Conservation District, Palouse Conservation District, and other Whitman County Conservation partners. Photo credit: Palouse Conservation District
August 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
CSANR announces BIOAg awards!
Since 2020, researchers have turned $1.46M in investments from BIOAg grants into $20M+ in extramural funding.

Projects:🔗https://csanr.wsu.edu/news

#KillerROI #BIOAg #WSU

📸 Seedcorn maggot: Whitney Cranshaw, CSU, bugwood dot org
Close-up of seedcorn maggot nestled in a root.
August 13, 2025 at 11:24 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🚛 Transport, diet & food waste. Ag’s climate impact goes beyond the field.

A report from CSANR, @scc_gov & KR Creative Strategies calls for whole-system thinking.

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/organic-clim...

#DontAskMeToPullOverSoYouCanTakeAPicture #WSU
Dramatic scene from the confines of a truck cab: two-lane highway, lake with lighting, and steep mountains.
July 31, 2025 at 1:58 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
🌱 Ag tools for climate resilience:

✅Cover crops
✅ Compost & manure
✅ No/reduced tillage
✅ Perennial crops
✅ Biochar/soil amendments
✅ Double cropping/no fallow

🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/organic-climate-smart-report

📸 Leslie Michel #CoverCrops #SoilHealth #WSU
Cover crops in Douglas County. Photo by Leslie Michel.
July 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
This free WSU Extension book now features a new chapter on Climate Change & Gardening, brought to you by CSANR.

#MyGardenIsOnFire #WSU
Pacific Northwest Gardener's Handbook cover image.
July 21, 2025 at 11:27 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
On the compost scene since before compost was cool.

🔗https://csanr.wsu.edu/the-dirt-on-compost

#DecadesOfDirty #HotCompost #WSU
1999–2022: Nutrient Source Early studies explore how compost enhances soil fertility; nitrogen availability from compost is quantified. 2000–2003: Tackling Contamination Early work responds to concerns about clopyralid, a persistent herbicide affecting municipal compost. 2003–2010: Scaling Up Research on managing farm’s waste streams to improve soil health continues. 2011–2025 Resources Recovery Waste to Fuels Technology partnership shows compost is viewed as part of integrated organics management strategy. 2022–now: CSANR explores compost’s role in carbon sequestration, evaluates compost’s footprint, and informs legislative decisions.
July 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Mt. Vernon NWREC hosted its annual Field Day last week. Topics ranged from establishing tea production in WA to managing wilt in seed crops, sparking plenty of conversations between presentations.

#WSU #CropCurious #BringBackBuckwheat #PNWTea
Darrin Morrison, Morrison Farms and Kim Matthews, Western Washington Agricultural Association chat while walking between presentations. Sintayehu Daba, WSU Plant Pathology and Sanjaya Gyawali, Sakata Seed have a discussion while riding to the next presentation. Diana Wisen, Skagit County Master Gardener, marvels at the health of the blueberry bushes. Lindsey du Toit, WSU Plant Pathology Department Chair, Alfred Christianson Distinguished Professor of Vegetable Seed Pathology & Extension Plant Pathologist gives a presentation about Verticillium.
July 16, 2025 at 1:41 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
WA dairies can lead on climate action.

✅ Cut methane with digesters & feed additives
✅ Boost soil health with compost
✅ Keep farmland working = lower emissions

Read the new report on organic and climate-smart ag: csanr.wsu.edu/organic-clim...

#LessMethaneMoreMilk #WSU
Sweet lil' dairy calf folds in half to nap.
July 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Raised on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, these cherries could be "climate smart."

Range of practices = more tools to fight climate change.

Read the "Organic and Climate-Smart Ag Report"
🔗 csanr.wsu.edu/news

#GrandpasCherriesTakeOnClimateChange #Organic #WSU
Bowl of RoundUp and cherries from grandpa's backyard.
July 9, 2025 at 11:23 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
How long can the wells reach the water?
WSU's Sasha McLarty shows that in eastern Washington...it depends. The amount of accessible groundwater left in the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System varies depending on where you are.
📖bit.ly/44THlxw
The sky is not falling—yet. Fig. 1. Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System study area. The aquifer system is outlined in yellow, encompassing portions of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. The Columbia River flows from the north to the south where it joins the Snake River and continues flowing west to the Pacific Ocean. The map shows different landcover classes, highlighting cropland areas in pink.
July 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
CSANR's Alex Kirkpatrick shows that the knowledge deficit hypothesis (KDH) is not supported. KDH = If only they knew the facts, they would support xyz.

🔗 Read more: bit.ly/HowToShareSc...

#HardToShareWithThatPaywall #DialogNotData #WSU
Fancy Cat, Ph.D., talks down to Public Cat as Public Cat looks on.
July 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
AgWest gift to enhance capacity at WSU’s new Plant Growth Facility news.wsu.edu/news/2025/07...
AgWest gift to enhance capacity at WSU’s new Plant Growth Facility
AgWest Farm Credit pledged $500,000 to help build WSU’s new Plant Growth Facility in Wenatchee, boosting research and innovation for the state’s $10 billion tree fruit industry.
news.wsu.edu
July 7, 2025 at 6:50 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
New study from CSANR’s Alex Kirkpatrick shows video & audio are more effective than text for building trust. Surprisingly, video did not outperform audio alone.
📖 Publication: bit.ly/AgAIDcommunication
💻 Video used in study: bit.ly/AgAID_video
#WayMoreWork #WSU #AgAID
July 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Is experimenting on baby trees even ethical?

CSANR's Chris Benedict shares a summer update about long-term agroecological research sites.

Read more: 📖 washingtonsoilhealthinitiative.com/2025/06/ltar...

#MyDirtHasWorms #WSU #Wenatchee
Is experimenting on baby trees even ethical? CSANR's Chris Benedict shares a summer update about the @wasoilhealth's long-term agroecological research sites. Read more: 📖 https://washingtonsoilhealthinitiative.com/2025/06/ltare-update-summer-2025 #MyDirtHasWorms #WSU #Wenatchee
July 2, 2025 at 5:08 PM
wsucsanr.bsky.social
Work on CSANR initiatives as WSU's Endowed Chair in Tree Fruit Soil and Rhizosphere Science.

🍒Details & Apply: bit.ly/TreeFruitSoil

#MyRootsHaveHairs #SoilScience #WSU
An invitation to "form a mutual association" interacts with a root's rhizosphere.
June 26, 2025 at 11:13 PM