The following science-based articles may help you answer questions from the community.  Rosanne Sherry, URI Consumer Horticulture Educator, recommends you read them to help sharpen your own gardening and educator skills! Please send comments or suggestions for articles to rsherry@uri.edu.

From Eco-RI June 20, 2017

Aquidneck Island Embraces Green Infrastructure to Battle Polluted Stormwater Runoff
Bradford Dam’s Removal will Help Fish Migrate, Improve Paddling and Reduce Flooding
The Surprising Number of American Adults Who Think Chocolate Milk Comes from Brown Cows – (Washington Post – June 15, 2017)

Seven percent of all American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, according to a nationally representative online survey commissioned by the Innovation Center of U.S. Dairy. If you do the math, that works out to 16.4 million misinformed, milk-drinking people. The equivalent of the population of Pennsylvania (and then some!) does not know that chocolate milk is milk, cocoa and sugar. But the most surprising thing about this figure may actually be that it isn’t higher. For decades, observers in agriculture, nutrition and education have griped that many Americans are basically agriculturally illiterate. One Department of Agriculture study, commissioned in the early ’90s, found that nearly 1 in 5 adults did not know that hamburgers are made from beef. Many more lacked familiarity with basic farming facts, like how big U.S. farms typically are and what food animals eat. Studies have shown that people who live in agricultural communities tend to know a bit more about where their food comes from, as do people with higher education levels and household incomes. But in some populations, confusion about basic food facts can skew pretty high. When one team of researchers interviewed fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at an urban California school, they found that more than half of them didn’t know pickles were cucumbers, or that onions and lettuce were plants.

From Green Talks June 28, 2017

New Certification for Bee Friendly Farms

Farmers now have the option of enrolling in the Bee Better Certified program, which certifies growing operations and lets consumers know they are farming in ways that benefit bees. The program is a partnership of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Oregon Tilth, and it’s funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The program was initially piloted with 13 farmers, and it’s now open for enrollment nationwide. The program focuses on integrating flower-rich habitats to create food and nesting sites for native bees, honey bees and other pollinators. It also helps farmers reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides known to cause harm to bees.

One interesting note: the program requires that if you use commercial bumble bees for pollination services, you need to use them in the greenhouse and use screens to ensure they don’t leave the greenhouse.

Oregon Tilth receives applications from interested farmers, inspects the farm and will then certify it if the standards are met. Those who gain certification may use the Better Bee seal on their products (and manufacturers may also use the seal if the product contains certified ingredients). Learn more at: http://www.beebettercertified.org/.