Studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists indicate that organic farmers who need to periodically amend their soils with compost after planting can still control weeds-and hold down costs-by using fabric ground covers. This will be welcome news to organic farmers who till composted manure into their crop fields after [Continue]
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are studying soil moisture levels and other field dynamics to help Pacific Northwest famers maximize the production of corn, a relatively new regional crop that helps support Idaho’s growing dairy industry. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists David Tarkalson and David [Continue]
The first screening by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists of the American ancestors of soybeans for tolerance to ozone and other stresses had an eye-opening result: The world superstars of stress resistance hailed from a little village in far northern Sweden, called Fiskeby. The screeners, geneticist Tommy Carter and plant [Continue]
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have produced the first detailed data on how large-scale dairy facilities contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. This research was conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the ARS Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory in Kimberly, Idaho. ARS is [Continue]
The same precision farming techniques that work with crops can work with manure management on cattle feedlots, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Agricultural engineers Roger Eigenberg and Bryan Woodbury and their colleagues with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Clay Center, Neb., map the distribution [Continue]
Computer simulation studies by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests that a dairy cow living year-round in the great outdoors may leave a markedly smaller ecological hoofprint than its more sheltered sisters. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agricultural engineer Al Rotz led a team that evaluated how different [Continue]
