COLLEGE STATION — If someone is needling you about not getting enough vegetables, you’ve got something in common with the state’s produce growers. They, too, aren’t getting enough vegetables — per acre that is.
That’s one reason Texas A&M University’s Vegetable Improvement Center was formed — but there’s more. Researchers are trying to get more vegetables in yields, more nutrition, more varieties, more interest in eating correctly and more of whatever else turns up as important through combined agricultural and medicinal science.
Now anyone who is interested vegetables — whether its how to make them more appealing through recipes or how to partner in the ongoing research — can find the answers at the Vegetable Improvement Center’s web page at http://vic.tamu.edu.
“It’s a way of getting linked up internationally with others doing vegetable research and others interested in the research,” said Dr. Leonard Pike, VIC director and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station horticulturist. “Lots of produce people and food processors have web sites. We will tag onto theirs and they onto ours.”
Pike said the web site gives the center, which is nationally known especially for its work with onions and carrots, a chance to reach new audiences as well.
“We are putting something out there so people who generally wouldn’t can get to know us,” he noted.
Included on the home page is information about the membership and structure of the center as well as links to all the scientists currently performing research on vegetables there. The industry advisory committee is noted, as well as recent gifts and endowments.
People interested in taking a tour of the center or scheduling a presentation also will find instructions for that at the web site. Also, a recipe page provides lots of new ideas on how to use vegetables for better health.
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