Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/guest-contributor/page/28/)
After a four-year hiatus, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has revived its popular Facebook series “IdentiFriday.” IdentiFriday asks participants to guess the species of a plant or animal based on a small portion of a picture each Friday. The correct answer is then posted with the full photo later in the day.
With a worldwide increase in need for food and oil, the soybean industry shows no signs of slowing down. Expanding consumer interest in plant-based foods as popular substitutes for meat could create more opportunities.
A Harvard historian’s book about slavery in Detroit- – the last stop on the Underground Railroad – examines how that history was influenced by the region’s geography.
Agriculture and farming officials are helping growers manage soybean cyst nematodes to prevent a major loss in yield as the crop’s production season approaches.
In the Great Lakes region, there may be no older and more intriguing historical mystery than the 1679 disappearance of the Griffon, one of French explorer Robert La Salle’s ships. Now after more than 40 years of searching, a Charlevoix diver says he’s 99.99% sure he found the answer, and he tells how in a new book.
While invasive species are always threatening crops, a native pest is the biggest threat to the state’s blueberries –– the stem gall wasp. The Michigan Blueberry Commission has funded research to combat the stem gall wasp and help growers stay competitive.
Michigan maple syrup farmers sound optimistic that the industry will see a successful 2022 season after production declined in recent years.
Bees in the D’s new pollination center is expected to increase the fruits and vegetables produced in Detroit community gardens. The pollination center, breaking ground in April, will be home to roughly 100,000 honeybees in multiple hives.
Great Lakes invasive species cling to shipments and navigate canals to migrate, but one aquatic invader – sea lamprey – benefitted from border closures instead. During 2020, 93 Great Lakes tributaries and 11 standing bodies of water were scheduled for chemical treatments for lamprey, but only 26 tributaries and six standing bodies of water were completed.
The recent discovery of a dangerous family of chemicals in Michigan cattle has a statewide environmental group renewing efforts to ban the controversial substance.