Blog Archives

In this blog, we feature Dr. Dominique Carter, Agricultural Science Fellow with USDA’s Office of the Chief Scientist. Dr. Carter’s work touches various research portfolios to measure the performance and impact of USDA science initiatives. In addition to her work, she is also interested in emerging technologies, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Among frontline troops serving in Southeast Asia fifty years ago, peace was a distant thought. They were too busy fighting while diplomats assembled in Paris. U.S. forces were pushing hard against the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army in provinces along the A Shau Valley, into Cambodia and Laos. The number killed in action reached beyond 6,000 in 1970. War haunts this generation of aging veterans.

In honor of Women's History Month, we are sharing stories on four ARS researchers whose career work has impacted the lives of all Americans.

In this blog, we feature Dr. Jodi Williams, Senior Advisor for Food Safety, Nutrition, and Human Health with USDA’s Office of the Chief Scientist. Dr. Williams’ work focuses on policy development and operational planning pertaining to food safety and nutrition, and human health programs and activities. She reviews, evaluates, and critiques a broad range of policy and program management issues related to USDA’s coordinated food safety and nutrition science programs.

Whether you are interested in seeing what’s grown in your area or you are a researcher with more in depth informational needs, NASS’s CropScape is a valuable tool for you. CropScape is the public user interface for the national land cover geospatial data product called Cropland Data Layer (CDL). The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the latest annual CDL at 30 meters resolution on Feb. 5, 2020. The entire archive of historical CDL products are available on CropScape for you to browse, interact, visualize, download, and query the CDL dataset without needing specialized software tools.

Plants can serve as a profound symbol of friendship, especially when they cross an ocean to help two nations strengthen their bonds. I witnessed this firsthand on March 9, when I visited the Irish Embassy in Washington, D.C., joining Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall as he received a shipment of Ireland’s iconic shamrock plants. Embassy staff later arranged those shamrocks in an elegant, engraved crystal bowl for Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to present to President Trump as a St. Patrick’s Day gift. That token of goodwill continued an annual tradition spanning 50 years.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 21 as the International Day of Forest in 2012. Since then, the USDA Forest Service and its partners worldwide commemorate the day by showcasing the vast wildlife supported by forests from around the world. The theme for 2020 is ‘Forest and Biodiversity’.

We’re fortunate to have robust food, fiber, fuel, and ag-related industries in America. Our food is safe, nutritious, and plentiful. Our fiber helps clothe people around the world. And we’re using value-added agricultural products to fuel machinery. However, agriculture is at a crossroads with the convergence of a growing global population, a changing climate, and limited natural resources. Fortunately, USDA science agencies work every day to develop new knowledge, technologies, and applications that help our farmers and ranchers work smarter, not harder.

In this blog, we feature Dr. Neena Anandaraman, Veterinary Science Policy Advisor with USDA’s Office of the Chief Scientist. Dr. Anandaraman’s work focuses on zoonotic infectious diseases (those that can be transmitted between humans and animals), antimicrobial resistance, and biosecurity. Her work provides science-based advice to senior leadership to help inform their policy decisions.

Good news rang in Washington State when I joined representatives from Mason Public Utility District (PUD) 3 at the start of USDA’s Broadband ReConnect Workshop in Seattle to celebrate a $2.4 million investment to bring high-speed broadband to 250 households and businesses in rural Mason County.