LORMAN — Girish Panicker, director of conservation research at Alcorn State University, was invited by the USDA to conduct a webinar on “organic production and its impact on environment” at its Organic Farming Systems Research Conference at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., March 16 -18.

The webinar titled “Transition to Organic Fruit Production-Impacts on Yield and Environmental Performance in a Muscadine Vineyard” was scheduled for Friday.

Panicker started his transition to organic research in 2000 and has completed 11 years of work on muscadine grapes making it the first long-term research in the nation on this native fruit crop.

The Food and Agriculture Organization and Copenhagen University, Denmark, two other research organizations, which have completed more than 10 years of work in this field, were also been invited to conduct a webinar.

Panicker serves as an advisory committee member of the National Organic Farming Research Foundation where he represents all the 1890 land-grant universities.