science tuesday

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

It’s hard to imagine average Americans of the 1950s and ‘60s walking around carrying bottles of water or worrying about getting to the gym three times a week.  But just as lifestyles have changed over the decades, so have eating styles.  Today’s Americans demand a variety of fresh, convenient, healthy, quick snacks and meals—and USDA scientists made a major contribution to meeting that demand.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

Exotic animals are a growing problem in Florida. From Burmese pythons to Nile monitors, these animals are invading Florida and destroying the ecosystem. A fast, accurate way to identify the many exotic animals is needed by professionals and volunteers in the field. With over 6.4 million iPhones active in the United States alone, what better solution than an iPhone app?

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

While driving, have you ever wondered why there are so many fences to interrupt your  soul-satisfying, wide-open-spaces experience?  Until recently, that was the only way to keep livestock in their place, so to speak.  But today’s wire fencing and posts soon will be augmented with virtual fencing that erases these visual barriers from the landscape.

This post is Part Two of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Read part one here.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

On July 20, the Forest Service announced a new system for integrating consideration of climate change into agency operations. This system is based on our Strategic Framework for Responding to Climate Change, adopted by leadership in 2008, and tiers to the new USDA strategic plan that emphasizes forest resilience to climate change.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

As adults, we have heard for years about the value of adding fish to our diets. But have you ever stopped to consider the health benefits a diet rich in seafood can offer your children?

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

When I was growing up on the farm in South Carolina, my family used a very simple method of estimating our production. As long as we planted the same acreage, we assumed that we were getting the same amount of crops at harvest time. But while this approach is still used on some farms, it is impossible to use these assumptions to get reliable state and national production estimates. So how does the USDA go about measuring the yields to get an accurate forecast for the annual crop production?

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

What are U.S. farms like?  Are they largely family businesses, or corporate operations?  Describing farms is challenging because they vary in size and other characteristics, ranging from very small retirement and residential farms to businesses with sales in the millions of dollars.  Descriptions based on U.S. averages hide much of the variation.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

As we begin a new school year, I am proud to announce that the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has again partnered with the National FFA Organization to develop new educational online learning tools that will help promote agricultural and statistical literacy.