Leadership, Innovation and the Journey to the No. 1 Ag School with CAES Dean and Director, Nick Place

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Emily Davenport: 0:01

Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we get down and dirty with the experts on all the ways science and agriculture touch our lives from what we eat to how we live. I'm Emily Davenport.

Jordan Powers: 0:12

And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Jordan Powers: 0:21

We are here with Nick Place, the Dean and Director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Dean Place, thanks for joining us today.

Nick Place: 0:28

You're very welcome. Very happy to be here.

Jordan Powers: 0:30

Well, we're gonna dive into some more serious topics. But to kick things off, we would love to hear your favorite agriculture or environmental science related joke.

Nick Place: 0:38

Well, Jordan, as I mentioned before, I'm not really much of a joke teller. I enjoy jokes, but I seem to have a hard time remembering them. But I did hear one recently from one of my grandchildren. And she asked me, so what farm animal keeps the best time?

Emily Davenport: 0:53

It's not the rooster.

Jordan Powers: 0:55

No, they're up too early.

Emily Davenport: 0:57

They're always wrong.

Jordan Powers: 0:57

Kind of like my kid.

Nick Place: 1:00

It's the watch dog.

Everyone: 1:01

[laughter]

Jordan Powers: 1:01

Aw.

Emily Davenport: 1:01

Oh, that's cute.

Nick Place: 1:05

That's a grandchild joke, so.

Jordan Powers: 1:06

I love it.

Emily Davenport: 1:07

They have the best jokes.

Jordan Powers: 1:08

They really do, especially when they're figuring out their humor. I feel like that's when it's especially fun.

Emily Davenport: 1:13

Yeah.

Nick Place: 1:13

Exactly.

Jordan Powers: 1:15

Well, on a more serious note, can you share a little bit about your academic journey with us? How did you go from a researcher to the Dean of the future number one ag school?

Nick Place: 1:24

Do you want the long version or the short version?

Jordan Powers: 1:27

Whatever you want to give us.

Nick Place: 1:28

It is a long, convoluted story and journey in regards to how I got here. So I did grow up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. I grew up in 4-H. My parents were 4-H leaders, I participated in the whole gambit of 4-H. And I went to college and studied Dairy Science thinking I'd go back to the farm and I'd run the farm. Did that for about a year and a half and realized that I had to get another job because there wasn't Absolutely. enough income for two families. So I got into sales for a while and then had an opportunity to apply for an Extension agent position at Penn State University. And lo and behold, I was chosen for that particular position. In that position. I And that's, that was a big deal to me and my wife to go back and did dairy work across four counties in Northeast Pennsylvania that represented about 1400 dairy farms. So it kept me very busy, lots of time on the road and running around meeting farmers helping them better understand production and nutrition and facilities, all of those kinds of things really enjoyed that. Also spent a good bit of time doing 4-H dairy and livestock work and also had an opportunity to do County Extension Director work for the time that I was up at Penn State University. During that time, I also completed my master's degree in dairy science and a PhD degree in adultextension education. After completing that I ended up going to University of Florida on a faculty there. And while at the University of Florida, I oversaw all of the professional development for IFIS, the Institute of Food and Ag Sciences, particularly for the Extension faculty. I also worked quite a bit with graduate students that wanted to study extension. So that gave me an opportunity to work with students on animal sciences and horticulture and all those areas, but really wanted to be an extension agent or extension specialist. So really enjoyed that part of my work as well. I was there at the University of Florida for about eight years. And then University of Maryland came calling with an opportunity to be an Associate Dean and Director of the Extension program there in Maryland and made that switch to go up back up north. And I was in that role for five years, really enjoyed that. I would say that was kind of my postdoc on administration and really understanding what it takes to lead and direct an extension program. And then it came to the opportunity of going back to University of Florida to be the Dean for Extension for the University of Florida. It was a great career move for me professionally. Plus, in addition, we had two daughters there in Gainesville, Florida, so there was a personal draw as well. do that. So Florida, I had a great career there serve as a dean for nine years and then came here to the University of Georgia, Go Dawgs. It'll be three years in January. So it's been a great ride, a great journey, from being that initial Extension agent all the way up to where I am today.

Jordan Powers: 4:17

What an incredible journey indeed and especially starting as the agent and really knowing when your agents come to you now, our UGA Extension agents, you know right where they're coming from. I imagine that gives you, I don't want to say a leg up, but for lack of a better terms a leg up on really working through a lot of the issues that I know come up working in the Extension world.

Nick Place: 4:35

That's very true Jordan, and that's the thing that I think kind of sets me apart from some other candidates because I have been there out in the field. I understand what it takes to deal with clientele issues and angry 4-H parents and really happy and proud 4-H parents, in dealing with county commissioners and all of those kinds of things. It is a very unique experience that our Extension agents have out in the counties and my hat really goes off to them for what they do and how they represent the university and our College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, I like to say Extension is the front door to the land grant university. And I truly mean that.

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Jordan Powers: 5:11

We've mentioned land grant institutions in previous episodes. But as a reminder, a land grant university is an institution in the United States that provides research based programs and resources for residents within the state. There is at least one land-grant institution in every state and territory of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia. Each institution receives federal benefits as set forth by the Morrill Acts of 1862, 1890, and 1994.

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Emily Davenport: 5:43

You've done some international work as well, can you tell us more about your work in Poland, I believe?

Nick Place: 5:48

That was probably the highlight of my overall career is the time that I spent in Poland. And that was six months on a USDA assignment. And it's also interesting how that came about. So my wife and I were at a presentation at an annual meeting and heard a faculty member from Penn State University talk about this program they have going on in Poland, where they were just coming out of communism, changing a lot of governmental things, one of the things that they were working on at the time in extension was they basically eliminated all their extension employees. And they hired back about 1/3 of them with the idea that they'd be changing more to an extension program like we have here in the United States. And they were sending over teams of two to work in provinces to work with the remaining people to help them understand that how we do work, and how to interact with clientele, how to connect with universities, and all of those kinds of things. So my wife and I heard that presentation, as we were driving home, and we were just talking about that, reflecting on the presentation, which was very intriguing. And of course, my wife has to say, well, you would never do that.

Everyone: 6:51

[laughter]

Emily Davenport: 6:51

Uh-oh.

Jordan Powers: 6:51

Challenge accepted.

Nick Place: 6:53

Yes it was, Jordan. About 10 minutes later, I said, well, I'll show you. And then within the next day or two, I threw my name in the hat and put in an application. And lo and behold, about three weeks I get a call from USDA, well, you've been selected. This was November, and then we were heading that way in the middle of January.

Jordan Powers: 7:12

Oh my gosh.

Nick Place: 7:13

I still remember getting over there, my wife and

Emily Davenport: 7:13

A little chilly. I saying, what did we get ourselves into? But it was a tremendous experience for a number of reasons. One, our three children were with us. So they were like in second grade. And our son was four years old at the time. Great experience for them personally. Professionally, the opportunity to work with Polish employees and really see them embrace all that we had to say. And to better understand about how they can be more effective, how they can work with producers. And the kinds of things I dealt with were a lot with dairy issues, and milk quality, and sanitation, and farm facilities and ventilation, all of those kinds of things. And then we also left it to them, you know, what do you want to learn from us? And even though it wasn't on the list of topics they wanted to hear about, they wanted to know about 4-H. And they were just really intrigued by that, and how 4-H could really fit with them over there to help get a lot more young people excited about agriculture and careers in agriculture. So we ended up helping them start a 4-H program, we got that up and running. The other thing they were very intrigued about is volunteering. As you know, volunteering is pretty commonplace here. But as we would talk to them about what people do here, volunteering and stepping up, that was very foreign to them. So we spent a lot of time trying to get at that and help people volunteer to do 4-H work on volunteer committees, on advisory committees, all of those kinds of things. So that was also very good to go through that experience professionally. It was because of that experience, in the six months that we live there, I came back to Penn State University saying, man, this is really cool. That really prompted me to do my PhD degree at Penn State while I was working full time in Extension, and it also truly changed how I view working with different peoples. Where I grew up in Pennsylvania was a very small, rural area, very homogenous. But to be in a different environment where you're immersed with people that do not look like, talk like you or you can't communicate with them really puts you in a different kind of situation. And it was truly one of those life changing kind of opportunities that we had that really changed how I look at different peoples in different groups and gave me a whole different perspective about diversity, diversity of thought and perspective. So it was really life changing from that perspective too.

Jordan Powers: 9:23

Sounds like an amazing personal and professional journey for you and your family.

Nick Place: 9:28

It was.

Jordan Powers: 9:29

Who came on board. Well, coming back stateside, you shared a little bit earlier how you served as Dean of the UF Cooperative Extension. What was the transition like going from UF to UGA and the transition to overseeing an entire College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences?

Nick Place: 9:45

It certainly was a transition going from a Gator to a Bulldog.

Jordan Powers: 9:49

I wasn't gonna throw any shade.

Nick Place: 9:51

It was a transition and a change. However, with the way that we had our administration structure there at the University of Florida, I was very much part and parcel to all the different aspects of the Institute of Food and Ag Sciences. So as Dean for Extension also worked really closely with research and teaching and with university administration that truly gave me a very good background and experience in regards to the things that we deal with here in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Because of that, it wasn't the huge leap that one would expect it to be. But it is different when you're dealing with just Extension as compared to Extension, teaching, research, development, communications, and everything else that we do in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Ssciences. I spend a lot more time now working with stakeholders and fundraising and all those kinds of things, working with students, which I did not do as much of as Dean for extension, but frankly, it's probably one of the more exhilarating things I do working with students.

Jordan Powers: 10:46

You get roped into doing the occasional ridiculous video with the Office of Marketing and Communications from time to time.

Emily Davenport: 10:51

Yeah, you never know what's going to happen when we show up.

Jordan Powers: 10:54

Exactly.

Nick Place: 10:55

Oh, by the way, I'm just ready to do another one when you guys get it all laid out.

Jordan Powers: 10:59

There we go. We love it. Maybe we'll link to some of those in the show notes for our listeners so they can see some of the fun we've had. I still argue we have the most fun Dean at UGA.

Nick Place: 11:07

Well, I appreciate that.

Emily Davenport: 11:07

That is true. Can you share some of your goals when you started as dean at UGA CAES?

Nick Place: 11:13

There was a couple of goals that were made very clear to me throughout the whole interview process. One of the first things that the Provost said to me throughout the interview, as well as when I locked down the job was oh, by the way, we are building this poultry science building and we need to raise $54.1 million, of which you're responsible for 28.2. Like, sure, sign me up. So that was one of the goals. The other thing was made very clear was that there is an expectation that we make this college, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, number one college in the country when it comes to agriculture and environmental sciences. I heard that very loud and clear from university administration, stakeholders, government. As a matter of fact, my third week on the job, Governor Brian Kemp came to Conner Hall, met with myself and President Morehead, and stated that's his goal also, and what is it going to take in order to make that happen? As you both know, that is one of the overarching goals that we have. We are moving in that direction. And I think we have and are making some very good headway in that regard. And I think the other big thing too, is we've got to work on infrastructure. So infrastructure has gotten behind it a lot of land grants, and it has here as well. And that's one of the big things that we are working on.

Jordan Powers: 12:26

Well, now that you've been here about three years with CAES, as we mentioned, what accomplishments are you the most proud of so far?

Nick Place: 12:34

First of all, Jordan, we're just getting started. I would say a couple things come to mind. One is coming back to that poultry science building. So as you both know, we had our ribbon cutting back on October 6. It was really incredible to see that we had over 300 people here for that ribbon cutting and President Moorhead said he has never seen a crowd like that for a ribbon cutting. But I think that also underscores how important this college is and how important the industry sees the work that we do, particularly in supporting the poultry industry. I would say that we haven't raised quite all the money for that yet, we are getting close. But I would put in a plug that if anybody's interested in taking part in having an opportunity to get your name on something or supporting that effort, we would be more than happy to talk with you about that. Maybe we could put something in the show notes about that too, if you don't mind.

Jordan Powers: 13:27

He's a pro!

Emily Davenport: 13:28

I was gonna say, you've got it down, we are--

Jordan Powers: 13:30

Already on it.

Emily Davenport: 13:31

Making a note.

Nick Place: 13:33

We've also got the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture up and running. That's one of the things that I talked quite a bit about during my interview process, something that the Provost and I are definitely on the same page. Got that up and running in May of 2022. We have hired, through support from the state and the university, about 14 faculty between our college and the College of Engineering to focus in on precision agriculture. In addition, we've had an additional 50 faculty from across UGA that have signed up to be part of that. We're in the process right now of hiring a eminent scholar as well as a director for that institute. So we've made really good headway, really happy with how that has turned out. And I would say that we also are making some good headway with infrastructure. So we got a long ways to go. But we're just chipping away at that. As I like to say there's only one way to eat an elephant. And that's one bite at a time, so we're chipping away at that.

Jordan Powers: 14:26

Exactly.

Nick Place: 14:27

And I guess there's one thing too I should mention, I'd be remiss if I didn't, and that is all of the changes and advancements we've made with communications. That was another area or issue or opportunity, whatever word you want to use. When I interviewed I probably heard the word communication 1000 times about where the college was at the time and the things we need to do differently. So we have set out to make a number of changes. We're a lot more strategic with our communications. And I would say we're probably leading the way when it comes to colleges like ours in regards to the work that we do through our Office of Marketing and Communications. So that's another point of pride, I would say.

Jordan Powers: 15:03

Wow, we're a little biased. But we very much appreciate that. We both started just over two years ago and it has been a wonderful ride so far.

Emily Davenport: 15:11

For sure.

Nick Place: 15:12

And I would say that you did not pay me to say that.

Jordan Powers: 15:15

We did not, we promise.

Emily Davenport: 15:17

Well, agriculture has changed a lot in the last several decades. What excites you most about how CAES is part of that change?

Nick Place: 15:25

And it sure has changed a lot, Emily. And with my age of where I am, I've seen a lot of those changes firsthand, I guess what really excites me are things related to technology and innovation, some of the kind of things that we're aiming to do with the Institute of Integrative Precision Agriculture, and thinking about how we can pinpoint the detection of pests and different kinds of issues related to pests and diseases, things like that, and do pinpoint accuracy in regards to taking them out. And you talked with Simer Virk and George Vellidis some time ago. So I won't reiterate a lot of that. But that is really exciting to see where that is going to go. Also, when it comes to plant breeding. Our college is probably one of the top three plant breeding programs in the country. And when you think about how are we going to produce more food on less land with more issues, such as water and pests and diseases, we have to make sure that we are advancing a plant breeding program that is truly going to help us make some advancements in that area. I would put our plant breeders pretty much up against anybody in regards to the work that they are doing in that space. And I see at some point in time, where we also are going to be able to do some tailored plant breeding to deal with things such as diabetes, and obesity, and all of those kinds of things. That's kind of where things are going. AI is going to help us get there. The other thing that's really exciting about our college is regenerative biosciences. And I know you've had an episode related to that. But that is incredible how we're bringing together that nexus of animal sciences and human health to help us deal with things such as traumatic brain injury and stroke and all of those kinds of things. Very, very exciting. It's actually a very exciting time to be a young person getting into the field of agriculture.

Jordan Powers: 17:04

Every story I write, and every episode we do of this show, I'm like, I need to go back to school for this.

Emily Davenport: 17:09

Yes!

Jordan Powers: 17:10

It's all just incredible. It's incredible work. And I've said it a million and two times, but you can't look at food or fiber in the same way after being in a role like this and experiencing the incredible research and how much science goes behind the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, the water that we're drinking. It's mind blowing. You have shared a lot about goals and about accomplishments and about things that excite you. Tell us about what a typical day looks like as Dean of CAES. Yes,

Nick Place: 17:36

There's probably not a typical day.

Jordan Powers: 17:39

I wish our audience could see kind of the pensive smirk that came before that answer.

Nick Place: 17:44

What I would say about that, Jordan is that there is a number of things that one would do as a Dean, so I spend a lot of time fundraising, communications, working with politicians, which could be governor's office, House and Senate, federal legislators. So there's quite a bit of work in that space. Also opportunities to interact with students, whether they're current students or potential students. And that's probably one of the usually more fun things that I do. A lot of time also being a cheerleader motivator for the college. And you kind of set the tone for the college and kind of where we are, where we're going. So there's quite a bit of work that I do in that space, as well.

Emily Davenport: 18:21

Tell us what the next three or more years hold for CAES and Extension.

Nick Place: 18:27

I think it would really center in on one of the things I talked about early on, and that is making sure that this college becomes the clearly identifiable number one college of agricultural and environmental sciences in the country, and really hones in on that and making strides to move in that direction, which people may wonder, okay, so what does that mean? So that means that yeah, there's things that we need to do to advance grantsmanship and contracts with various groups, elevating our publications and citations. International connections is also a key part of that, all the kinds of things you typically see in a ranking from like US News and World Report. But it's also more than that. It's also about the impact that we're able to bring about in the state of Georgia and how we're able to advance businesses and farms and families and young people. To me, that's probably the area of impact that is most pertinent to a state resident, a constituent, that's the kind of things they're looking at. So it's that as well as all the stuff that goes into ranking. So it's not either or, but it's more of a both and.

Jordan Powers: 19:25

Speaking of that impact, we know that CAES just closed out another record year of economic impact on the state of Georgia. I actually wrote our story on it, so we'll include that in the show notes. That feels very selfish to say but it dives into that a little bit more. And we know that research saw especially significant growth in that impact. Looking forward what excites you the most about the future of innovation at CAES?

Nick Place: 19:46

To me, that is the real opportunity that young people have to think about how do you come to a college like this that focuses in on agriculture, food production, food, profitability, niche markets for food as well as environmental issues and think about, how do we do this in a way that's going to address this growing population we have in the world on less and less land with more and more challenges all the time? It is a, what I like to say a vexing issue. But I think it presents a tremendous opportunity for young people that really get excited about that. So that's really where I see our college going into the future is to hone in on that. I think we also have a lot of work to do, Jordan, when it comes to helping people understand about that very issue. And to many people, when they think of a college like ours, they think of the common term of plows, cows and sows kind of thing. But yes, it's that on the traditional production side, and we got to do that. But it's so much more than that. And I know we're working with your office, OMC, to get that across, but there's so much more we need to do. We need to do that in partnership with the industry as well.

Jordan Powers: 20:48

Absolutely. There's a lot of work to do. But it is exciting work. It's a lot of fun.

Nick Place: 20:52

Exactly.

Emily Davenport: 20:52

Very exciting. I'm going to segue over to some questions from our social media audience, because they were excited that you were coming and had some great questions. Our first one is, what do you enjoy most when CAES collaborates with local farmers, policymakers and industry stakeholders?

Nick Place: 21:09

That's a very good question. And that's one of the things I did not mention as a typical day. But I do spend quite a bit of time traveling, particularly around the state, meeting with stakeholders and producers. And that is probably one of the things that also excites me about this college and the work that we're doing. And the reason it excites me is so many times you hear anecdotes, stories about the difference that this college has made in somebody's life or their business or how it has helped them create a business or how it has helped them save thousands of dollars, or perhaps save a crop that was on the verge of being taken out by frost or pests. And if it was not for what that Extension agent or that Extension specialist did, they would have lost their entire livelihood. Those kinds of stories really mean a lot and really helps me, really drives me each and every day to get up and really be so proud of what we do here in the college.

Jordan Powers: 22:00

It's very inspiring.

Emily Davenport: 22:01

Yes, for sure.

Jordan Powers: 22:02

Another question from our social audience, how does CAES plan to ensure that our academic programs remain relevant and responsive to the needs of the agricultural and environmental sectors?

Nick Place: 22:13

That really takes a lot of listening and engaging with producers, those that utilize the kind of work and graduates that come out of a college like ours. We have to get out of the ivory tower, so to speak, and get out there in the field, and listen and learn and bring those new ideas, those new innovations, the needs from industry, bring them back and integrate them into the work that we do. I would tell you within the last year in relation to that we've heard a lot from industry that yeah, we need students or graduates that really understand the technical subject matter. But you know, what they really are looking for is students that are able to deal with conflict and communicate and work with others, have have a work ethic, all those kind of what I would call soft skills are also really important in the kinds of things that our employers or potential employers are looking forward. So we've been working with the departments' undergraduate coordinators to help bring about some changes. We have, since that time, put together some courses that get into professional success. And I think those kinds of things are going to help students as well as help address some of those issues that we're hearing from industry.

Jordan Powers: 23:18

Listening is so key. I mean, we're at our stage in life. We're telling our kids all the time to use listening ears.

Emily Davenport: 23:22

Oh yes.

Jordan Powers: 23:22

But I think sometimes as adults, we need to use our listening ears as well. And it's so important to listen to what's happening before you can make those bigger changes. So that's really awesome to hear.

Emily Davenport: 23:32

Yeah, those real world skills are very important. All right. Now the most serious question of the interview.

Nick Place: 23:38

I'm ready.

Emily Davenport: 23:39

What is the weirdest question that you've been asked at a dinner party or other event when you tell people about what you do?

Nick Place: 23:46

Oh, my God. Well, one of the things I would say before I answer that,

Emily Davenport: 23:51

Sure.

Nick Place: 23:51

is I am gonna write a book someday about all the different experiences I've had in my 30+ years at four different land grant universities.

Jordan Powers: 24:00

That's why we had to ask this question.

Emily Davenport: 24:01

Yes.

Nick Place: 24:02

So I guess there's a couple of things that come to mind when you ask that question, Emily. Probably one of the very first ones was from my father-in-law. When I first got that job as an Extension agent, he had no idea. I mean, they lived in a rural area, but did not grow up on a farm or anything like that. And he said, What do you do in that job? Just ride around in parades and wave at people?

Everyone: 24:23

[laughter]

Jordan Powers: 24:23

Oh no! Something like that.

Emily Davenport: 24:26

That's right.

Nick Place: 24:26

Not exactly. But as an Extension agent, that's probably where I've gotten more of my interesting and I'll just put it at interesting questions of things. People bring in all this stuff for identification of bugs and animals and snakes and all of those kinds of things. So that's been very interesting. One of the things, too that I encountered as an Extension agent is really fancily dressed woman comes into the office just all frazzled, and she was really carrying on about all of these black spots that were all over her white Cadillac and I went out to look at that with her, and the whole front of this really nice brand new white Cadillac was just covered with these black spots. And upon further investigation, we come to find out that she had applied this mulch to her front yard and parked the car right in front of it, but it had artillery fungus in it. So was shooting out all of this,

Emily Davenport: 25:21

Oh no.

Jordan Powers: 25:22

Oh no.

Nick Place: 25:22

it was black stuff,

Emily Davenport: 25:23

Oh no!

Nick Place: 25:24

goop. It was really hard to come off.

Jordan Powers: 25:27

Oops.

Nick Place: 25:27

So. But that was quite an interesting experience to work with her on that.

Jordan Powers: 25:33

Talk about a teaching moment, right?

Emily Davenport: 25:35

Also that's like the perfect name for a fungus.

Jordan Powers: 25:38

It really is.

Emily Davenport: 25:38

To describe what it does, like you just gotta say that and that is, you know what it does.

Jordan Powers: 25:42

You absolutely know what you're talking about.

Nick Place: 25:43

Shoot it, shot out this black goop, yeah.

Jordan Powers: 25:46

Well, we have talked about weird questions and artillery fungus. And we have told jokes. But we've also talked about the really serious impact that CAES and UGA Extension has on Georgia and beyond. And we've covered a lot of ground. But what have we missed? I've

Nick Place: 26:02

I've really enjoyed this opportunity to chat with both of you and share about just some of the things that we do in this outstanding college and I really see so many other great opportunities in front of us over the next three to five to 10 years as we truly work to make this college the number one College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in the country.

Unknown: 26:20

Well,

Jordan Powers: 26:20

Well, thank you so much. We know you have busy days every single day. So thanks for carving out a little bit of time to come in and talk with us.

Emily Davenport: 26:26

Yeah, thank you.

Nick Place: 26:27

Happy to do it. Thanks for the opportunity.

Sound Effect: 26:28

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Emily Davenport: 26:30

Thanks for listening to Cultivating Curiosity, a podcast produced by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A special thanks to Mason McClintock for our music and sound effects. Find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts.