Sustainable Solutions: The Introduction with Madison Dyment

This episode is The Introduction to the Sustainable Solutions: From Guelph to Gainesville series. UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (UFAEC) undergraduate student Hailey Jones interviewed UFAEC doctoral student Madison Dyment about the ins and outs of the seed grant and the University of Guelph - Ontario Agricultural College partnership that led to this series. 

Dyment discussed her background as an international student from Canada studying at UF, and she also explained the purpose, process, and long-term goals of the Sustainable Solutions podcasts. This series included UFAEC students conducting interviews with agricultural and natural resources scientists from the University of Guelph and other Canadian experts about their perceptions, experiences, and work on sustainable solutions to overcome challenges in agricultural and natural resources to make the world a better place for everyone. 

Transcript

Hailey 0:32

Hello everyone and welcome to sustainable solutions from Guelph to Gainesville, a podcast brought to you by the streaming science project. Streaming science is a student driven program committed to connecting you with leading experts exploring how science shapes our world, and how we can build a more sustainable future together. Throughout this podcast series, we're not only dwelling into topics such as sustainable agriculture, natural resources, and science, communication and literacy. But we are also taking an international perspective as we connect with alumni and experts from the University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College in Ontario, Canada. I'm Hailey Jones, a junior in the agricultural education Communication at the University of Florida. Now I'll be your host for today's episode. Today we'll be speaking with Madison Dyment, a PhD student in AEC as well to talk about their experience. In the following episode, Maddie and I discussed the ins and outs of the grant program that allowed the series to be created, her personal background and connection to the project and where this collaboration is headed in the future. So, without further ado, let's dive into our conversation with Maddie and explore bridging the gap from Guelph to Gainesville. 

Hailey 1:22

Hello, everyone, my name is Hailey Jones. And I'm here today interviewing Maddie diamond. Hi, everyone. Today we're going to be talking about the grant program with streaming science between the University of Florida and the University of Guelph.

Maddie 1:43

Hi, everybody. Ya know, I'm super happy to be here. And to be able to talk about this partnership between the University of Florida and the University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College.

Hailey 1:05

Can you tell me a bit about your research you're doing here?

Maddie 1:11

Yeah, absolutely. So, I am currently a PhD student here at the University of Florida. I specialize in agriculture and natural resources, communication. And I'm housed in the Department of Agricultural Education and communication here at the University of Florida. So, my research largely centered around curriculum development, curriculum development, specifically in agriculture and natural resources, or science communication goes by a lot of names. And so, its kind of just depends on what you're more interested in. But ever since I have started my graduate student journey, so the time I was a master's student, until currently, as a PhD student, I've really been focusing a lot of my research in this area of curriculum development within our discipline. Specifically, I have always kind of had the ambition ever since beginning my undergrad experience of trying to build out some form of curriculum within the field of agriculture, natural resources, communication. But building a discipline in this that I can hopefully bring back home to Canada, which is where I'm from. So, I was born and raised in southwestern Ontario. And that's where I've spent like pretty much my entire life up until I moved to Lexington, Kentucky, for my undergrad. And so, all this to say, I'm really passionate about Ontario agriculture, that was something that I was really immersed in growing up, I grew up pretty immersed in the dairy industry. And so that's where my heart is. And so being able to bring this discipline that I'm so passionate about to the place in the school, specifically at the University of Guelph.

Hailey 2:10

Can you tell me a bit about more about the grant process and why you decided to do it?

Maddie 2:15

Yeah, absolutely. So, what we're doing with this grant project, we were fortunate enough to receive some seeds funding from the Department of Agricultural Education and communication. And so what this has allowed us to do is to take this podcasting course that you're currently enrolled in. And this podcasting course, just to provide some context is a mix of undergrad and graduate students within the AEC department. And we have some students who are outside of it, but it's housed under our department. And so, it's allowing these students to really take a project-based learning approach to create podcasts about different scientific topics. And so, with this class, what we've done is we've gone ahead and done a partnership with the University of Guelph OAC or Ontario Agricultural College. And we went ahead, and we've partnered with various different OAC scientists from the University of Guelph. We have paired our students up With these different scientists and so they are students have gone ahead and done a bunch of research on the scientists, and then started planning out these different podcast episodes, and then ultimately recording some podcast episodes, editing these and publishing them on the streaming science platform. And so what this seeds funding what this grant project has allowed us to do is to really have this international partnership, it allowed Dr. Jaime Loizzo, so who is the primary instructor and primary on this grant. Loizzo and myself got to travel to Guelph to go and meet with these scientists and these individuals in person and to really like form these connections, and then also to leverage different AI components in the classroom. And so the seeds funding has really opened up a lot of different opportunities for us both with the networking connections that we're making, and also the ability for our students to just be like really creative, and hopefully broaden our students horizons a bit more, and introduce them to this, this idea of agriculture, science and natural resources on a broader scale, not just on the Florida local level.

Hailey 3:22

So, I heard you say that you went on a trip to the university. Can you tell me how that process was and the positives that came out of it?

Maddie 3:40

Yeah, for sure. So that was actually a really fun trip, I always have a great time going back home. So just to provide some context, I said that I was from Southwestern Ontario, the University of Guelph is actually only about, I would say, 35 ish minutes from my home. And so, it really is a big homecoming for me, I've spent quite a bit of time in the Guelph area. And so, it's definitely a very familiar spot for me. So being able to, we accomplished a lot, actually on our trip. And we were only there for I think that Dr. Lewis was only there for about four days, four or five days, something like that, I stayed for a whole week, just to spend some time with my family and what not. But within those few days, I feel like we met and talked with so many individuals, we saw so many different things. Basically, as far as the broader impacts of that trip, it was just being able to be in person with some of these scientists, we talked to some administrators as well within OAC. And just being able to, to connect and talk face to face with these individuals. Because at the end of the day, like we were asking them, I feel like to go on this really crazy journey with us. And a lot of them didn't even really know who we were. And so having the opportunity to go and be face to face and in person with them and show them Hey, like, we're a little bit crazy, but we're not totally insane. And you know, you can trust us, we have somewhat of a plan for this. And we, at the end of the day, really just want this to be a beneficial partnership for both institutions. So yeah, being able to make those connections I feel was really, really important. And honestly, I just love showing off where I'm from, I'm really, really proud of where I'm from. The whole reason why I've been really interested in doing these types of partnerships and working with the University of Guelph is because I believe in some, I believe so much in what they're doing. And I think that they are just the bee's knees to me. And so, it was a great opportunity for me to bring some of my collaborators and colleagues from the University of Florida, and show them things like, hey, this is why I do what I do. Because this is a really fantastic institution that I'm really passionate about. This is a lot of the really cool things that are going on within Ontario, like food and agricultural industries. And yeah, this is why I guess that's kind of like my why this is why I'm as passionate as I am about this stuff. And that's where my heart is. So yeah, I think that that was a really great opportunity to kind of introduce us to these folks. And then also to really show some of my Florida people like why it is that I am the way that I am essentially. 

Hailey 5:40

That's awesome. I couldn't imagine going up there with like, your coworker and being able to show them around and meet all those people that you've been telling them about. I bet that was a cool experience. Yeah, I know that. We had one of our podcasts the interviewees here the other day. Can you tell me about that experience with him? 

Maddie 5:55

For sure. Yeah. So, we were so fortunate to have Dr. Larry Good Ridge come and speak with us in our podcasting course. This was actually just yesterday at the time of our recording right now. But no, we were so fortunate to have him come. I know that whenever he emailed Dr. Lewis so and it was not last minute or anything but certainly not like super far in advance of him arriving and we're like, Are you kidding me? Like you're going to be in Florida. You'going to come and talk to us? But it lined up really nicely. We actually thought that he was here on like work, related business, because he actually does do some collaboration with another one of the University of Florida food scientists here. But it turns out actually that he was here on spring break for his, child's spring break to go to Disney and whatnot. And so we were even more fortunate in that sense that he took time out of his vacation to come and speak with our class. I know that Hailey, you could probably speak to this as well, being one of the students in the class, but I feel like we just had such fantastic dialogue and conversation with him. He gave incredible insight. And I was completely unsurprised by that because he was one of the scientists that we met with whenever we were on our trip to Guelph. And so, I already had the opportunity to speak with him prior. And he gave us then just like really fantastic insight, a great conversation. And his work is beyond cool. Like all of the things that he does. We took a bunch of photos and videos and audio recordings on our trip to Guelph to try and bring that back to our students in the class so that they could experience some of what we experienced without actually traveling there. But his lab is extensive, all of his work is just super top notch. Very cool. But yeah, so whenever he came to the class, I was I was not surprised at all that he gave us such like fantastic conversation. But I was really, really happy to see that all of our students, were really engaged with him asking a lot of very insightful, great questions. So yeah, that was an awesome opportunity. And again, I think that that just shows like we're building these relationships, we're building these connections. And I guarantee that if we hadn't have gone there in person and actually met with Dr. Goodridge on his you know, home turf at Guelph, there's probably like almost zero chance that he would have come here and driven all that way to come here and talk to us here at a at a University of Florida. So, I think that that's just a really great, it really stands to show that we are building these relationships, which ultimately, at the end of the day, that's like one of the main things that I wanted to get out of this project.

Hailey 9:42

Yeah, it was such an interesting experience to be able to go from seeing him on Zoom and talk to him over zoom with the whole class. And then him being here and being able just to have a conversation easily. And he just had so much knowledge I want to talk with that we could all relate to because we all need to practice food safety. And so that was that's why I think it was really easy to have that conversation with him for sure. Versus like, other topics because like, in dairy science, we may not know that we're not all dairy farmers, right? And so we're all consumers. And so that makes it easier to talk about what practices we should be taking with food safety, and like the myths with it, so I'm really excited to be able to listen to their podcast with him.

Maddie 10:05

Oh, yeah, no, it's going to be great. All of these topics that are so broadly applicable are just really, really neat too, to learn about. Like him going from Zoom to being in person, it's like, you know, like, these are actual, like real people that we're talking to. And I feel like that's probably like, the biggest negative I would say about this grant, because it is international, it's very inconvenient to have all of us in person in the same spaces. And so, I think that this was a really great opportunity to kind of, like make this a bit more real for everybody. And to be like, hey, like, we're not just talking to these, like floating heads on the internet or anything like these are actual, real people that we're talking to. So yeah, I'm just super grateful that he was able to come in and talk to you all.

Hailey 11:12

Did you guys go through like the selection process of finding people reaching out to the scientists?

Maddie 11:20

So that was actually a really collaborative effort with some of our University of Guelph folks, which ultimately, like at the end of the day, that's what I was hoping for, because, you know, I had some connections, but I've never actually attended the institution as a student. And I definitely don't have like the insider knowledge in that sense. But I did have a couple of connections Dr. vanacker and Dr. Cranfield, they were really good starting points for us. They're more in those administration positions. And we kind of started there and we said, ultimately, like at the end of the day, we want this podcast to be beneficial for the Guelph folks. And so we want this podcast to be something that's going to be showcasing the work that their scientists are doing And so we kind of gave them a lot of leeway and just said, like, you know, who are the individuals that you would recommend we reach out to who are some scientists that are doing some, like really exciting work that you would like to have promoted through these podcast mediums. And so they actually really took the reins with that they were the ones who gave us some of the scientists and individuals to reach out to in the sense, and so we just kind of listened to them. Because honestly, at this point, like they're the experts, and so they know the content that they would like to have shared, they know the individuals that they would recommend for us. And so we're like, yeah, 100%. So they, gave us some names. And we reached out to them, they also like helped to reach out to kind of make those introductions and whatnot. And so we had our game plan set before we went up to Guelph, and ultimately to Ridge town as well, because we did travel there, as well, which is their other campus, the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus. And so, we had our game plan before we traveled there. And we scheduled some of the days that we were going to be going and like talking to certain folks. And so, then we were kind of able to sketch out like a rough itinerary that was definitely subject to change. But that was kind of our selection process for that. And so, we were really grateful to, to be given such an awesome pool of people to pull from and talk with. And yeah, pretty much everybody that we spoke with, we were like, they're going to make an amazing podcast episode.

Hailey 12:30

I know that we have a pretty wide variety of topics being discussed through this grant process, do you think you can tell me a bit about some of the topics that we're going to see?

Maddie 12:45

Yeah, for sure. So I, I can't speak super specifically about a lot of the topics because there's a lot of detail in those. And I'm sure that I would get them wrong at some point if I even tried, but I can say that we have folks across like a variety of specializations within food and agriculture. We have individuals from animal Biosciences specifically going to be talking in like the dairy science side of animal science research, we have folks who are in food safety, food security, who we're going to be speaking with, we have some individuals who are going to be talking with us about soil health and soil sustainability. And then we're also going to be having podcast episodes from our administrators who are going to be able to give us sort of that broader perspective of the University of Guelph, Ontario agricultural college as a whole may be talking to us a bit about like their research agenda, and how some of the work that is going on at the institution is really making a difference in these local areas and local communities. And so yeah, we have a really broad array and lineup of individuals, oh, we're also going ahead and we're talking to some of the University of Guelph, OAC alumni as well. And so, we're going to be able to get that alumni perspective. And see, like what some of the former graduates of the University of Guelph OAC are doing now. And I can assure you that it's some pretty exciting work to see where some of these people are, have taken their careers afterward. So yeah, there's a really broad lineup of individuals, we're going to get a lot of diversity in the topics, and I'm just so excited to listen to all of them.

Hailey 14:13

I'm excited as well, watching my peers in the class, doing their work and hearing their updates, it's going to be really rewarding to be able to listen and watch these podcasts come alive.

Maddie 14:35

100%. Well, and at the end of the day, like one of the things that I really do want to emphasize about this, about this project is that this is student led in student created and so Dr. Jamie Loizzo, so has founded the streaming science project, which really focuses on student created science communication. And so, this course, is a part of that broader project. And so yeah, it's really important to note that all of this work like you all are doing this, we went ahead and we provided like some of the individuals for you all to talk too. We briefly like at the beginning of the semester, we go teach some of these concepts about podcast creation, and we help to guide you through the process. But at the end of the day, you are all the ones who are reaching out to these people. You're setting up your interviews, you're creating your podcast, episode outlines, you're recording your editing, like you're doing the work. And so yeah, it should be super rewarding. It's really rewarding for us to be able to see all of the hard work that you're putting in throughout the course of the semester, and to see like the final products of these.

Hailey 15:18

It's definitely been a great experience to learn how to do podcasting since it's such an innovative and new topic in the technology world and definitely rising in its popularity. And so now when, like listening to other podcasts, I'm listening for the editing styles and listening for, like, the outros and intros and how they could have filmed it and so on.

Maddie 15:43

Yeah, 100% you kind of get like to see the behind the scenes of all of it right? And see, it's, it's ultimately allowing you to become a more like critical consumer of podcasting materials, which really is a lot of what we're trying to do in many of our classes that involve science communication, we're trying to teach you about, like, what goes on behind the scenes in constructing various types of media, so that you can be again, like a more critical consumer and be like, you know, I know what goes into this. And so, I can, like, pick this apart now and not necessarily be super susceptible to these things.

Hailey 17:04

Yeah, I'm definitely more aware of how much work goes into canning a podcast lot. And like the process of getting guests and like, interviewing them, and the pre meetings and like preparing them, and just thinking about, like, people that do podcasts for a living and how they have guests in like, every week, constantly, like, how much work goes into that, and probably like they have a whole team and like, doing it as a one person as a whole is definitely a lot. But it's a great learning curve for the process.

Maddie 17:52

Yeah, I think there's definitely a misconception about a lot of the communication work, that we do that it's pretty easy, because I mean, ultimately, like, you know, we we've been talking to people all of our lives. And so, the idea of doing a podcast and sitting down and having a conversation with someone doesn't seem like it should be super difficult. But yeah, with a lot of like communication work, there's so much stuff that goes on behind the scenes, just to make sure that everything is like prepared even before you can go ahead and like actually make the materials that people are going to see. So yeah, it's, there's definitely a new appreciation for it once you've actually gone through it yourself. 

Maddie 18:33

100%.

Hailey 18: 35

So can you tell me a bit about like, how the grant process started? How long has this been in work in the works?

Maddie 18: 57

You know, that's a great question. Not quite a full calendar year, but it was all kind of taking place within that 2023 range.

Hailey 19:13

Honestly, I think that's a pretty quick planning process and planning a trip and planning all these scientists to meet with, I just think that this is an awesome opportunity that you guys have created.

Maddie 19:35

And I think that that's really a testament to the folks that we are fortunate enough to be working with, because we did not give them a ton of turn around. And they were just so willing to you know, like on a dime, like go ahead and start get going with us and to really organize all of like these, because we did like we did tours of like the dairy facility and the beef research units. We were traveling to like their different campuses like so they had all of this stuff like set up and like ready for us to go. And so yeah, that was like a really quick turn around. And yeah, I think that that's just a really great testament to how flexible and enthusiastic. They have been as collaborators with us. So yeah, really great.

Hailey 20:54

So, I know we touched a bit about streaming science earlier. But can you tell me like the audience of streaming science? And how Dr. LeWitt. So like, organize that in how we are now we're going to be publishing our pack podcasts on it?

Maddie 21:33

Yeah, for sure. So I am probably not going to go into a whole lot of detail. Because again, I'm sure that if I tried to give a full explanation, I would say something wrong. Dr. Loizzo, who is definitely the authority on this, could definitely attest to the story of streaming science better than I. But I do know that it was something that she personally had founded. And it's not necessarily institutionally connected. It's more so an individual project. She started it, I believe, when she was a faculty member at Nebraska. And so, it's kind of moved with her as she's gone along. But ultimately, like I had said, it's really all about the science communication materials that are largely student led student created, student designed and implemented. And so it's very student centric, obviously, with all of the content that it's creating. As far as the streaming science projects audience is concerned, I think that there's a lot of range and variety in that. And I think that that's also by design. And so, I know that a lot of the communication materials and different things that Streaming Science does are targeted toward more youth outreach. And so, the Streaming Science does these things called electronic field trips. And so those have been traditionally broadcast to middle school or high school science classes. To reach those students in those demographics, I know that we also have broadcasts them to 4-H clubs. So, there's a lot of youth, youth education emphasis with that. But also, the materials and like these podcasts episodes are more than likely also going to reach older age demographics as well. And so this can be anywhere from like other scholars in our discipline, other faculty members, grad students, undergrad students who might be listening to these and then also like prospective undergrad students, I know that this was something that I was that we all as a team, were really hoping that the University of Guelph could use as like recruitment materials and promotional materials, so that they can get the word out about like some of the awesome and exciting work and individuals that they have at their institution. And so, I can very easily see this going to some of those, like prospective undergrad, or prospective graduate students to use his recruitment materials. So, this is kind of my long-winded way of saying that there really is no one target audience for all of these. But one of the things that we definitely are trying to promote with these podcast episodes, in particular, is making science accessible. And so having these conversations with the scientists in a way that is using language that people can understand, and making it so that science is accessible for all people. Because that's one of the issues that I feel like we have within the scientific community is that it's very high level knowledge. And so being able to act as science communicators and kind of break that down, so that it can be understood across like a variety of age or education levels, is really a priority for us. 

Hailey 26:42

Yeah, I as an agricultural education, communication major, across all my classes, that has been like the number one concept is really breaking down those conversations and those topics for everyone to be able to understand effectively and efficiently to that where they're understanding the concept. But at a level that makes sense to them, but not missing any of the key aspects of it.

Maddie 27:36

100%. Yeah, its accuracy and accessibility, I think are some of like, the key, components of this. So, we're not, we're not falsifying the science, we're still giving them exactly what it is that's happening, but we're doing so in a way that they can not only just understand, but hopefully connect to and relate to and apply that to their own lives. Because that's really how we get to those to those broader impacts for our scientific work, which is ultimately what we should all be striving for.

Hailey 28:07

Yeah, I totally agree that more people and more universities need to have this aspect in their curriculum. And really, in any major, they need to understand how to effectively communicate with people, and everyone needs those skills and be able to teach them and learn about them is key to our success in the future. 

Maddie 28:32

Yeah,100%. I mean, ultimately, like, if we don't have that communication and outreach component, then all of the work that we're doing really is just like kind of happening in a vacuum. And I know that particularly in like the research communities, the scientific research communities, like, they're not just doing this work just to do it. Like they're doing it because they want to make a difference. And so, they have, like, certain stakeholders, or individuals or communities that they're trying to benefit from the work that they're doing. And so, if these communities and audiences alike, don't even know what's happening for them, then yeah, like I said, it's all just kind of happening in this vacuum. And so, we really want to try and turn the tide a bit with that, especially in this age of scientific distrust and misinformation and whatnot. And so, really trying to strengthen those ties between the researchers and the communities that they're trying to benefit from and get that information out there. 

Hailey 29:47

Yeah, I see that with the miss communication with being very active on social media. And knowing having the Ag background, I'm like, Oh, that's not quite right. But having the can unification education, and being able to broadcast that correctly, is really key. And I think more scientists need that training not only just those that are in the communication majors, but being able to teach our researchers how to be able to do that will really help like social media myths, and so on.

Maddie 30:05 

Yeah, it's super widely beneficial. I think that's a great point. 

Hailey 30:19

What are your long term goals for this project, like, after the class is finished? 

Maddie 30:45

Oh my gosh, I would love for this to continue. I would love for the, um, I, I don't really want to recycle, I guess, like, the, the old things that we've done. And so I don't necessarily see there being a whole lot of benefit in, you know, doing podcast episodes with Guelph scientists, like, every semester after this. Like, I think we need to do things that are fresh, um, for, like, this specific situation. However, I am very hopeful and very optimistic that this is going to be the beginning of a much longer and broader partnership between the two institutions. Fun fact, these institutions have actually had collaboration and crossover beforehand. So, Dr. Ricky Telg, who is my advisor, He actually did in exchange with some of the University of Guelph faculty and students back in, I believe, 2015 or something like that. And so anyway, um, he took a group of students to Guelph and, uh, the Guelph folks took a group of students, uh, down here to Florida. So there is like history between like our department, um, and having a Guelph collaboration. But I'm hoping that this kind of rejuvenates that partnership and hopefully grows it, uh, into something broader, um, that is hopefully going to last for a while. I think that there's a lot of opportunities to do. Like student exchanges, student crossovers, to have like students working and collaborating, um, between both institutions, and maybe opportunities for different like research collaborations. Who knows? Sky's the limit at this point, but ultimately I don't want this partnership to end with this course, and um, I've had every indication from all of the folks that we've been working with that that won't be the case, because everybody seems really enthusiastic. About continuing some form of a partnership moving forward and we just we've been working with such great people And so I hope that they feel the same about us. We definitely feel like we've kind of hit the jackpot with our Guelph people. They've been fantastic .

Hailey 33:24

That's awesome. I actually didn't know about That partnership with Dr. Telg, um, I definitely like that we're now revamping that connection because that's going to be almost 20 years ago. 

Maddie 33:55

Yeah. And, oh gosh, that makes me feel old. 

 Hailey 34:16

And I just think it's awesome that we're building those connections, especially with other people. And students being able to have that international connection and conversations is really important to build, um, like, like cultural awareness and those topics. And I just think that's a really awesome opportunity and I think more, like, majors need to be able to try to put in the work and do what you guys are doing.

Maddie 36:25

Well, I appreciate that. I think that you make a great point about cultural awareness. I personally have never done a study abroad, but. Kind of my entire higher education experience has been technically a study abroad for me since I've again, I've moved internationally with my undergrad masters and PhD but I think one of the biggest benefits for me of doing that and going to different schools for all my all my degree programs has been my opportunity to see different, like, areas, different, like, regional differences, and then also specifically looking at, like, agriculture, natural resources. Um, agriculture has been different in every area that I have gone to, and it's been really different from where I grew up in, and so, just kind of having that opportunity to be exposed to like these different, um, these different areas, these different practices has been super beneficial to me. And so, I'm hoping that this also is beneficial for our students and future students who are hopefully going to benefit from this partnership to be able to see like, you know, like we're very familiar with Florida agriculture and the way that things are done in Florida, but this is how things are done in Ontario. And there's a lot of similarities, but there's also a lot of differences. And so, I feel like we have a tendency to get kind of like wrapped up in our own little worlds, and It's hard to see beyond our bubble until we've actually, like, reached outside of it and seen what's going on beyond it. So, I'm hopeful that that'll be a really beneficial thing for students.

 Hailey 38:06

I agree. Like, I know you grew up in the dairy industry, and I as well grew up showing dairy cows and being able to see those farms here, but being able to learn about, like, something you're interested in a different country, instead of just reading about it. Is so much more beneficial to me I think just being able to hear those experiences and those stories and not just have to like to read about it on your phone 

Maddie 38:58

Oh 100%. Yeah, and like for me also I fun fact about me I used to want to be a marine biologist. And so that was like a thing for me for a very long time probably close to 10 years, honestly. Um, and so now that I'm here in Florida, I obviously have not studied marine biology whatsoever. Um, other than just like, you know, personally reading like books or stuff about that. Um, but now that I'm here in Florida, I have like friends who were marine science majors in undergrad. And like, we obviously have a really strong marine science program here at UF, like we're coastal, we have all of the different things. And so I've been able to go and, like, immerse myself in all of, like, the marine science stuff, and it has been fantastic. I would never have these opportunities to do these. Types of things at home like I've gone and I have done I've helped with videos about like we did manatees And so I actually got to go in and like touch the manatees and like see them doing like veterinary Procedures on them and like all of this stuff. I've gone and I've attended like a sea turtle health Class with one of my friends who gave a fantastic presentation. Shout out to Caroline and It within that class, but anyway, so like I've had all these opportunities to do these things that I'm really interested in, but never would have had the chance to do at home. So yeah, having these chances to do these different exchanges, to learn about things that you're interested in, like you said, um, but like in different contexts, it's so beneficial and it's so cool. Yeah, that's definitely one of the benefits of UF. Being so large and just having like anything you're interested. You could probably find someone doing research about it.

Hailey 42:38

Oh, yeah, and there's just so many possibilities here, which is why I love the university.  So I know all these diverse projects and individuals we have in going into these podcasts. How are they all going to be connected in the long run?  

Maddie 42:55

So, the way that we have tried to kind of group all of these individuals together, and this will hopefully more than likely be seen, um, as we listen to these various podcasts, is we're trying to house them under the umbrella of, uh, sustainability within food and agricultural production, um, and natural resources as well. Um, and so this is a pretty, it's a broad topic for sure, and it's definitely a looser topic that connects. It's all of these different things because sustainability. I think means different things for different people. And so there's a lot of different ways that it can be addressed and applied within, um, within these episodes. But that ultimately has been kind of like our guiding, um, our guiding point for these podcast episodes and these topics. And so, uh, these episodes are not going to just be about sustainability across the various topics that our guests are going to be discussing, but they're definitely should be, um, some kind of through line of sustainability through all of this.

 Hailey 43:17

Yeah, with sustainability, I feel like in every ag and natural resource topic, it's definitely a key, like, importance to them. And so some people may think, oh, that's obvious. But highlighting that is really good for the public and just anyone really, like, highlighting what we are doing too actively.  Um, have sustainability in these topics.

 Maddie 43:48

Yeah, I think that that's a really great point. I think that depending on who you talk to, especially like, um, scientists who are working so hard with, like, sustainability topics. If you talk to them about, like, you know, sustainable agriculture and food production, they're like, duh. I mean, obviously, like, everything that we're doing is to try and promote sustainability. But I think that there's a lot of benefits. You know, we talked again about, um, communicating research and communicating science and sort of this idea of like the broader impact of our work. I think that like it needs to be said, um, so that the public can understand like, you know, this is something that we focus on all the time. And it's not even like, you know, we're making a concentrated effort. It's just an obvious, like built in thing to our work that, you know, sustainability is. obviously important. And so of course we're going to be, you know, um, doing research about sustainable practices. But yeah, I, I think that there's a lot of benefit. In telling people that this is something that's happening because it might not be obvious, um, based on again, like some of the disconnect between like scientists and um, Individuals who are hopefully going to be benefiting from the science. If they if they can't really understand what it is that's going on than they won't really understand what the benefits are and a lot of the things that are going into that work So yeah, I think that that's an awesome point.

 Hailey 44: 44

Yeah, like growing up in agriculture like things may seem obvious to me and like are Something that yeah, of course like this is happening Are definitely not obvious to my friends that don't have that background and being able to share that knowledge with them Is really important Like really, something I'm really passionate about, about sharing others, about agriculture and like growing up more so in like the city and like, where it's not something that's very common and because there is that disconnect and we really have to work on that. And that's why this project has been such a inspiration for the universities, I think. 

Maddie 45:05

No, I'm really glad to hear that. Yeah. I think that, I think that you make really great points. I oftentimes have to kind of like, Take off my agriculture hat and be thinking like, you know How is someone else who does not have my background? How are they perceiving this? And really kind of taking that step back and putting myself in their shoes and trying to think from what their perspective would be Is really beneficial whenever I'm trying to communicate. like I went to high school in the city Um, I'm not from the city, but I had a lot of experience with like folks who were from the city You And so, that's really what got me interested in the first place in agricultural communication because I would hear, you know, some of my peers in high school, like, talking and, like, just, like, saying a lot of misinformation about dairy in particular, which is, you know, what my wheelhouse is. And it was  frustrating, it was disheartening, and I remember, um, thinking to myself and, like, talking to my mom and saying, like, Oh, I wish that there was, like, something. That I could do to try and like combat this on a broader scale. And my mom was like, well, why don't you go into agricultural communications? And I was like, oh, ding.  And so that's sort of what set me on this path for that. But yeah, there's just, um, I think that one of the things that we have to remember as individuals who are involved in agriculture, in natural resources, in science, Is that there's, you know, like our, a lot of the, uh, the public doesn't understand, but that's not their fault. Like, I think it's really unrealistic for us to expect them to understand if they don't have the background that we have. Like, the urbanization effect is, is real. And so, like, people are moving away. They're further removed from agriculture now than, like, they have been pretty much ever. And that's not their fault, and I, like, I think it's super unrealistic for us to expect someone who, you know, is in the heart of Toronto to have, like, a full and broad understanding of agriculture. And for people who are not involved in, like, science and scientific research, it's really unrealistic to expect them to have, like, an understanding of, like, the scientific process as well. Like, we have baseline, like, base level scientific literacy, of course, but that isn't going to really help us ultimately with like the higher level science and like we have like people who are conducting this research who have spent pretty much their entire adult lives like being trained so that they can understand the science and that they can conduct Research in this way and not everybody has the luxury to spend that kind of time and put in that energy and effort to get to that level of understanding. So yeah, it's not, if people don't understand it, it's not their fault. And that's why it's our job to bring it to them in a way that is packaged so that they can understand. 

Hailey 46:25

Yeah, I agree. I definitely think I had the same conversation with my mother, um, after growing up in public schools and more so in the city, but I'm really thankful I had, was able to have that agricultural background growing up, even though I was more so in the city, like I was not raised on a big farm. We had two acres, and I was able to lease a dairy cow. Right. And that started it. So many similarities, um, between a lot of our backgrounds with that, but ultimately what it comes down to is just being a good steward for whatever it is that you're trying to represent. So be it for agriculture, be it for food production, be it for natural resources, or just science broadly.

 Maddie 46:57

I think that we all have a responsibility to, um, this idea of stewardship, right? To be good representatives for whatever industry or sector that we are trying to represent, and yeah. 

Hailey 47:16

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us today before we end?  

Maddie 47:25

Um, I think that we covered a lot for sure in our episode. I just want to say thank you. You've done such a fantastic job, um, throughout, uh, this throughout, um, honestly, this entire semester for this course, but for this podcast episode as well, I really appreciate the chance to, um, to kind of share my side of the story and I'm just, yeah, I think that overall I just really, really appreciate I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in this project, um, to Dr. Jamie Loizzo, to every single individual at the University of Guelph who has been so willing to collaborate with us. I am from the bottom of my heart, incredibly grateful. I'm very grateful to Dr. Brian Myers and the AEC department for the seed funding to, um, contributing. To really, like I said, elevate this project from what it could have been to what it is now become and to all of our students who have been involved in this process. Y'all are just absolutely fantastic. And honestly, like I said, um, prior, like, seeing you all interact with Dr. Goodridge and seeing the way that you all have. really just taken this project and made it your own as we've gone along. Like, this is why I love what we do. Like just seeing you all be able to do this. This has been one of the most fulfilling experiences in my entire like educational experience thus far. So huge thank you to you all. 

Hailey 47:55

Um, I really appreciate it. Well, thank you so much. I enjoyed this conversation and I hope you have a great day. 

Maddie 47:17

You as well, my dear. Thank you. 

 Hailey 47:25

Thank you for listening to the Sustainable Solutions from Guelph to Gainesville series on the Streaming Science Podcast. Make sure to check out our website and social media for more of our work. If you enjoyed this episode, we encourage you to tune in to other episodes in our series and to visit the University of Guelph OAC web pages and social media for more info.

Once again, I'm your host, Haley Jones. Thanks for listening. For more information about this episode, visit the links in our show notes.