Despite the impression we may have given you, the fellow on the cover, Mike Morrissey, doesn’t spend a lot of time standing around the Seafood Laboratory in Astoria eating oysters with a little plastic sword.
Morrissey, the superintendent of the lab, which is part of OSU’s Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, is too busy working on innovations in the seafood industry.
He was happy to pose for the photograph because he’s proud of the work he and his colleagues are doing to improve the economic outlook for the oyster business. You can read about that in Pressed for Success.
There are lots of other examples in this issue of research the OSU Agricultural Experiment Station is doing to help Oregon’s slumping economy, and to address important environmental and social issues.
In Building Better Berries, you can read about horticulture professor Bernadine Strik’s tireless support of the production of a variety of luscious berries in Oregon. Berry farms are small businesses. They diversify our economy and our landscape.
You may have seen stories about controversial terns and other seabirds that live along our coast and streams. In Terns of Endearment you’ll learn about OSU studies of seabirds that include exploring their impact on endangered and hatchery-raised salmon and steelhead.
You can read about bee expert Mike Burgett’s work with "honey hunters" in Bangladesh in Dangerous Harvest. It’s an example of a scientist and Extension educator, who for decades has helped the agriculture industry in Oregon, reaching out to villagers in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Last, in Pumping Plants Up you’ll find out how Experiment Station researchers and Extension educators are helping farmers use fertilizer more effectively to save money, improve production and protect the environment.
It’s a tough time in Oregon. The Agricultural Experiment Station is wrestling with how to deliver maximum return with shrinking resources—how, within that context, to tackle important issues that will affect the state not only in the years just ahead but for generations.
In the meantime, Mike Morrissey and lots of other OSU researchers and Extension educators seem to be taking the advice of a farming poster I’ve seen:
"Pray for rain, but keep on hoeing."