UF students are using videos to teach others about current agricultural issues and how they can affect the future.
Money for the videos came from a $90,000 grant UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ Agricultural Education and Communication Department received in March. It will be used to educate the public about topics including citrus greening and the BP oil spill in 2010, which affected Apalachicola, Florida.
The citrus greening videos will address genetically modified organisms, invasive species and treatments to control citrus greening, a disease that kills plants and keeps their fruit from sweetening. Citrus greening has no known cure. Oil spill videos will address what happened, food safety and bay restoration.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture split the grant between UF, Texas Tech University and Colorado State University.
Each school will produce content about agricultural issues facing the communities, said Ricky Telg, the director of the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education.
He said the goal of the project is to teach students about topics affecting agriculture and natural resources so UF students can better inform the public.
“In this particular project, we’re getting undergraduate students and graduate students involved, so they’re actually learning while doing,” Telg said.
The research will count toward class curriculum, he said.
Gordon Yoder, a UF agricultural education and communication junior, is creating two short videos about how the 2010 BP oil spill affected the economy and the health of oysters in the water. He and the 12 other students in the class will make more than two dozen videos.
“We’ve learned a lot more about the issues, and I think that helps us when we’re making the videos,” the 20-year-old said. “When these are released, the audiences can get the best grasps of what the issue is and what is being done to manage these issues.”
