National 4-H Conference Information Session

Join USDA NIFA for a virtual information session December 4 at 4 p.m. EST to learn more about the 2023 National 4-H Conference, being held in April 2023, including the registration process, schedule and key events, chaperone roles and travel logistics. For more information about National 4-H Conference, visit our website. Registration is required. Register Now.

NIFA 2023 National 4-H Conference Save the Date graphic.

FY23 FASLP RFA Webinar

Join staff members with the Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) for a webinar November 15 at 12:30 p.m. EST for applicants interested in applying to the FASLP competitive program. The webinar will focus on the FASLP Request for Applications (RFA) and general program guidelines for the FY 2023.

NIFA webinar graphic.

Celebrating The Three Sisters

November is Native American Heritage Month, and USDA has chosen “Three Sisters: The Intersection of Indigenous and Western Knowledge” for its theme.  Adapted from the named intercropping method of planting corn, beans, and squash developed as an indigenous agricultural practice, the three sisters theme represents a continuous cycle in which each generation is responsible for caring for one another and leaving a better world for the next.

Agencies across USDA are taking steps to incorporate and better support indigenous knowledge in meaningful ways. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture started encouraging indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in many of the agency’s Requests for Applications as a strategy to increase applications benefiting tribal communities.

NIFA funds programs that promote learning, opportunity and health in tribal communities through numerous grant and Extension programs. Learn more about NIFA’s tribal support here.

Corn, beans, and squash have been planted by traditional Native American gardeners in many different regions of North America. A form of companion planting, the intercropping of these three plants protect and nourish each other in different ways as they grow and provide a solid diet for their cultivators. The beans provide nitrogen for the soil, including for the corn which is a nitrogen intensive plant, and the broad squash leaves reduce the pest and weed population-decreasing the need for pesticides and herbicides.

To learn more about growing the Three Sisters together in your vegetable garden, visit these Extension resources.

• Three Sisters Gardening Method—West Virginia Extension
• Should I Try Three Sisters This Summer?—Oregon State Extension
• Creating a Three Sisters Garden—Arkansas Cooperative Extension
• Three Sisters for Florida—University of Florida

Native American Heritage Month NIFA graphic.

CAES Partners with Dalan Animal Health to Advance World's First Honey Bee Vaccine

Vaccines are a proven benefit in the world of animal science. People have vaccinated both pets and livestock for decades. Soon beekeepers may be able to protect their colonies through vaccination. With support from NIFA, the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and Dalan Animal Health have teamed up to advance the world’s first honey bee vaccine.

Researchers from the UGA Bee Lab study hives, courtesy of UGA’s Keith Delaplane.

Prescribed Fire Could Reduce Tick Populations and Pathogen Transmission

Prescribed fire — a tool increasingly used by forest managers and landowners to combat invasive species, improve wildlife habitat and restore ecosystem health — also could play a role in reducing the abundance of ticks and the transmission of disease pathogens they carry, according to a team of scientists from Penn State, the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station in West Virginia, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Crew members monitor a prescribed fire at the Arboretum at Penn State,
courtesy of The Arboretum at Penn State.

Droughts Are a New Reality for New England. Diverse Crop Rotations Can Help.

When it comes to crop rotations, complexity is key to boosting levels of nitrogen—a soil nutrient that is critical to crop production. However, new research from an international group of scientists—among them NH Agricultural Experiment Station scientist Stuart Grandy at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) —shows that complex crop rotations can benefit levels of nitrogen even during droughts, when application of nitrogen fertilizers can be less effective.

Five different fields of crop, illustrating a complex crop rotation, courtesy of UNH.

Census of Agriculture Coming In November

Check your mailbox. USDA will mail the 2022 Census of Agriculture to millions of agriculture producers across the United States and Puerto Rico this fall. Changes to the 2022 questionnaire include new questions about the use of precision agriculture, hemp production, hair sheep and updates to internet access questions.

2022 Census of Agriculture graphic.

DYK that most pumpkin varieties need about 3½ to 4 months to mature? The pumpkins you carve for Halloween were most likely were most likely planted no later than early July. Check out more pumpkins facts from the University of Florida IFAS.

The pandemic upended the #food and #beverage industries in ways that are just coming to light. In response, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a three-year grant to Georgia Tech’s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) to bring free food-safety and business development training to #entrepreneurs and #manufacturers in minority and underserved communities in metro Atlanta, Middle and South Georgia, and Puerto Rico.

As part of this initiative, GaMEP is partnering with Fort Valley State University, Puerto Rico Manufacturing Extension (PRiMEX), and the Georgia MBDA Business Center to rebuild the critical networks of the largest industry in Georgia and train food industry entrepreneurs in food safety practices and regulations.