Tag: USDA
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New Method Tests Natural Toxins to Help Wheat Battle Pest
A research team from Purdue University in Indiana and U.S. Department of Agriculture have devised a method of finding natural toxins to build wheat’s resistance to an insect pest. The researchers’ results appear online in advance of publication in the Journal of Insect Physiology (paid subscription required). Larvae from the Hessian fly attack and feed…
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Research Project to Develop Salad Vegetable Safety Science
A new research initiative aims to provide U.S. growers and industry with the scientific basis to answer questions about the safety of salad vegetables. The research, led by University of Maryland food science professor Robert Buchanan, will conduct tests and collect data to develop safe and hygienic practices in farming, packing, transporting, and storing fresh…
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USDA Funding Research to Aid Organic Dairy Farming
A $2.9 million grant will fund a team led by researchers at University of New Hampshire in Durham studying ways to help organic dairy farmers produce and market their milk. The four-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will also support researchers at universities…
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National Academies Urge Single, Simple Food Rating System
A study by the National Academy of Sciences recommends federal agencies develop an easy-to-understand point system that rates the nutritional value of packaged food and beverages. The point system, says the study authors, should reflect a single numerical rating that reflects calorie counts with saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars. The study was…
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USDA Funding Forest, Grasses Biofuel Research
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced $137 million in grants for research on biofuels from tall grasses, crop residues, and forest resources. The five-year awards will go to 22 universities and companies, through the lead institutions in Washington, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Iowa. The grants will…
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Technology Developed for Aerial Vegetation Measurements
A scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a technical consultant from industry have developed and patented a technology that converts digital cameras to color infrared cameras for aerial photography. Raymond Hunt, with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland and David Linden, chief scientist at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in McLean, Virginia…
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Research-Based Healthy Eating Plate Unveiled
Nutritionists at Harvard University’s School of Public Health have released the Healthy Eating Plate, a visual guide for eating a healthy meal that the developers say is based only on the science and not the interests of growers or industry. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the school says, “We want people…
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Satellite Measures Show Ozone Reducing Soybean Yields
Researchers from NASA, Department of Agriculture, and several universities have used satellite measurements to show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion along the ground could reduce soybean yields by about 10 percent. Their findings were published recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment (paid subscription required). The five-year study surveyed widespread ozone damage to…
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Improved Diagnostic for Potato Pest Developed
Xiaohong Wang, a molecular biologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a division of the Department of Agriculture, in Ithaca, New York developed a new process for determining the type of potato cyst nematode infecting potato crops. Wang’s process is described in a paper that appeared earlier this year in the European Journal of Plant…
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USDA, Energy Fund Research to Accelerate Biofuel Crops
The U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture have awarded 10 grants totaling $12.2 million for up to three years for research on improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy crops. Energy’s Office of Science will provide $10.2 million in funding for eight projects, while USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)…