Event at USDA Ushers in 2015 as the International Year of Soils

From USDA:

Posted by Chief Jason Weller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on January 7, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) celebration of the International Year of Soils event at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.

Yesterday, we officially launched the International Year of Soils here at USDA.

Most people don’t realize that just beneath their feet lies a diverse, complex, life-giving ecosystem that sustains our entire existence. I’m talking about soil. There are more living organisms in a single teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on the earth.

Our soils are alive. We talk about soil health – not soil quality — on purpose. It’s an important distinction. Anything can have a “quality,” but only living things can have health.

The United Nations recently declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils in an effort to highlight the important role of soils in food production and biodiversity preservation. This week, USDA launched International Year of Soils with an event at USDA headquarters.  In his remarks, Secretary Vilsack said that this year marks an opportunity to focus on the important role soil plays in our lives.

We’re proud of the UN’s efforts to raise awareness for soil, and we look forward to a year of celebrating it. We’ve partnered with Soil Science Society of America, which is spotlighting soil through a particular theme each month, starting with “Soils Sustain Life” for January.

Dr. Carolyn Olson, President of the Soil Science Society of America, presented the 2015 Soils Planner published by the Soil Science Society of America at USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) celebration of the International Year of Soils at USDA in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The event was to highlight the importance of healthy soils for food security, ecosystem functions and strong farms and ranches. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), was born out of one of the worst ecological disasters in American history – the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. That’s when President Roosevelt established the Soil Conservation Service, or SCS (which would later become NRCS), to help farmers and ranchers recover and repair American agricultural lands after years of soil mismanagement. We’re continuing that conservation work to this day by providing assistance to producers looking to improve the health of the soil on their land.

In the coming decades, the global agricultural community will be challenged to keep pace with society’s needs in the face of a changing environment. Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in the United States and worldwide will be counted on to provide food, fuel and fiber for the world’s population amid these new realities.

Jim Fortner, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Natural Resources Soil Science, in Lincoln, NE (left) explains the Web Soil Survey to Richard Derksen, of the USDA Office of the Chief Scientist, at the celebration of the International Year of Soils at USDA in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The Web Soil Survey is a description of soil survey maps across the country. The event was to highlight the importance of healthy soils for food security, ecosystem functions and strong farms and ranches. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.

Conservation practices that work to improve soil health is one of the best tools we have to help producers in the face of these impending challenges. Healthy soils help us maintain and even improve their productivity, while helping to address natural resource concerns.

Healthy soils are a critical piece of mitigating impacts from weather extremes. They have a greater water holding and nutrient cycling capacity. In drought, this can help ensure production continues. In heavy rainfall, healthy soils can help keep water and nutrients in the soil where they belong and avert runoff into nearby waterways or flooding communities downstream.

David Lamm, NRCS National Soil Health and Sustainability Team Leader, East National Technology Support Center, Greensboro, NC, explains soil health to Jill Luxenburg at USDA's NRCS, “Behold Our Living Soil” exhibit at NRCS celebration of the International Year of Soils at USDA in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The event was to highlight the importance of healthy soils for food security, ecosystem functions and strong farms and ranches. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.

And we’re continuing to explore the incredible capacity of our soils to store carbon dioxide.

The health and vitality of our soils are rooted in four basic tenants that make up a soil health management system:  minimize disturbance; keep soil covered; energize soil with plant diversity; and maximize living roots.  That is the recipe for a healthy, happy and productive soil system.

At NRCS, soil health is hands down one of the most important efforts we’re tackling as an agency.

Learn more about the International Year of Soils, and be sure to check out our monthly video series on soils on the NRCS YouTube Channel. Also view more photos of yesterday’s event. To get started with NRCS, visit your local USDA Service Center or www.nrcs.usda.gov/GetStarted.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Jason Weller at the celebration of the International Year of Soils event at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. USDA photo by Bob Nichols.

Stopping a Winged Purveyor of Disease and Death

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Sandy Miller Hays, USDA-Agricultural Research Service Information Staff, on April 7, 2014 at 12:00 PM

The mosquito Aedes aegypti can spread several diseases as it travel from person to person. Only the females feed on blood. In this photo, the mosquito is just starting to feed on a person’s arm.

During the month of April we will take a closer look at USDA’s Groundbreaking Research for a Revitalized Rural America, highlighting ways USDA researchers are improving the lives of Americans in ways you might never imagine.  For example, researching mosquitoes that spread diseases that threaten human health worldwide.

Today is World Health Day, and this year’s theme is vector-borne diseases—those diseases spread by organisms like insects, ticks and snails.  Significant vector-borne diseases in the Americas include dengue fever, malaria, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis.

One of the most egregious offenders is the mosquito, and the scientists of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are taking aim at this winged attacker with weapons ranging from traditional remedies to computer modeling and satellite images.

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral disease spread to livestock and humans via mosquito bites, and is a major threat in Africa and the Middle East. ARS scientists partnered with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and federal partners from NASA, CDC and the Department of Defense to form the Rift Valley Fever Outbreak Early-Warning Team to develop and transfer an early-warning system to detect and predict outbreaks of RVF.

The model is based on analyzing satellite images to detect when temperatures in the Pacific and Indian oceans elevate concurrently to produce widespread and heavy rainfall in Africa. The right conditions can give rise to major increases in the number and longevity of infected mosquitoes that spread the disease. Similar models can help predict outbreaks of malaria and dengue.

In October 2006, the model predicted that RVF would flare up within three months in sub-Saharan Africa, and warnings were sent to countries in harm’s way to allow them to step up surveillance and controls for disease-carrying insects. Additional warnings were issued from 2007-2010 in Sudan, Southern Africa and Madagascar months prior to the detection of RVF disease.

At a remote patrol base in Iraq, ARS scientist and U.S. Army entomologist Seth Britch applies a pesticide treatment to camouflage netting and shade cloth that will be suspended over outdoor eating and cooking areas and areas between dormitories. This treatment reduces populations of biting flies and mosquitoes by transferring lethal doses to the insects when they rest on the camouflage material.

In other work, ARS scientists have shown that compounds in the oil of seeds of Jatropha curcas—burned in homes in India—are effective mosquito repellents. They’ve also shown that a naturally occurring compound from pine oil seems to deter mosquito biting and repels two kinds of ticks.

Additionally, ARS scientists have evaluated treatments applied to uniforms to help protect military personnel against biting insects, and have helped the military evaluate spray equipment to combat insects that threaten the health of deployed soldiers.

These are just a few examples of the ways ARS scientists serve every day on the front lines in the battle against mosquitoes, ticks and other creatures that pose ongoing, serious threats to the health of the world’s population.

ARS agricultural engineer Clint Hoffmann evaluates a pesticide spray nozzle as ARS works to devise better ways of protecting military personnel from disease-transmitting insects like mosquitoes.