USDA Blog

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. The very name mahogany is synonymous with luxury and sophistication. This beautiful wood has been traded internationally...

In an intense around-the-clock operation, more than 60,000 worker bees have churned out 30 pounds of raw honey from a USDA laboratory in Gastonia, N.C. The People’s Garden Initiative beehives are managed by the staff of National Science Laboratory (NSL), a part of the Agricultural Marketing Service...

Members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) attended a weeklong meeting hosted by U.S. officials in Monterey, Calif. The UPOV’s Technical Working Party for Vegetables, made up of delegates from 13 countries, was also able to observe a lettuce field-trial...

Cross posted from the White House blog: Yesterday, President Obama announced that our Departments will jointly invest $510 million over the next three years to develop the domestic capacity for advanced biofuels. The funds will be leveraged with at least a one-to-one private industry match to...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. It’s no secret that the landscape of rural America and the ways in which farmers and ranchers do business is evolving...

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website: When the gasoline additive MTBE was banned in 2006 and ethanol was its only practical replacement, Eric as a corn farmer, became very interested in joining with other farmers to build a corn ethanol plant.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Do you know who grew your food? Farmer’s markets, eating locally and even the USDA’s “Know your Farmer, Know your Food”...

As part of the People’s Garden Initiative for Gastonia, North Carolina, the National Science Laboratory (NSL) built two beehives to produce honey without the use of pesticides. If insect control was needed, we planned to use only what was allowed for use in organic products. When Varroa mites were...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website: Linda Barnes is a professor of biology at the Marshalltown Community College and also an organic farmer.