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Impact
Study Shows Universally Positive Effect of Cover Crops on Soil Microbiome
Only a fraction of conventional row crop farmers grow cover crops after harvest, but a new global analysis from the University of Illinois shows the practice can boost soil microbial abundance by 27 percent. The result adds to cover…
Impact
Natural Habitat Around Farms a Win for Strawberry Growers, Birds and Consumers
Conserving natural habitat around strawberry fields can help protect growers’ yields, their bottom line and the environment with no detectable threat to food safety, indicates a study led by the University of California, Davis. In the…
Impact
Improving Health Through Stevia Research
Two Fort Valley State University (FVSU) researchers are investigating ways to help local farmers grow a naturally sweet plant that could have a huge impact on human health. According to Steven Samuels, “Stevia possesses anti…
Impact
UNH Researchers Reveal More Than Dozen Wild Bee Species Declining in Northeast
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found a dramatic decline of 14 wild bee species that are, among other things, important across the Northeast for the pollination of major local crops like apples, blueberries and…
Impact
Resource Management in Commercial Greenhouse Production
Across the country, controlled environments make year-round agriculture possible. Researchers are working together to help greenhouse growers manage resources efficiently. Growers who adopted designs, practices, and tools developed by…
Impact
Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans
The Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education (SAVE) – Farming for the Future program in Manhattan, Kansas, is developing a 320-acre diversified regional training center. The center includes 20-acre plots of cereal crops, soybeans,…
Impact
Adding Value to Used Railroad Ties and Utility Poles
Over 20 million new wooden railroad ties are installed every year in the United States. The University of Tennessee (UT) is helping the wood industry’s contribution to sustainability by helping them re-use or dispose of treated wood…
Impact
Wildfire Response in Oklahoma
In April 2018, wildfires scorched nearly 350,000 acres in northwest Oklahoma. It also claimed 1,600 head of cattle and compromised 2,100 miles of fencing. Damages exceeded $26 million. Oklahoma State University (OSU) Cooperative…
Impact
Agroecology Stewardship and Community Engagement in North Dakota
United Tribes Technical College increased community outreach through its children’s gardening project. The expanded children’s garden is now a community garden program with orchard crops and Haskap berry plants. It also included raised…
Impact
Alabama Ensuring the Cotton Industry Doesn’t Shrink
From the shirts on our backs to the bandages we use to help heal our wounds, cotton is an important part of our daily lives. Unfortunately, many challenges, such as changes in climate and shrinking arable lands, threaten future crop…
Impact
Food Waste in the Sharing Economy
Wasting food affects our ability to achieve economic goals in terms of food security, environmental sustainability, and farm-financial security. Most of the waste reduction ideas proposed to date involve either behavioral nudges or…
Impact
UNH Recommendations Seek to Help Farmers Curb Agricultural Nitrogen Losses
Midwest farmers experiencing more erratic rainfall and prolonged dry periods that have devastated crops now have new guidelines to help them manage the effects of climate variability. Researchers with the New Hampshire Agricultural…
Impact
Youth as Zoonotic Disease Dectectives... What a Novella Idea!
Every year, people get sick from diseases spread between animals and people, or zoonotic diseases. A three-way partnership between 4-H National Headquarters at NIFA, USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Centers for…
Impact
NIFA-Funded Research Aims to Keep Bees on the Job
Bee populations in North America have been in decline since the 1940s. This is of great concern to the agriculture industry because about 75 percent of specialty crops depend on the services of pollinators – of which bees are the most…
Impact
Protecting Georgia's Pollinators
Many gardeners do not realize how insecticides work in the garden, or how essential pollinating insects are to the success of the food garden. University of Georgia Extension created its Pollinator Spaces Project in response to this…
Impact
UC Davis Students Breed Beans for Organic Farming
Graduate students at the University of California, Davis, have begun field tests on very rare commodities: high-yield, disease-resistant bean varieties that can thrive on organic farms. “Most crops — about 95 percent — have been bred…
Impact
Automatic Irrigation in the Field
Researchers at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service were part of a team of engineers who created the wireless sensor-based decision-support system that may help automate application rates to specific areas of a crop field by using real…
Impact
Our Farms, Our Future
The theme of the NIFA-funded Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) 30th Anniversary Report is “Our Farms, Our Future.” Taken together, the thousands of men and women who received SARE grants and shaped SARE priorities…
Impact
The Hunt for Genetically Engineered Organisms
Similar to a Star Trek Tricorder device, physicists and biologists at the University of Notre Dame, Rice University, and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York have teamed up to develop a…
Impact
Urban Agriculture Pays Off
New research from collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Google provides an assessment of the value of urban agriculture and the benefits it provides on a global scale. “For the first time, we have a data-driven…
Impact
Volunteers Donate Thousands of Pounds of Produce
In northeast Kansas recently, volunteers quickly and quietly moved through a field, picking ripe tomatoes and peppers. They were gathering fresh produce at Kansas State University’s Olathe Horticulture Research and Extension Center to…
Impact
How Food Systems Affect Health
Researchers and extension specialists involved in the NIFA-funded Multistate Research Fund project are engaging communities and facilitating institutional, family, and individual changes that improve health and well-being. One such…
Impact
What's Water Got to do with It?
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. In this integrated system, fish waste, which contains nitrogen, helps feed plants, which in turn clean the water in the fish tank. These systems are popular due to their…
Impact
South Dakota and Livestock
Large-scale livestock producers, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), create potential water and air quality issues for rural communities in South Dakota. As they develop their operations, CAFOs need to maintain…
Impact
Combating Clam Decline
In recent decades, there has been a steady decline of the Manila clam on the tidal flats of the Lummi Reservation near Bellingham, Washington. The loss of this important food source affects the tribal food security and sovereignty of…