Alabama Water Festival Teaches Fourth Graders About Water Conservation

From the #USDA:

Posted by Amelia Hines, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Alabama, on April 30, 2015 at 1:00 PM

A group of students build a mini-filtration system. NRCS photo.

Although it’s no longer her job, Anna Miller still takes time to volunteer for the Lee County Water Festival every spring in Auburn, Alabama. The annual event has attracted hundreds of fourth graders with lessons on aquifers, the water cycle and water filtration, since it first began in 2004.  

“Students learn about their environment; they learn about water and how precious it is,” said Miller.

Learning about the environment is a large part of the fourth-graders’ curriculum in Lee County. Through the festival, hosted for the 12th year by the Lee County Soil and Water Conservation District in Auburn, students participate in an interactive educational learning experience consisting of hands-on activities to learn the role of surface and groundwater in the water cycle; the importance of water to all life; the interdependence of plants, trees, wildlife, soil and water; the effect of human actions on water and all nature; and that all individuals need to act in an environmentally responsible way.

After completing the festival’s three lessons, the students watch an environmental magic show presented by Paul Cash. “It’s just a great community project,” said Miller.

A student gives his edible aquifer a test taste. NRCS photo.

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service partners with Soil and Water Conservation Districts across the country to educate and promote natural resource conservation.

Each year, about 30 community members serve on the festival’s planning committee, creating lessons and fundraising so students can attend at no cost. The event draws nearly 100 volunteers who assist with things like student supervision and lesson plans.

A student shows off his bracelet made during the water cycle lesson. NRCS photo.

Luigi Boitani on the Return of the Wolf to Europe - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The wolf has returned to Germany and along with it, ages old fears. But these worries are unfounded, argues Italian biologist Luigi Boitani, who has studied the creature's return across Europe.



Luigi Boitani on the Return of the Wolf to Europe - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Kentucky Agriculture - Snapshot of Bluegrass State Farming

From the #USDA:

Posted by Dave Knopf, Eastern Mountain Region Director, National Agricultural Statistics Service, on April 30, 2015 at 11:00 AM

That's a lot of cows, and soybeans, and corn, and horses - Kentucky Agriculture is growing! Check back next week for another spotlight on another state and the results of the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The Census of Agriculture is the most complete account of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Every Thursday USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will highlight new Census data and the power of the information to shape the future of American agriculture.

Kentucky and cattle have always been a perfect match, and as the most recent Census of Agriculture shows that bond remains to this day. In 2012, the year for which we conducted the Census, Kentucky farmers sold more than $1 billion worth of cattle and calves.

Beef cattle production has become an increasingly important sector for many farms transitioning away from tobacco production. Overall, about half of all farms in Kentucky owned cattle in 2012. That’s not surprising, considering we have some of the best cattle pasture in the United States.

While cattle have a long history in Kentucky, poultry production has emerged as a leading agriculture activity in the last 25 years. Broiler production on 826 Kentucky farms in 2012 totaled 761 billion head ranking the state 7^th nationally.

Kentucky, of course, is known for horses and in 2012 horse and pony sales were $178 million. This does not count the many horses born and raised on Kentucky farms, but owned by out of state interests, most of which are the thoroughbreds that made the Kentucky Derby so famous.

While livestock is an important element of our agriculture, there are plenty of other sides to Kentucky farming. After all, in 2012, our farmers and ranchers sold more than $5 billion worth of agricultural products, with nearly $2.3 billion coming from crop sales. Expansion of the Kentucky Proud ™ brand for Kentucky’s agricultural products has also increased agricultural diversification.

In Kentucky, soybeans and corn are the top crops.  Nearly 1.47 million acres of farmland were dedicated to soybeans, with farmers selling more than $752 million worth of the crop in 2012. Corn was harvested from 1.53 million acres while sales totaled $694 million.

And then there’s tobacco, which continues to be an important crop. Despite the continuing decrease in farms raising tobacco, Kentucky still has the largest number of tobacco farms in the United States. In 2012, more than 4,500 of our farms grew this crop. This is a significant drop from the more than 8,000 tobacco farms the Census counted in 2007, but we still have nearly 3 times as many farms as North Carolina, which is in distant second place in this category.

As you can see, Kentucky has a strong presence of all aspects of U.S. agriculture. Our livestock and our crops sectors both have something special to highlight. Agriculture keeps evolving, and as we have seen, our farmers adjust right along with the industry and continue to maintain a strong presence in the Bluegrass State. In just a few short years, we’ll conduct the 2017 Census of Agriculture to see how our agriculture continues to move forward. So stay tuned!

    

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Tags: #AgCensus, cattle, Census of Agriculture, corn, Farmers, Kentucky, NASS, North Carolina, Poultry, Ranchers, soybeans, tobacco

Robinson Plant ash will be excavated to on-site, lined landfill - Duke Energy

GREENVILLE, S.C. -

Coal ash from the Duke Energy Progress Robinson Plant in Hartsville, S.C., will be excavated and relocated to an on-site, lined landfill, completing Duke Energy’s comprehensive strategy for its two South Carolina coal facilities.

Robinson Plant ash will be excavated to on-site, lined landfill - Duke Energy

Common Yellowthroat

From the Great River and Clarence Cannon National Wildlife Refuges:

One of the most numerous warblers is the Common Yellowthroat. The male bird's black mask makes it easy to identify. The females lacks this black maskand are much browner, though they usually show a hint of warm yellow at the throat.

American Redstart

From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest Region:

Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge includes more than 17,000-acres of riverine habitat along the Missouri River. It is home to beaver, turkey and all sorts of migrating songbirds like the American redstart.

Photo: American redstart courtesy of Larry Meade/Creative Commons.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way from the Summit: How REE is Using New Strategies to Reach Even Newer Poultry Handlers

From the #USDA:

Posted by Melvin Washington, Confidential Assistant, Research, Education and Economics Mission Area, on April 29, 2015 at 11:30 AM

(Left to right): USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki, Dr. Fidelis (Fidel) Hegngi, with the APHIS National Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) Program, and Dr. Denise Brinson Director of APHIS National Poultry Improvement Plan, pose wearing the latest in functional and fashionable wear before visiting a backyard chicken coop.

During a walk along tree-shading sidewalks in the “burbs”; you’re accustomed to seeing games of hopscotch, bike rides, and maybe even the occasional Golden Retriever. However, one residential backyard, nearly 6 miles from downtown Atlanta, calls into question whether this is suburbia at all. There were swings, a tree house, and even patio furniture. Yet one feature certified this was not your mother’s suburban home: over a dozen chickens living comfortably in a custom made “Coop de Ville.”   

The rise of “backyard poultry” is one of many agricultural phenomena tied to a growing food consciousness and increased urbanization. And while USDA’s fundamental job doesn’t change, the Department does because the challenges do.  The recent cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) at increasingly popular backyard chicken coops underscore this. While this concern was not clearly expressed in the 1862 Act of Congress that created the Department, the mandate was. USDA still works to “acquire and to diffuse…information” towards facilitating the protected growth of American agriculture. That service is what brought Research, Education, and Economics Undersecretary Dr. Catherine Woteki to this residence in Decatur, GA. Accompanied by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service officials and a man known best as the “Chicken Whisperer,” Dr. Woteki toured the site and helped to shed light on current HPAI research and important biosafety measures.

The mission was similar in Atlanta. Speaking to a room of over 1,700 attendees at the Center for Disease Control’s Annual Preparedness Summit, Dr. Woteki highlighted USDA’s participation in the Global Health Security Agenda as well as the Department’s ongoing efforts to identify and respond to current and emerging agricultural threats. A vital part of getting the word out is meeting people where they are. With about 52.9 million users in the U.S., Twitter presents an amazing new platform to do just that. Dr. Woteki took to the “tweets,” in a collaborative chat including other Federal agencies and the Georgia Department of Agriculture to educate folks across the country about how to protect poultry.

Dr. Woteki and Andy Schneider, Atlanta’s “Chicken Whisperer”, Poultry Expert and talk radio host, before a Twitter chat on raising and keeping backyard poultry safe from disease.

With some calling it the “poultry capital” of the world, Georgia was a great place to highlight the importance of education in combating biosecurity issues. By utilizing the tools of the times Dr. Woteki, and the USDA team at large, continues to meet new challenges with even newer solutions.

Following follow simple hygiene steps such as keeping coops and equipment clean is an important step to keeping your backyard flock safe from diseases.

    

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Duke Energy to build fully lined coal ash landfills at Dan River and Sutton Plants - Duke Energy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

On site and on time – that’s the plan for storing millions of tons of coal ash from two North Carolina power plants.

Duke Energy plans to submit permits to construct fully lined on-site landfills at the Dan River Steam Station in Eden, N.C., and the Sutton Plant in Wilmington, N.C. The landfills will be located on plant property and will provide a permanent storage solution for more than 6 million tons of coal ash at the two sites.

Duke Energy to build fully lined coal ash landfills at Dan River and Sutton Plants - Duke Energy

Comparing the Baltic Sea and Chesapeake Bay Provides Lessons for More Cost-Effective Policies

From the #USDA:

Posted by Marc Ribaudo, Economic Research Service, on April 28, 2015 at 3:00 PM

USDA's Economic Research Service, and other researchers, analyzed the similarities and differences of the Chesapeake Bay and the Baltic Sea to help preserve the water quality of each.

Situated on two different continents and separated by thousands of miles, the Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of the United States and the Baltic Sea in northern Europe face remarkably similar problems. Both are relatively shallow basins of brackish water. Both marine areas suffer from eutrophication–pollution caused by introduction of chemical nutrients. For both water bodies, agriculture is the single most important source of those nutrients, and governments have implemented policies to reduce nutrient loads and improve marine ecosystems.

Researchers at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, USDA’s Economic Research Service, and the University of Helsinki have analyzed the similarities and differences between the institutional settings and protection policies of the Chesapeake Bay and the Baltic Sea. The aim was to identify avenues for reducing the cost of meeting water quality objectives. The very different political and institutional histories of the jurisdictions within the respective watersheds provide both contrasts and similarities. The six U.S. States in the Chesapeake watershed have a common political history and operate under Federal environmental law. The Baltic watershed is made up of 14 nations whose intergovernmental relations are strongly influenced by Cold War legacies. Yet current policies in both watersheds rely heavily on voluntary approaches to control agricultural runoff.

Examining the policies and programs in place yields lessons for designing and implementing future policies to control nutrient pollution. First, flexible, market-like policy instruments promote innovation and are the most likely to achieve cost-effective pollution control. Water quality trading to meet pollution control goals is an example. Second, actively targeting agri-environmental programs to farms that can provide the biggest improvement in water quality per dollar spent can significantly reduce program costs. Third, a bidding process or auction to provide program payments, as in the Conservation Reserve Program, could also reduce pollution abatement costs.

Also among the researchers’ findings was that efficiency can be improved by rewarding results– nutrient reductions–rather than compensating farmers for the cost of implementing conservation practices. Although pollutant losses from agricultural lands cannot be easily measured, new field-scale modeling tools enable conservation payments to farmers to be based on estimated reductions in pollutant loads.

To design effective policies, program managers need to understand how on-farm management choices affect the nutrients reaching surface waters. And they need to understand what influences farmers’ management choices. As we improve our ability to make accurate predictions about how conservation measures work in different (and even distant) settings through research, we will be able to improve the cost-effectiveness of pollution abatement programs.

Check out our article for a fuller discussion of the Baltic Sea and Chesapeake Bay. ERS has recently released a report on policies for reducing agricultural pollutants to the Chesapeake Bay.

    

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Tags: agricultural pollution control, Baltic Sea, Chesapeake Bay, Conservation, conservation policies, Conservation Reserve Program, ERS, Europe, water, water quality, watershed

Sandhill Cranes

From Yellowstone National Park:

Reflected by hills, amplified by water: it doesn't take many sandhill cranes to fill the Swan Lake basin with sound.

Corallorhiza trifida (Early Coralroot)

From Mount Rainier National Park:

One of the most exciting moments in a naturalist's career is the discovery of a species they have not observed before. According to the experts, Corallorhiza trifida (Early Coralroot) is "rare at Mount Rainier....circumboreal, but is uncommon here in the northwest and recorded a couple of times apparently at the mountain...A terrific find!" Even more exciting for me is the fact that this rare Corallorhiza is also a partial mycoheterotroph, a highly specialized group of plants. I believe our mild winter may have allowed the mycorrhizal components of many mycoheterotrophic species to proliferate, thus bringing to the surface a greater number and variety of plants than we'd see in a normal year. ~cv

Going Wild about Water at the World Water Forum

From the .#USDA:

Posted by Tawny Mata, Office of the Chief Scientist, on April 28, 2015 at 2:00 PM

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 USDA’s rich science and research profile.

Water is a precious resource and will become scarcer as the human population continues to grow.  In many areas, climate change is expected to affect weather patterns. In general, the wetter areas are expected to get wetter and the drier areas are expected to get drier. This year, California’s drought has highlighted how important it is for land managers and producers to exercise best practices to increase water quality and quantity so there is enough to go around.

This year, USDA participated in the 7^th Annual World Water Forum in Daegu, Republic of Korea. Every three years, the World Water Council hosts the Forum and develops the program in cooperation with the private sector, governments, industry, international governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and academic groups.

USDA’s booth was part of the larger USA Pavilion at the Forum, along with our colleagues from USAID, Department of Interior, State Department, the US Water Partnership, and several other government agencies, private companies, and universities. We showcased the latest science and technology research being done at the Agricultural Research Service, the tools and best practices developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Forest Service to improve water quality and quantity, and two of the web interfaces we manage or contribute to that help land managers and producers find the information they need about water: the Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov) and the Regional Climate Hubs website (climatehubs.oce.usda.gov).  

We had such a diversity of visitors to our booth: from the mayor of a city in France, to university students, to industry representatives, to international delegations, to a retiree I had a really good conversation with about the history of American science. As I shared information loaded with the best USDA has to offer in water tools and practices, the first question many of them asked was whether the tools are free. Yes! And though some of the tools are examples that are specific to agriculture and ecosystems in the United States, the cutting edge ideas coming out of our agencies can still set an example for what is possible elsewhere. We were excited to participate in the World Water Forum and share.

If you would like to check out some of our water tools, see a sample list below:

For Croplands and Livestock Operations:

Digital Tools:

• Nitrogen Trading Tool (NTT): Facilitates water quality credit training. http://nrrc.ars.usda.gov/nttwebax/
• Water Quality Index for Runoff Water from Agricultural Fields (WQIag): Tool that combines multiple water quality parameters to calculate a single value to indicate quality. http://wqiag.sc.egov.usda.gov/
• Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender: Model that evaluates the effects of land management strategies considering  erosion, water supply and water quality, among other factors: http://apex.tamu.edu/
• Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Small watershed to river basin-scale model to simulate the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater and predict impact of change in land use, land management, and climate. http://swat.tamu.edu/ 
• Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model: Tool for evaluating the effect of management decisions impacting water, sediment and chemical loadings within a watershed system. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull//?cid=stelprdb1042468

Resources and Guides:

• A Procedure to Estimate the Response of Aquatic Systems to Changes in Phosphorous and Nitrogen Inputs: A tool to estimate water body sensitivity to nutrients and make management recommendations. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1044774.pdf
• Stream Visual Assessment Protocol: Procedure to evaluate the condition of a stream based on visual characteristics. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1044776.pdf
• National Water Quality Handbook: Definitive USDA resource for Water quality technical information, guidance and procedures. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1044775.pdf

For Forests and Watersheds:

Digital Tools:

• Fish Crossing: Tool for designing culverts for fish passages. http://www.stream.fs.fed.us/fishxing/
• NorWest Stream Temp: Measured and forecasted stream temperature data for the US Pacific Northwest. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NorWeST.html
• Waters Supply Stress Index: Model to project effects of forest land cover change, climate change and water withdrawals on river flows, water supply stress, and ecosystem productivity. http://www.forestthreats.org/research/tools/WaSSI
• Watershed Erosion Prediction Project: Model to estimate erosion and sediment processes  on hillslopes and small watersheds based on climate, land use, disturbances, vegetation and soil processes. http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fswepp/
• Watershed Condition Classification Map: An interactive map of watershed condition for all National Forest System Watersheds. http://apps.fs.usda.gov/WCFmapviewer/

Resources and Guides:

• Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems- Level I Inventory Field Guide: A national protocol to supply standardized data used in project identification and planning.  http://www.fs.fed.us/geology/GDE_Level_I_FG_final_March2012_rev1_s.pdf
• Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems- Level II Inventory Field Guide: A  more detailed national protocol to supply standardized data used in project identification and planning.  http://www.fs.fed.us/geology/GDE_Level_II_FG_final_March2012_rev1_s.pdf
• Watershed Condition Classification Technical Guide: Nationally consistent, science-based approach to classifying the condition of all National Forest System Watersheds. http://www.fs.fed.us/publications/watershed/watershed_classification_guide.pdf
• Water, Climate Change and Forests: A report on effects of and responses to climate change’s impacts on watersheds. www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr812.pdf
• Technical Guide to Managing Groundwater Resources: Guidance for implementing national groundwater policy; describes hydrological, geological, and ecological concepts as well as managerial responsibilities for National Forest Service land. http://www.fs.fed.us/biology/resources/pubs/watershed/groundwater/ground_water_technical_guide_fs-881_march2007.pdf
• National Best Management Practices for Water Quality Management on National Forest System Lands: Standardized BMP’s to improve water quality, relations with other government and non-governmental entities, monitor management results, and improve compliance with laws. http://www.fs.fed.us/biology/resources/pubs/watershed/FS_National_Core_BMPs_April2012.pdf

    

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Tags: ARS, California, Climate Change, Department of Interior, drought, France, FS, Korea, NRCS, OCS, Science Tuesday, State Department, USAID, water, water quality

Is the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog in Hot Water - Because of Cold Water?

From the .#USDA:

Posted by Stephanie Worley Firley, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, on April 28, 2015 at 1:00 PM

The foothill yellow-legged frog breeds exclusively in streams and prefers warm stream edges. Photo by Amy Lind, U.S. Forest Service.

For the foothill yellow-legged frog, breeding can be a challenging matter.

It is the only true frog in western North America that breeds exclusively in streams, preferring warm stream edges. Its eggs can be swept away with spring rains and rapid currents, so a relatively long breeding season allows mates to wait until weather and water conditions offer the best chance for eggs to develop and hatch in this dynamic environment.

But yellow-legged frogs face a new challenge in a Northern California river managed for agriculture, energy, and habitat for steelhead, Chinook salmon and coho salmon.

Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) are investigating how cold water releases from dams on the Trinity River affect stream water temperatures and breeding success of the frog, whose populations are declining across California and Oregon.

PSW researchers and collaborators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitored frogs in breeding sites along the regulated stretch of river as well as six unregulated tributaries. They documented the timing of breeding and then examined the development of embryos and tadpoles. In the colder, regulated water downstream from the dam, the frogs laid eggs later, the eggs hatched later, and tadpoles were smaller and leaner.

“These results may be attributed to effects of water temperature on frog development and growth, feeding rates, and food quality and quantity,” said Clara Wheeler, a PSW ecologist and lead author of the study.

In dammed rivers like the Trinity and other modified water systems, cold water releases do benefit some species, particularly those fish species that need cooler water for spawning and egg development. But these releases keep the water unnaturally cold in the summer—lowering temperatures by as much as 6.7 degrees Celsius (44.1 degrees Fahrenheit), researchers found—which puts the foothill yellow-legged frog and some other species at a disadvantage.

“Persistently depressed summer water temperatures appear to play a seminal role in inhibited tadpole growth and may be a factor in the decline of this population,” said Wheeler.

Previous research suggests that population declines are also linked to altered flow in these modified water systems.

With California in the midst of a severe, multi-year drought, the wise use of water stored in reservoirs will be critical, and water managers must decide how to balance the water use for agriculture and energy with the protection of fish and wildlife.

“This research informs managers that water temperature influences the fitness of early-stage foothill yellow-legged frogs, and emphasizes the importance of using a multi-species management approach when implementing environmental assessments and executing management decisions,” said Wheeler.

    

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Tags: California, Forestry, frogs, FS, Oregon, Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, water

Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, Other Species Benefit from Riparian Restoration Work in Utah

From the .#USDA:

Posted by Casey Burns and Ron Francis, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Utah, on April 28, 2015 at 12:00 PM

The Southwestern willow flycatcher is an endangered bird that lives in the riparian areas of the Southwest. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo.

Jim Hook, owner of the Recapture Lodge and volunteer firefighter in Bluff, Utah, has been working for years to manage and restore the riparian habitat on his property along the San Juan River in southeast Utah.

Where the Cottonwood Creek and the San Juan River meet, Hook is working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to establish healthy riparian habitat. His hard work over the years has begun to yield results as the invasive plants have begun to die and native plants are taking their place. An endangered bird species, the Southwestern willow flycatcher, is one of the species that will benefit from his restoration work.

The flycatcher prefers to nest in dense native trees and shrubs, but also nests in thickets dominated by tamarisk. Leaving dense tamarisk increases fire severity, frequency and size, which in the long term can degrade the habitat for flycatcher and many other species. An incremental removal of tamarisk and planning of native plants is more difficult, and more complex, but will yield the best short and long-term benefits for flycatcher.

Landowner Jim Hook (left) surveys beetle-killed tamarisk with NRCS Soil Conservationist Amber Johnson along the San Juan River near Bluff.

Over the years, Hook has welcomed projects from researchers, students, agencies, biologists and artists on his land and allows hiking access to individuals with authorization. Hook has worked with NRCS for several years to make conservation improvements to his land, and when the Working Lands for Wildlife partnership, or WLFW, was created in 2012, his history of stewardship made him a good candidate for the program.

WLFW assists landowners, like Hook, in restoring degraded riparian ecosystems, conserving existing healthy riparian systems and improving working lands near riparian areas. The program focuses on increasing and improving potential breeding habitat, to support Southwestern willow flycatcher recovery.

NRCS provided Hook with technical and financial assistance, including the development of a conservation plan, which entails controlling invasive Russian olive trees, removing beetle-killed tamarisk trees, creating a fuel break and planting additional acres with native species to supplement the existing habitat. He completed most of the work himself.

Hook is continuing his work to restore native habitat. Project partners, such as Utah Department of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and Utah Conservation Corps have also contributed to the success of the project by providing funds and technical expertise. Hook, NRCS and the partners will continue to expand the restoration effort and monitor the riparian habitat, and they hope to see a nesting flycatcher pair in the upcoming years. 

Restoring habitat for the Southwestern willow flycatcher not only benefits the flycatcher but many other sensitive species, such as the yellow-billed cuckoo, northern leopard frog and Townsend’s big-eared bat. Eighty-four federally listed species, including the flycatcher, may benefit from conservation work in southwestern riparian ecosystems, including hundreds more not listed.

In late March, NRCS announced its plans to broaden the conservation opportunities available to producers, enabling more people to help wildlife while strengthening their agricultural operations.

Landowner Jim Hook (left) worked with NRCS, including NRCS State Biologist Casey Burns, to restore riparian habitat on his land.

    

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• Comparing the Baltic Sea and Chesapeake Bay Provides Lessons for More Cost-Effective Policies
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Tags: birds, Conservation, invasive plants, invasive species, NRCS, riparian, Utah, Working Lands for Wildlife

Weaving Up New Uses for Cotton

From the .#USDA:

Posted by Darryl Earnest, Agricultural Marketing Service Cotton and Tobacco Program Deputy Administrator, on April 28, 2015 at 11:00 AM

Glandless cottonseed is being used to demonstrate that the elimination of gossypol provides an opportunity to produce high value foods for humans as well as animals. The oil will be used to fry food in a college cafeteria. The used oil will be taken back to the experiment station where it will be converted into biodiesel and used to run the station’s irrigation pumps. The protein, which was also squeezed out during the crushing process, will be used to feed shrimp in an aquaculture experiment and ultimately sold. Photo courtesy of the Cotton Board.

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 USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

In the agriculture industry, having a green thumb can help businesses improve their yield and their bottom line. As good stewards, our nation’s farmers, ranchers, and agricultural business are also committed to another type of green. Through sustainable and conservation practices, ag businesses are finding multiple uses for products, which reduces land and water usage.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) witnesses these efforts first-hand while overseeing industry Research and Promotion Programs. These self-help programs that are requested for and completely funded by the industry are charged with developing cutting-edge marketing campaigns and supporting nutrition research that benefits all of the industry’s members. Many of their research projects focus on sustainable practices and conservation. While we know that the list of these types of projects is endless, we would like to highlight a few of the things that the cotton industry is doing.

The multi-faceted cotton plant produces much more than just nature’s most demanded fiber. High quality cottonseed and cottonseed cooking oil is used in many popular snack foods and the plant’s residue (gin byproduct), left after ginning, is used for everything from fertilizer for your flower beds to hydromulch that encourages grass growth while preventing soil erosion. While cottonseed and cottonseed cooking oil are edible products, they are only edible after reducing gossypol levels. A compound found naturally in cotton that detests pests from eating cotton plants, gossypol is toxic for non-ruminant animals while some ruminant animals can resist it.

Since 1993, Cotton Incorporated, the marketing group used to support the Cotton Research and Promotion Program, has funded research to eliminate gossypol in cottonseed. Evolving research by Texas A&M researcher Dr. Keerti Rathore recently suggested the ability to successfully use a powerful gene-silencing mechanism developed for cancer research – Ribonucleic Acid Interference (RNAi) – to reduce the gossypol level in cottonseed while allowing it to be retained in the plant as a natural pest deterrent.

“This groundbreaking news positioned cottonseed for expansion into the food market, said Dr. Kater Hake, Vice-President of Agricultural and Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated. “We are more than excited that this advancement holds the potential to open up new and varied food and feed markets – which should ultimately increase the value of cottonseed.”

The successful use of RNAi technology has led to a field of glandless cotton being grown in New Mexico, which will be ginned by the USDA gin lab in Las Cruces. The glandless whole cottonseed will be taken to the New Mexico State University (NMSU) where a pilot plant crushing facility is being built.

“Glandless cottonseed is being used to demonstrate that the elimination of gossypol provides an opportunity to produce high value foods for humans as well as animals,” said Tom Wedegaertner, Director of Cottonseed Research & Marketing at Cotton Incorporated. “The oil will then be refined further into cooking oil to be used to fry food in the cafeteria at NMSU. The used oil will be taken back to the experiment station where it will be converted into biodiesel and used to run the station’s irrigation pumps. This is a strong message about the industry’s commitment to sustainability,” adds Wedegaertner.

The research project will continue when the protein, which was also squeezed out during the crushing process, will be used to feed shrimp in an aquaculture experiment already underway at NMSU. “The shrimp will be harvested and sold to NMSU students who eat at the on-campus cafeteria,” explains Dr. Tracey Carrillo, Assistant Director of Campus Farms at the NMSU Ag Experiment Station. Carrillo is hoping to showcase some of the shrimp during a “Shrimp Feast” for NMSU Department Heads and other faculty.

All of us here at AMS are committed to creating opportunities for our nation’s farmers and ranchers. We commend Cotton Incorporated and the rest of the cotton industry for their commitment to sustainable practices.

    

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Tags: AMS, Conservation, cotton, Cotton Incorporated, Cotton Research and Promotion Program, New Mexico, New Mexico State University, research and promotion programs, ribonucleic acid interference, RNAi, RP, Science Tuesday, Texas A&M