USDA Assists Farmers, Ranchers, and Communities Affected by Tropical Storm Elsa

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to aid recovery efforts for farmers, ranchers, and residents affected by Tropical Storm Elsa. USDA staff in offices across the country are ready to respond with a variety of program flexibilities and other assistance to producers and communities in need. For more information, read the USDA press release.

Tropical storm seen from space, courtesy of NASA.

Emergency Crop Insurance Procedures in Drought-Impacted Areas

USDA set forth emergency procedures for producers in drought-affected parts of the country which will allow them to receive greater flexibilities within their crop insurance policies. USDA’s Rod Bain talks with Risk Management Agency Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy on what producers can do in affected areas. For more information, listen to the USDA broadcast.

Drought in corn field, courtesy of Adobe Stock.

NIFA Career Opportunities

We are hiring! Remember to check out NIFA's Career Opportunities webpage, where there is a direct link to all open positions. You can also explore NIFA jobs at the USAjobs.gov website. Current openings in Kansas City, Missouri:

Supervisory Biological Science Specialist (Division Director) (GS-15)
Closing Date: 07/15/2021

Budget Analyst (GS 9-12)
Closing Date: 07/26/2021

The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Mystery of the Havoc-Wreaking Worm

Humans have known for over 2,000 years that shipworms are responsible for damage to wooden boats, docks, dikes, and piers. Today, shipworms cause billions of dollars of damage a year. New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reveals that we still don’t know the most basic thing about them: how they eat. The nutritious part of wood, cellulose, is encased in a thick and extremely difficult-to-digest layer of lignin. Researchers are still trying to figure out what within the shipworm could be responsible for breaking down the lignin. It has long been thought that symbiotic bacteria living in shipworms’ gills also had the enzymes, but the research shows they do not. This work was supported in part by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For more information, read the UMass article.

Section of a piling attacked by shipworms in Belfast, Maine, courtesy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Researchers Target Food Loss and Waste Reduction  

Research suggests that 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. is lost or wasted, while one in eight households experiences food insecurity. The pandemic has created uncertainty at the retail level of the food supply chain, potentially altering food shopping and inventory management practices. Researchers at University of Tennessee Institute of Ag (UTIA) have received a $423,316 grant to study food loss and waste reduction at the consumer-grocery retailer interface. Funding is provided by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. “This study will provide a results-driven set of recommendations for future voluntary food loss and waste reduction programs,” said UTIA Professor, Lead Researcher Kimberly Jensen. “Findings will provide estimates of how food loss and waste information shapes consumers’ choices in products, stores and at-home practices.” For more information, read the UTIA article.

Woman cleaning-out the refrigerator, courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Youth Arise

Youth Arise is a youth civic engagement program designed for middle-school students. The goal of the program is to increase youth's understanding of civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, and leadership and to help youth learn how to become involved in their community. The program aims to engage socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and underserved youth. The Youth Arise program is implemented by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension 4-H and funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Child, Youth, and Families at Risk program. For more information, read the University of Nebraska article.

Young student asking a question at school, courtesy of Adobe Stock.