Agriculture

MSU professor revives 100-year-old barley for Michigan craft beer

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A Michigan State professor dug into the university’s agriculture archives to revive a 100-year-old barley seed called Spartan barley. Spartan barley was developed by Frank Spragg, a plant breeder at the Michigan Agricultural College, known today as Michigan State University. Originally developed as a Michigan-indigenous barley strain for Michigan brewers, many breweries in the state used this barley strain in the early 1900’s.  

But when prohibition was voted in, brewing halted. That is until Russell Freed, MSU’s doctor of crop science, decided to revive the strain. “I got in touch with the USDA germplasm curator for barley in Idaho, Aberdeen Idaho,” Freed said, “and he sent me five grams of Spartan barley.”

News

MSU professors break down election results

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As the last states rolled in their final votes Wednesday morning, a mix of excitement and shock rippled through the country as Donald Trump became president-elect. 

Pollsters like M-S-U political science professor Matt Grossman predicted a lower turnout in certain parts of the country. “We were speculating turnout might be down because people disliked both candidates,” Grossmann said. “And that was true among African Americans and people in urban areas which was somewhat expected, but turned out to be bigger than we thought.” But many pollsters didn’t count what many are calling the ‘secret’ vote. 

“There was some real persuasion and turnout for whites with lower education who were in rural areas and came out to support Donald Trump, even though those same areas previously supported Barack Obama,” Grossmann said.  

Hillary supporters felt strongly about their chances of winning the election, but researchers say that many may not have been ready for a ‘Madame President’.