Thanks to greenhouse staff and students in the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 6,300 tiny tomato and strawberry plants originally planned for the always-popular Picnic Day giveaways will soon find good homes.
鈥淲e鈥檙e reaching out to local food banks, community gardens and students here on campus to find places and ways to safely distribute these plants,鈥 said Saarah Kuzay, graduate student researcher with the Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group.
Essential greenhouse staff and student assistants have been tending to the 5,000 tomato transplants and 1,300 strawberry plants, along with thousands of other breeding projects. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is home to more than 150 greenhouses where breeders conduct research to keep crops plentiful, nutritious and resilient.
鈥淥ur researchers have a lot of multiyear projects going on, and we can鈥檛 let those stop,鈥 said Chris Durand, lead greenhouse manager. 鈥淚f we did, breeders would lose an entire season and that would compromise the data.鈥
Kuzay and the outreach team of the Horticulture and Agronomy Student Association at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis will help Durand distribute about 5,000 tomato and strawberry plants to members of the community. The remainder will go to essential employees still working on campus.
Though they鈥檙e tiny now, 6,300 tomato and strawberry plants can grow to feed a lot of people. The student team hopes to watch the crops flourish by encouraging recipients to post pictures and videos on social media with the hashtag #新澳门六合彩内幕信息DavisPlants.
鈥淭hat way, we and others can see the progress of the plants as they grow and feed the community,鈥 Kuzay said.