Scientists Work to Cut Greenhouse Gases, One Cow Burp at a Time

When you first learn that cows produce methane, a greenhouse gas, you might assume it comes from the animal’s rear end. But you would be wrong. “Methane is generated in an organ called the rumen, which is the first of the cow’s ‘four stomachs,’” said Nicolas DiLorenzo, a researcher at the University of Florida who studies methane production in cattle. “The rumen is quite close to the cow’s mouth, so the mouth is the closest exit. Therefore, the cow releases this methane by burping.” For several decades, researchers have been looking for ways to reduce the methane produced in the rumen. Now new research by DiLorenzo and others shows that a small change to cattle’s diets reduced the animals’ methane emissions by 11 percent. These findings are a step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. The study received funding support from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. For more information, read the University of Florida article.

Two AFRI projects are associated with the article.

Photo courtesy of Nicolas DiLorenzo..

NIFA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program

Many opportunities exist in farming and ranching in America, yet beginning farmers and ranchers have unique needs for education, training, technical assistance, and outreach. For those within their first 10 years of operation, it’s vital to have capital access, land access, and access to knowledge and information to assist with achieving profitability and sustainability. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) provides competitive grants to organizations and institutions for education, mentoring, and technical assistance initiatives for beginning farmers or ranchers. Each year, project proposals are solicited through an official Request for Applications posted on NIFA’s website as soon as it's available. For more information, read the NIFA article.

Image of farmer family, courtesy of Getty Images.

USDA, Cooperative Extension & APLU Award Top Honors in Extension Excellence and Diversity

Recognizing visionary leadership and diversity in educational programming, the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Cooperative Extension, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today announced that Jamie Ellis of the University of Florida will receive the 2020 Excellence in Extension Award, and the University of Missouri’s 4-H Center for Youth Development will receive the National Extension Diversity Award. USDA-NIFA and Cooperative Extension have sponsored the awards since 1991. The awards will be presented virtually on October 28. For more information, read the APLU news release.

Updated Time and Effort Reporting

NIFA has updated its Time and Effort reporting Fact Sheet to align it with the requirements of Section 7613 of the Farm Bill and assure compliance with Uniform Guidance. The Fact Sheet contains general background, common findings, and best practices. Specific questions concerning Time and Effort reporting should be addressed to policy@usda.gov.

Graphic courtesy of Getty Images.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020  

This year’s Nobel Prize is awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice (pictured, left) made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus. Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained. The discovery of Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives. (Dr. Rice, Rockefeller University, NYC, is also an awardee in USDA-NIFA’s Dual Purpose with Dual Benefit interagency program for his work studying Hepatitis C virus, using horses as a model.) For more information, read the Nobel Prize article.

Transparent Wood Could Be the Window of the Future

Could looking through trees be the view to a greener future? Trees replacing the clear pane glass in your windows is not a work of science fiction. It’s happening now. Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) researcher Junyong Zhu in co-collaboration with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado, have developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction in nearly every way. For more information, read the USDA blog.

Research work at the Forest Products Lab on using wood to create transparent windows is making great strides. Photo courtesy of the USDA Forest Service.