Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announces recovery funding for research laboratories (7/2/09)  -

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the USDA is distributing $176 million in Recovery Act funding to upgrade laboratory buildings and support facilities at research locations across the country. Not only will these projects further important research being conducted at USDA laboratories in 29 states, these funds will help revitalize local economies by creating jobs and supporting local businesses that supply needed construction products and services.

"President Obama is committed to ensuring that USDA stays on the cutting edge of research in food safety, nutrition, producing food and preserving the quality of our soil and water," Vilsack said. "This funding will ensure that our labs can carry out the critical research that enables the U.S. to have the safest, least expensive food supply in the world."

The Recovery Act funds will improve the safety and health aspects of the laboratories, enhance the energy efficiency, and reduce the cost of operation and maintenance. These benefits will improve the working environment, resulting in improved productivity, and generate maintenance savings that will be captured and returned to directly support the research program. All of the projects selected are at locations conducting research of the highest priority.

The Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) in Albany, Calif., which is receiving $28.4 million, focuses on creating crop plants, food products, and food processing methods that are healthier and safer for consumers and the environment. For example, WRRC scientists discovered that microbes thought to live only in animals can also exist on plants such as lettuce and spinach, and the researchers are now working on ways to prevent produce contamination. WRRC will use the Recovery Act funds to make electrical and plumbing systems repairs, fire detection and suppression system renovations, roofing systems replacement, and other repairs that will keep the lab's research moving forward.

The National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill., which is receiving $40.1 million, focuses on inventing new uses for agricultural crops and developing new technology to improve environmental quality and food safety. For example, NCAUR has developed a series of new food products that expanded markets for U.S. cereal crops. One of them, Calorie-Trim, is an all-natural, fat replacer. Derived from whole oats and barley, C-Trim contains 20 to 50 percent beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that helps the body regulate blood sugar and lower bad cholesterol, diminishing the risk of heart disease. NCAUR also developed a vegetable oil-based elevator hydraulic fluid for elevators that is now being used in the Statue of Liberty. This new biobased hydraulic fluid has high fire resistance and could replace the conventional mineral oil-based product, which has major flammability, is environmental toxic, and has disposal problems. NCAUR will use the funding announced today to address critical deferred maintenance of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to enable the lab to continue to develop new products.

Projects Receiving Funding:

Tucson, Ariz., Carl Hayden Bee Research Center: $455,000 Albany, Calif., Western Regional Research Center: $28.4 million Riverside, Calif., United States Salinity Laboratory, National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus & Dates: $625,000 Akron, Colo., Central Great Plains Research Station: $550,000 Ft. Collins, Colo., National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation: $290,000 Newark, Del., Beneficial Insects Research Laboratory: $470,000 Washington, D.C., U. S. National Arboretum: $9 million Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ARS Invasive Plant Research Laboratory: $475,000 Athens, Ga., Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory: $2.3 million Ames, Iowa, National Animal Disease Center: $10.5 million Peoria, Ill., National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research: $40.1 million Aberdeen, Idaho, Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit: $40,000 Kimberly, Idaho, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory: $50,000 West Lafayette, Ind., National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory: $775,000 Manhattan, Kan., Grain Marketing and Production Research Center: $440,000 Boston, Maine, USDA Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging: $3 million Beltsville, Md., National Agricultural Library: $7.4 million Beltsville, Md., Beltsville Agricultural Research Center: $10 million East Lansing, Mich., ARS Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory: $430,000 St. Paul, Minn., Cereal Disease Laboratory: $1.88 million Stoneville, Miss., Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center: $26 million
Miss State, Miss., Poultry Research Unit & Crop Science Research Laboratory: $1.8 million 
Miles City, Mont., Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory: $4 million Clay Center, Neb., Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: $1.3 million Geneva, N.Y., Plant Genetic Resources Unit and Grape Genetics Research Unit: $650,000 Ithaca, N.Y., Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health: $275,000 Fargo, N.D., Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center: $1.17 million El Reno, Okla., Grazinglands Research Laboratory: $130,000 Corvallis, Ore., Horticultural Crops Research Unit, Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit,
  National Clonal Germplasm Repository Unit: $355,000 Pendleton, Ore., Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center: $150,000 Wyndmoor, Pa., Eastern Regional Research Center: $20.1 million Florence, S.C., Coastal Plains Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center: $230,000 College Station, Texas, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center: $1.3 million Logan, Utah, USDA-ARS Forage & Range Research Laboratory: $55,000 Madison, Wis., U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center and Cereal Crops Laboratory: $650,000 Kearneysville, W.Va., Appalachian Fruit Research Station: $650,000 ___________________________________________

The minute pirate bug, Orius insidiosus, was formerly thought to work alone, spearing its prey with a long, needlelike beak and sucking out its victim’s juices. But now it appears this tiny agricultural ally of commercial growers and home gardeners may have a partner: O. pumilio, a closely related species found hunting with it on an organic farm in Alachua County in north-central Florida.

The 2008 discovery by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists, reported in the June issue of Florida Entomologist, marks the first time the two pirate bug species have been observed prowling the same “hunting grounds”—the flowers of a crop of false Queen Anne’s lace—and stalking the same prey: Frankliniella bispinosa (Morgan), also known as Florida flower thrips.

Although O. insidiosus occurs throughout the United States and is used commercially to biologically control myriad crop pests, O. pumilio is a little-known species whose U.S. range until now had only been documented in south Florida, notes Jeff Shapiro. He’s an entomologist with the ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla.

Specimens collected from the Alachua County organic farm showed that O. insidiosus outnumbered O. pumilio by more than three to one. And yet both species preyed on thrips without apparent rivalry. Was this a case of insect magnanimity on O. insidiosus’ part? No, the more likely reason was the abundance of thrips on the flowers, reports Shapiro.

Along with ARS colleagues and the organic farmer, Shapiro also observed that O. insidiosus males outnumbered females almost three to one—though for reasons yet unknown—while O. pumilio’s sex ratio was even. Additional collections and field surveys are under way to track other cases of coexistence and learn more about O. pumilio and its distribution. Ultimately, such information could yield new conservation strategies for bolstering the bugs’ numbers or improving their effectiveness as commercial biocontrol agents.

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