Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (Bunyaviridae: Tospovirus)

An 11-year-old girl changed everything for Anna Blount. Blount enrolled in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2001 with plans to go on to veterinary school. She loved animals and worked at a veterinary clinic while she earned her degree in biological science. But, as a college student, Blount also became a de facto parent.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab is adding two new project managers to the team in Malawi. Norah Titiya Machinjiri Kaula will focus on agronomy and tricot trials, while Wills Mbiriyawaka Munthali will focus on variety trials and seed production. They join Linda Chinangwa, who manages the lab’s social science work in the country.

On a farm in southwest Georgia, the rising sun is just beginning to shine upon acres of lush fall crops growing in neat rows. Migrant workers are hunched over, quickly picking the dew-covered leafy greens destined for grocery stores throughout the country. At the end of a hard day, they head home to a shared house that has been provided to them for the duration of their employment. The next morning, they will wake and return to the fields for another day of work in the elements and finish with a shared evening in the communal housing.