Students Get Schooled by Schools of Fish

From the USDA:

Posted by Damon Thompson, Communications Director, Research, Education, and Economics, on January 27, 2015 at 4:00 PM

USDA Under Secretary Cathie Woteki reviews the hydroponic garden at Food and Finance High School in New York City, which is fed nutrients from sediment collected in Dr. Warner’s basement fish tanks and pumped up four floors to the garden.

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 USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Schools of fish may be common things to see, but watching some fish school high school students from a basement in Manhattan’s West Side is a different experience altogether. Cathie Woteki, USDA’s Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, observed such a program recently during a visit to Food and Finance High School in New York.

There on West 50th Street, Cornell University operates laboratories that represent the latest in scientific technology to raise fresh, clean fish in addition to garden produce in a sustainable urban setting. Renowned Cornell scientist and educator Philson Warner developed a system for continuously re-circulating and reconditioning water to raise more than 10,000 tilapia and other fish at a time in the basement lab. The nutrient-rich water from the fish is then transferred to a hydroponic garden located a few floors up on campus. That garden produces nine types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage such as bok choi, and a variety of herbs that include sweet basil, oregano, thyme and parsley. The plants then clean the water, which is sent back to the fish.

Cornell University scientist and educator Philson Warner shows USDA Under Secretary Cathie Woteki his system of nutrient-enriched fish tanks in which he raises 10,000 tilapia at a time from the basement of Food and Finance High School in Manhattan.

Food and Finance High School is a specialized institution that offers its students a hands-on introduction to the restaurant business and food industry. As a part of that experience, student interns spend 4 to 8 hours a week working as lab technicians in Dr. Philson’s facility, donning white lab coats and clipboards to monitor and maintain its production. The students are able to do independent studies in chemistry and other sciences based on their work in the lab. Dr. Philson says every single intern who has worked with him over the last three years has gone on to college.

A few of the tilapia being raised in Dr. Warner’s indoor tanks.

Tags:  AMS, APHIS, ARRA, ARS, California, Conservation, drought, Energy, Farm Bill, Farmers, FAS, FNS, Food and Nutrition, Food Farm and Jobs Bill, Food Safety, Forestry, FS, FSA, FSIS, HealthierNextGen, Kathleen Merrigan, KYF2, Let's Move, NASS, National School Lunch Program, NIFA, NRCS, Nutrition, People's Garden, President Obama, Producers, Ranchers, RD, Rural America, Rural Development, Science, Science Tuesday, Secretary's Column, SNAP, South Dakota, Texas, Tom Vilsack, Trade, Tribal, USDA

Stop Stink Bug Project

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Sharon Durham, Public Affairs Specialist, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, on September 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM

The brown marmorated stink bug, a winged pest from Asia that is eating crops and infesting U.S. homes. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are launching a campaign to ask volunteers to count the number of stink bugs in their homes. USDA-ARS photo by Stephen Ausmus.

Calling all insect enthusiasts and frustrated gardeners!  USDA scientists need your help in documenting Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (BMSB) in your home. Beginning September 15^th through October 15^th, we’re asking citizens across the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States to record daily counts of this pest on the exterior of their homes, along with their location and the time of each count. While USDA scientists are focusing on the Mid-Atlantic region, any data they can get from other U.S. regions would also be helpful to their research.

The quest to find out just how many stink bugs there are, and how they behave, is the brainchild of a consortium of researchers from USDA, the University of Maryland, Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University, Virginia Tech, the Northeastern IPM Center, Oregon State University, North Carolina State University, Cornell University, the University of Delaware and Washington State University. This project is represented on the website, “Stop BMSB (www.stopbmsb.org),” which was launched in 2011.

The project involves more than 50 scientists who are investigating the impact BMSB have on grapes, orchard crops, small fruits, ornamental crops and vegetables, as well as ways to prevent or minimize the pest’s impact. BMSB have been found in 40 states and have caused the most damage in the Mid-Atlantic region. The value of at-risk crops where BMSB have been established or identified exceeds $21 billon.

Because landscape features such as woodlands, structures, roads and different land use types affect the spread of the insects, it is important to collect data related to BMSB locations. BMSB survive cold winter temperatures near farmland in homes, office buildings and warehouses.

Scientists are just beginning to understand how landscape features will be a key component in combating stink bugs. Volunteers willing to count their stink bugs can contact USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologists Tracy Leskey (tracy.leskey@ars.usda.gov), Doo-Hyung Lee or Torri Hancock at (304) 725-3451, at the ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory in Kearneysville, West Virginia.

Participant forms to record BMSB counts can be printed by going to http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/19310505/BMSB%20Citizen%20Scientist%20Particip

A New World-Old World Problem and How Genetic "Fingerprints" May Help

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Dennis O’Brien, Agricultural Research Service, on September 3, 2013 at 11:00 AM

ARS scientists and NIFA-funded researchers work to improve the tools and processes to develop better grapes and grapevines. Their discoveries will make it easier for grape breeders to identify vines that combine the most desirable traits.

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

When it comes to grapes, there’s a New World-Old World dichotomy. Grapevines originating in the Americas (e.g. Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia) can resist pests and diseases, but they generally don’t have the taste or aroma of grapes with European origins (Vitis vinifera).  But European grapes are more susceptible to pests and disease.

Grape breeders try to combine the best of both worlds, but here’s the problem: if you cross one grape with another, there is no guarantee your progeny will inherit the desirable traits. And because it takes so much time to grow a grapevine, produce grapes from those vines, and for those grapes to be evaluated, bringing a new grape to market can take 20 years or more. Scientists can speed things up by identifying genes that give grapes the right blend of the best characteristics. Identifying the genes will tell you the characteristics of the vine without having to wait for it to grow.

VitisGen, a project partially funded by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, is helping scientists pick up the pace. The $9 million project, which is supported with matching grants from the grape industry, brings together scientists from 11 research institutions across the United States. They’re focused on improving the tools and processes used in traditional breeding. As part of the project, scientists at Cornell University, South Dakota State University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service operate three “Phenotyping Centers,” where breeders can send vine samples for laboratory evaluations and genetic analyses. Breeders usually send samples from “families” of 100 to 200 vines, and each center is equipped to screen one of three key traits: fruit quality, cold tolerance or resistance to powdery mildew.

The project started in 2011 and is slated to run until 2016. In its first two years, scientists have created the largest genetic database for any specialty crop in the United States, according to Lance Cadle-Davidson, the USDA-ARS scientist who helps oversee the effort.  They have developed genetic fingerprints of 8,000 grapevines, identified 1.2 million DNA markers and discovered linkages between these markers and the traits. These discoveries make it faster and easier for breeders to identify vines combining the most desirable traits.