Food + Agriculture

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Building on nearly two decades of success, Oregon is planting the seeds for a healthier, more resilient future. 

The Oregon Farm to School Network, which includes the Oregon State University Extension Service, has released Oregon Harvest for Schools: 10-Year Strategic Vision for Oregon Farm to School (2025–2035) — a transformative roadmap to ensure every child has access to delicious, nutritious local food while supporting Oregon’s farmers, food makers, educators and communities.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers have developed a smartphone-based artificial intelligence system that accurately predicts the ripeness and internal quality of avocados.

“Avocados are among the most wasted fruits globally due to overripeness,” said Luyao Ma, an assistant professor at Oregon State University. “Our goal was to create a tool that helps consumers and retailers make smarter decisions about when to use or sell avocados.”

CORVALLIS, Ore. – As canning season gets underway, the food safety and preservation helpline from Oregon State University Extension Service will start taking calls July 7.

The toll-free helpline, 800-354-7319, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The helpline will be staffed by certified Master Food Preserver volunteers in several Oregon counties until Oct. 10. After this date, the helpline will remain open and will be checked weekly for voice messages. In 2024, the volunteers fielded 723 calls.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study examined feeding a hemp byproduct to cows and found that the trace amounts of psychoactive THC in hemp were undetectable in the milk and edible tissue of cows if they were weaned off the byproduct before milking or processing.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers have made a key advance in turning spent coffee grounds into food packaging materials that can extend the shelf life of products.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Certain groups of consumers appear to be open to drinking smoke-impacted wines, a finding in a new study that could provide market opportunities for winemakers increasingly dealing with the effects of wildfire smoke on grapes.

Oregon State University researchers have received a $1 million grant to study the impact of adding seaweed to the diets of beef cattle as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Recent research has found that feeding seaweed can reduce methane emissions from cattle, most of which originates from enteric fermentation that is characteristic of their digestive process.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center will receive $5.5 million during the next five years to research new food, beverage and biobased industrial product uses of industrial hemp.

With the funding, researchers from Oregon State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service will develop customized hemp genetics that meet the needs of biobased product manufacturers and are adapted to growing conditions in the western United States.