A team of School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) faculty and staff at The Ohio State University were awarded $482,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service for “Leveraging Education and Research to Promote Maple Syrup Production in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.” The funding is made possible through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS): Acer Access and Development Program (Acer), which supports the efforts of States, tribal governments, and research institutions to promote the domestic maple syrup industry.
Principal investigators on the project include Sayeed Mehmood, associate professor in the SENR; Gabe Karns, assistant professor in the SENR; and Kathy Smith, program director, Ohio State University Extension Woodland Stewards Program and Les Ober, agriculture and natural resources program coordinator, Ohio State University Extension Geauga county.
Future Generations University from West Virginia and Penn State serve as collaborating institutions on the project.