Super sponge removes mercury from water

Mercury is very toxic and can cause long-term health damage, but removing it from water is challenging. With NIFA funding, researchers at the University of Minnesota (UMN) created a sponge that uses nanotechnology to absorb mercury from polluted water in seconds. The sponge can be used on tap water, industrial wastewater, and in lakes. It converts contaminants into nontoxic waste that can be disposed in a landfill. The sponge also kills bacterial and fungal microbes.

Read the UMN story here

 Wasp used to combat stink bugs

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is an invasive pest that continues to expand its range throughout the United States. Scientists at Oregon State University have discovered a way to safely contain the population with funding from NIFA's Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). Researchers identified a natural predator, the trissolcus japonicus parasitoid wasp, which eats stink bug eggs. They monitored these wasps, found in Maryland and the Pacific Northwest, to determine if they could control the stink bug population without harming other species. 

“Our original project was to put out the fire and identify insecticides that were effective so our growers would able to mitigate the problems caused by these bugs. But of course, they are all broad spectrum and disruptive to our integrated pest management systems, so we ended up with secondary pest problems,” said Tracy Leskey, entomologist for the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

So far, 10 wasps have been released in various locations and further studies will be conducted this summer to measure the impact on the BMSB population and other insects.

Read more about the wasp story here. 

The wallet and the food desert

An Agriculture and Food Research Initiative     (AFRI) research project to North Carolina State University found that money, not access, is the biggest factor determining food purchases for people who live in areas far from supermarkets, also known as "food deserts."

Researchers found that, while supermarkets had a wide range of fruits and vegetables, neighborhood stores offered little or no fresh produce. What’s more, staple foods and healthier options in neighborhood stores cost 25 percent more on average.

Read more about the food desert study here.

Smaller cattle for a dry landscape

Ranchers running beef cattle on dry and dusty landscapes should consider smaller cows to get the best out of their herd according to researchers at Oregon State University, University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University.

With funding from NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), scientists developed a statistical model that showed smaller cows have distinct advantages over larger ones in pastures where the cows don't have much to chew on.                             

Breeding smaller cattle could be a long-term strategy to help ranchers and ease pressure on an increasingly drought-prone range, noted Leticia Henderson, a livestock and range Extension agent at Oregon State University.

Read Oregon State University's story here.                                         

Prototype farm machine reduces labor costs

With a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant, University of Kentucky researchers have designed, built and tested a low-cost, mechanized system for organic vegetable production. This new system can help small-scale growers reduce their labor costs, increase their scale of operations, reduce input costs and increase production compared to conventional organic production practices.

Watch video here.