Jonathan VanBuskirk - Week 9

One week to go.... that's crazy. There is so much to talk about from Week 9. From an apple orchard to an Instagram takeover to somehow finding my way onto a meat processing regulations page (we'll get to that), Week 9 was a lot of fun and certainly kept me on my toes.

My week started off on Tuesday, where I traveled to a local farm with my mentor to try and diagnose an issue with some apple trees that were being stubborn and refusing to flower. The local landowner was growing a variety of old-world apple varieties from France, England, Germany, and other European countries to add more flavor and complexity to the apple cider he makes. He had about 50 trees planted in two different locations, and none of them were flowering this year.

One of the groups of apple trees at the local farm. The large maple tree in the middle was the major culprit of the small amount of sun the apple trees were getting, 

At first, our thought was that the terrible frost on April 22nd had caused the problem. However, the trees were already beginning to bud at that point, so that explanation didn't quite make sense. What we ended up figuring out was that the trees weren't getting enough light, which was causing the branches to grow upward in an attempt to reach more sunlight. What I learned is that vertical branches tend to produce very few flowers and, as a result, ZERO fruit. He also had a problem with the possible allelopathic effects of nearby black walnut trees, which likely made the situation even worse. It was a really interesting visit because it showed how diagnosing a plant problem isn't always as simple as looking for one obvious disease or insect. Sometimes, the problem is sunlight, tree structure, neighboring plants, or a combination of everything.

Much of Wednesday was spent learning about proper fungicide PPE and actually helping to create fungicide dilutions for my mentor's fungicide research plots throughout the state. It was really interesting to work with fungicides and helped me develop a more factual understanding of what pesticides are and how they actually affect the environment. There is a lot of nuance involved with pesticide use, and working with them directly has helped me understand why proper application, personal protective equipment, and following the label are so important. The label really is the law, which is something I have heard plenty of times before, but it definitely feels different when you are the one measuring and mixing the products.

Thursday was the big day.... that's for sure. I spent the day all around the state. We started by going to the Wye Education and Research Center to drop off the fungicide mixtures and do some crop scouting in a nearby soybean field. From there, we traveled to the Commodity Classic in Centreville, Maryland, where I got to talk with a bunch of field professionals and interact with other local agricultural businesses. It was a great opportunity to see the connections between research, agricultural businesses, and the people actually working in the field.

Me... in the middle of a soybean field... looking for anything and everything interesting. This field at the Wye Education and Research center is a part of the Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program, which is where people from around the nation can get a plot of land, choose varieties, planting dates, chemicals, and anything you can imagine, to remotely compete with each other. It is lovingly referred to as "fantasy farming."

To end the day, we traveled back to the Harford County Farm Fair to watch the end of the beef show, which was a blast. However, the kicker is that throughout the entire day, I was also doing an Instagram takeover for UMD's Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Instagram account (@UMD_agnr, if you were wondering). I was given access to the account and spent the day posting stories and bringing people along with me for my long day traveling around the state. So, while I was driving all over Maryland, learning about fungicides, scouting soybeans, attending an agricultural event, and watching a beef show, I was also trying to remember to take pictures and post them to Instagram. Definitely a very normal and completely stress-free Thursday.

One of the posts I made during my Instagram takeover for AGNR. This was about halfway through the day, when we arrived at the Commodity Classic. 

Friday was a little more unexpected. I spent some time reviewing the.... meat processing regulations for the state of Maryland.... I know that might sound weird. But I'm helping to update a regulations document to reflect new regulations made by the State of Maryland. So, I know way too much about processing chickens now... for your information.

This week was a really good example of how varied this internship has been. I started the week diagnosing apple trees, spent a day working with fungicides, traveled across the state, interacted with agricultural professionals, ran an Instagram account for a day, and somehow ended the week reading meat processing regulations. I have no idea what week 10 will bring, but with only one week left, I'm sure it will be interesting!