Search

A deadly animal virus is on the loose, treading through Russia and knocking on the doors of Eastern Europe and Asia. After its introduction into the Republic of Georgia and [...]

An onslaught of the weed Palmer amaranth in the southeastern United States has left many farmers with a difficult choice: Should they keep using environmentally friendly cover crops and conservation [...]

As part of a healthful diet, walnuts provide protein, antioxidants, essential vitamins, and minerals. Walnuts are also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with overall good [...]

An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist has found a way to spot defects in the animal hides that become footwear, sporting goods, fashion accessories, and other leather goods. This is [...]

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Florida are helping a company develop a small plastic pouch designed to make produce safer. The pouch releases chlorine dioxide gas, which eliminates Escherichia [...]

A year ago this month, a group of ARS scientists and technicians gave up their Christmas time off and even delayed family vacations to provide characterization of the first case [...]

When Dennis Gonsalves was growing up in Hawaii in the 1950s, eating guavas and mangos from the tree was a regular treat. But you had to be good at picking [...]

As the aquaculture (fish or shellfish farming) industry grows, so does the need for fish feed that's not dependent on the stagnant supply of fish meal made from captured marine [...]

Forget for a minute about the invasive brown marmorated stink bug that has become such a common pest in homes, backyards, and farms in recent years. Cotton growers in the [...]

Imagine a world without chocolate, that distinct and beloved confection derived from the bean of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao. No more chocolate candy, no more brownies, no more chocolate [...]

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infections cost cattle producers $50 to $100 per head of cattle. Most BVDV vaccines require multiple doses, and that increases production costs. Decades of vaccination [...]

For more than three decades, this collaborative effort has helped relatively small specialty crops deliver big economic and nutritional payoffs to farmers and consumers. Agricultural chemical producers readily test and [...]

One day your dinner plate may be filled with bright, speckled beans, licorice-flavored avocado slices, and spicy pickled cabbage. A Halloween trick? No, a tasty treat. These and many other [...]

Fruit growers back new approach to codling moth control. Pest control is a major imperative in fruit production. Commercial apple and pear growers, for example, begin to lose money when [...]

Amid the priceless artifacts at the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Italy, Steve Sheppard prepared to remove pieces of 3,000-year-old honey bees imbedded in beeswax. The museum curators were anxious - [...]

Within desolate tracts of land in the Northern Plains and Pacific West areas, mounting dust conceals historic pioneer trails, and wild horses roam free. In quiet desert streams, rare Lahontan [...]

Fire ants have been pests in the southern United States since their arrival in 1918 aboard merchant ships coming to Alabama from South America. They found their way onto land [...]

In a year when insects are making appearances in the millions, and even trillions--17-year cicadas disrupting daily life in the East, 3-mile-wide bands of Mormon crickets blanketing fields and roadways [...]

When Agricultural Research Service horticulturist Ingrid M. Fordham learned that the brilliant red berries on autumn olive--a multistem shrub--were edible, she turned them into delectable jam. In the process, she [...]

You have four legs, a four-part stomach, and you're ready for a snack. What's to eat? If you're lucky, you may soon be munching on Timp Utah sweetvetch--a tasty native [...]

One conversation with 17-year-old Abra Parkman and you know you're talking to a confident young woman ready to embrace her future. This high school senior has already accomplished much, including [...]

Imagine being able to slow down or speed up the growth rate of a crop, manipulate when it flowers, or extend its lifespan. An Agricultural Research Service scientist and his [...]

Food allergy is an immune response to eating foods that contain specific components called 'allergens.' An increase in food allergy of 18 percent was seen between 1997 and 2007, according [...]

Land managers are always hoping for the next best thing to help them figure out where they should spend their time and money restoring and maintaining healthy rangelands. Now Agricultural [...]

Pacific Northwest wheat growers now have added insurance against outbreaks of yield-robbing fungi, thanks to Cara, a soft, white, winter club wheat cultivar developed by the Agricultural Research Service that [...]

Anyone who grows backyard blueberries knows that some of the berries may turn pink before they finally ripen to a familiar dusty blue. When a Pink Lemonade blueberry is ripe [...]

Reducing tillage is one major hope for salvaging some of the crop yield losses predicted for the semi-arid Central Great Plains due to climate change--as well as for conserving water [...]

The general public needs to know more about the importance of preventing and controlling livestock diseases and the financial impact they would have on our lives and food supply if [...]

Thanks to the international exchange program LABEX-USA, Agricultural Research Service scientists in the Bioproduct Chemistry and Engineering Research Unit in Albany, California, have enjoyed a close working relationship with visiting [...]

There's a lot happening in the world of watermelons. Just ask researchers at ARS's South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Lane, Oklahoma. For starters, plant geneticist Angela Davis is developing [...]

Got nematode troubles? Fungi? Too many weeds in a field? Spread some mustard on 'em. Agricultural Research Service and university scientists are experimenting with mustards as an alternative to chemically [...]

A researcher studying how cotton quality is affected by its environment has developed a new system that helps growers learn more about the fields in which their crops are grown. [...]

A neighborhood maple tree, prized for its brilliant fall color, must be cut down and burned. Raw stumps border a city street where leafy shade trees once stood. These are [...]

Your front lawn has patches of bare dirt. You go to the local nursery and get grass seed to fill these patches. But where do the seeds actually come from? [...]

Better control of red flour beetles and other costly, stored-product insect pests could be on hand, thanks to a new pitfall trap designed by Agricultural Research Service scientists. Commercial traps [...]

Farmers in the semiarid central Great Plains have traditionally used a 2-year, no-till, dryland, winter wheat/fallow cropping system, which stretches scarce soil water supplies and minimizes crop failure from water [...]

Allergists take several steps to pinpoint the source of allergy symptoms. In addition to conducting tests during which skin is pricked or blood is drawn, allergists also conduct a detailed [...]

Native juniper trees and invasive plants pose an expanding threat to the survival of the sagebrush ecosystem in arid western rangelands. As the trees mature, they compete with other native [...]

At first glance, the divide between organic and conventional farming appears to be of Grand Canyon proportions. But when it comes to research, the distance between organic and conventional farming [...]

Former Agricultural Research Service entomologist Douglas C. Ferguson (now retired) spent a half century tracking moth species across the continent. Knowledge of a moth's frequent-flier mileage can influence the timing [...]

Most of California's rural economy relies on agricultural production, an $18 billion industry annually. One in 10 California residents is employed in agriculture, from farm to market. Income from tree [...]

Biofuels research has been part of the Agricultural Research Service's core mission for more than 40 years. ARS has long been a leader in biofuels research, with such successes as [...]

From the flowerpot to the crop field, Agricultural Research Service scientists tackle issues that pay off in a homeowner's pride, a golfer's putt, a farmer's profits--and the nation's environmental protection. [...]

'We need to put a premium on creating innovative solutions to address our current and future problems. '--U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on priorities for the 2012 Farm [...]

Imagine having Internet access to the vital signs of key watersheds. That's one of the benefits of an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) water resource management program, now being expanded, that [...]

Today, poinsettias are a symbol of the winter holidays in this country. But there was a time when they were considered to be niche plants. The poinsettia's popularity is due [...]