The WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design strives to feed, clothe and shelter the world using education, research and partnerships with industry and community. By bridging the gap between research and practical application, innovative solutions directly address challenges to one day create a more sustainable world.
On the farm
Davis College researchers are working to make every step of food processing sustainable. Starting on the farm, Matt Wilson, an animal sciences professor, is researching how herds can be inherently greener and more sustainable.
He and his team of researchers are monitoring cattle for fuel efficiency — that is how much a cow eats and drinks compared to how much it gains. His lab is the first lab in the world with the capability to measure passive water intake. He also uses technology to measure the amount of food eaten by each animal. While measuring intake, the data revealed that one cow had eaten 1,500 pounds less feed and gained the same amount of weight as a related, similarly raised counterpart.
“What we are developing is an intake predictor,” he said. “We use machine learning and collected data to train a computer to predict intake.”
A more accurate way to predict animal intake would cost producers less because animal food waste would decrease. Knowing which animals were most efficient, meaning they gained weight with less food, would affect breeding choices. This will ultimately create a herd that requires less food and water.
“In addition to producers’ cost savings, we want to make the industry more efficient by having a smaller carbon and water footprint,” he said.
Vytelle, the manufacturer of
the water intake technology, made three mobile trailers for the Reymann Memorial Research, Education and Outreach Center in Wardensville.
Wilson plans to take the equipment, along with his dry matter intake predictor,
to West Virginia farms to identify their most efficient animals for breeding.
In the lab
Once food is produced, processing is necessary to avoid foodborne illness. Jacek Jaczynski, a Davis College food scientist and professor of food science, works with local businesses that sell cheese, milk and meat to ensure the products’ safety. He offers his services of measuring E. coli enumeration, a method used to detect the bacteria, to increase the safety of unpasteurized foods.
Because pasteurization is a legally defined term, foods can be heated to a certain degree without sacrificing the unpasteurized label. Jaczynski helps owners heat the foods to the correct degree for the correct amount of time. He also helps them alter the pH of their products to prevent bacteria growth.
“For a company whose cheese must be unpasteurized, it still needs to be safe," Jaczynski said.
Without access to testing, business owners would either need to adjust their brand and pay to reprint labels or pay considerably more to ensure product safety.
In transit
Once food is safe, it must be packaged for shipment. To reduce plastic waste, Jaczynski is helping to develop a process to use buckwheat protein as product film to reduce plastic waste.
“We extract protein from buckwheat to make the food packaging. How West Virginia is that? In collaboration with West Virginia State University, we cast a film as the packaging. The films are invisible and used on fresh produce, and it is safe to eat,” he said.
Because buckwheat has limited applications, using the food source as packaging is not detrimental to the region that produces it, but could be helpful economically. Jaczynski and his fellow researchers are considering other applications for buckwheat that may also be commercially feasible.
On the shelf
Once packaged, ensuring a food's shelf life and palatability are the focus of both Davis College researchers and a new local business, Mountaintop Beverage. The goal is to combat global food insecurity together. Mountaintop Beverage uses thermal processing technology to extend the shelf life of dairy, dairy alternatives and protein shakes. As Mountaintop works with the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to replace fossil fuels used in pasteurization, a Davis College professor analyzes drink safety. Kristen Matak, professor of animal and nutritional sciences, is interested in the potential safety and sensory effects of the new processing method on milk.
“The most influential factor in food selection is taste. If it doesn’t taste good, getting people to drink it will be tough,” Matak said. “Whenever there are changes in food processing systems, we must ensure these changes on the final product continue to meet food safety standards and uphold the sensory experience.”
Matak sees the partnership as a game-changer for students. With a state-of-the-art facility, significant collaborative and learning opportunities are possible.
“Mountaintop will need educated workers with experience in the food industry and we will train students to meet that need. It’s a win-win for everyone," she said.
On the plate
Taking the sustainability baton, Melissa Marra, professor of human nutrition and foods, works with consumers at the end of the process. Her research is helping West Virginians eat healthy and avoid food waste.
Awarded a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Marra and her team will create a telehealth nutrition coaching program. The service is for rural West Virginians who may not have access to such services. She, as well as registered dietitians and doctoral students Lacy Ferguson, Rebecca Dattola and master’s student Kendall Hess, will work with undergraduate students to guide them in nutrition coaching, ensuring citizens and students alike are taught effectively.
As the nature of patient interaction with healthcare providers changes, telehealth is becoming a preferred option. Research into the efficacy of virtual nutrition care may help remove barriers to care like transportation, transportation costs and limited access to nutrition providers.
Ferguson said this research is invaluable for rural state like West Virginia.
“We hope this research will show health outcomes are greater when some of those barriers are removed,” Ferguson said. “We also hope to uncover additional barriers that prevent someone from losing weight or improving health markers.”
The students working with the research participants are learning to consider many factors such as a participant’s health status, lifestyle, food access and income level while limiting food waste, which has become a concern due to inflation.
"When people try to eat better, they sometimes purchase too many healthy foods and aren’t sure how to prepare them,” Marra added. “With food costs being high, we teach them how to use the things they buy to avoid that food being wasted.”
Success for Marra is learning how to improve access to nutrition care to help reduce diet-related health disparities prevalent in the state and obtain better reimbursement from insurance companies, removing yet another barrier for people who need nutrition care.
On campus
Jason Hubbart, interim dean of research, said the Davis College’s contributions to industry and community cannot be understated.
“Every single person in this college is working in agriculture one way or another,” he said. “We are developing new systems and ways to improve agriculture not only for the industry, but for the consumer, small farmer and entrepreneur.”
The Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design envisions a world sustainably fed, clothed and sheltered. To learn more about the Davis College, visit davis.wvu.edu. Keep up with the latest updates and news on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by following @WVUDavis.
-WVU-
ls/11/27/23
CONTACT: Leah Smith
Communications Specialist
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
304-290-8680; lnestor2@mail.wvu.edu
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