[054] MTSU AG Students Dare To Be Grape For Worthy Cause

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 20, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Tony Johnston, 615-556-1495

MTSU AG STUDENTS DARE TO BE GRAPE FOR WORTHY CAUSE
We Hear Through the Grapevine Power of the Press Makes Juice for Jelly

(MURFREESBORO) – Students from the MTSU College of Agribusiness and Agriscience, including students from the Plant and Soil Science Club, will press 200 pounds of grapes at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, at the at the Tennessee State Veterans Home, 345 Compton Road in Murfreesboro.
The red, seeded grapes were grown in the university’s experimental vineyard on the north end of the Rutherford County Extension Office property at the corner of Gresham Lane and John Rice Boulevard. The vineyard was made possible by a 2005 agreement establishing it as the only joint Tennessee Board of Regents/University of Tennessee system experimental agricultural venture.
Dr. Tony Johnston, associate professor of food science and agribusiness and enology consultant, says the students will use a small table-top press that can accommodate two gallons of fruit. The residents of the veterans’ home will use the juice to make jelly.
Media welcomed. For more information, contact Johnston at 615-556-1495 or johnston@mtsu.edu.


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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.