Looking Under the Hood of Michigan's Agriculture

From USDA:

Posted by Jay Johnson, Acting Census and Survey Division Director, on December 18, 2014 at 2:00 PM

That’s a lot of cherry pies! Check back on January 8 when we resume the Census of Agriculture Spotlight!

The Census of Agriculture is the most complete account of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Every Thursday USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will highlight new Census data and the power of the information to shape the future of American agriculture.

When you think of Michigan, you may think of Detroit and the car industry, however our agriculture industry is also critical to our state’s economy. Agriculture’s economic impact on the Michigan economy recently surpassed the $100 billion mark. Traveling through Michigan, you can easily see just how diverse agriculture in our state truly is. In the latest Census of Agriculture, Michigan farmers reported growing many various types of fruits, vegetable and livestock commodities. In fact Michigan produces more than 300 different commodities.

While the Great Lakes provide our crop growers with an abundance of fertile lands and water, it is our dairy farmers that produce our most valuable commodity. According to the Census, in 2012, Michigan dairy farmers sold more than $1.5 billion worth of milk from their cows. And despite the decrease in the number of such farms, the number of dairy cows in Michigan keeps growing. As of 2012, there were more than 376,000 milk cows on 2,409 of our dairy farms.

It is our fruits and vegetable farms, however, which truly make our agriculture unique. For example, our tart cherry growers lead the nation in production of this essential fruit. Michigan had nearly 37,000 acres of farmland dedicated to tart cherry production.

Our farmers are also the second largest producers of tame blueberries, accounting for nearly a quarter of all cultivated blueberry production in the United States. In 2012, Census counted nearly 19,000 acres of Michigan land dedicated to these berries. So when you’re buying blueberries in a supermarket, there’s a good chance that you’re getting a taste of Michigan.

Another interesting fact that you may not know is that most of the cucumbers used for pickling in the United States comes from Michigan. Our farmers harvested more than 25,000 acres of cucumbers for pickle processing in 2012. That’s more than a third of all the acres in the nation dedicated to this crop.

Finally, considering that we’re currently in the holiday season, I’d be remiss if I didn’t boast Michigan’s Christmas tree industry. In 2012, Michigan farmers cut down more than 1.7 million Christmas trees to make everyone’s holiday season as jolly as possible.

As you can see, Michigan agriculture is very diverse and its impact is extremely widespread. Of course this is just a sample of the wonders our farming industry has to offer. To check out all of the other elements of our unique agriculture sector, check out the latest Census page.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How Do We Count Thee?

From USDA:

Posted by Amanda Dawson, NASS Census Administrator, on December 18, 2014 at 11:00 AM

According to the 2012 #AgCensus there were 12,079 farms in the U.S. that harvested a total of 17.3 million cut Christmas Trees. What will the 2014 Census of Horticulture reveal?

Just as millions of Americans venture out this time of year to purchase a fresh cut Christmas tree, I too am busy visiting and talking with Christmas tree growers. However for me, the visits are important outreach opportunities with producers to prepare for the 2014 Census of Horticulture, which we at USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) just mailed this week.

This special study will help us do more than just count Christmas trees. It will look at the entire horticulture sector in the United States and gather a full count of this $14.5 billion industry. The Census of Horticulture will paint a detailed picture of U.S. producers nationwide – those who grow all those cherished holiday trimmings, from fresh cut Christmas trees, to poinsettias, holly and more.

As I visited with producers, industry associations, and stakeholders to gather their input in the horticulture census, I heard one message repeated over and over again. They need and value this data. For a specialty industry such as theirs, a study like this provides detailed and unbiased data to help them advocate for their industry, whether for decisions on funding, policy, or research, this information is an invaluable tool.

So if you are a grower and you receive a Census of Horticulture form in the mail this holiday season, please respond! While the results may be a year away, this is the prime opportunity for you to help ensure the continued sustainability of your industry.

And, if you are like me and heading out to get fresh holiday decorations take note! These 40,000 growers impact our lives around the holidays and also bring us fresh cut flowers throughout the year; plants, fruits and vegetables to grow in our gardens; landscaping for our yards and parks; and more. If you are purchasing a fresh cut decoration this season (from a farm or even from your local retail store) remember there was a farmer who planted and nourished that seed!

Amanda Dawson, NASS census administrator, visited many nursery and floriculture operations when planning for the Census of Horticulture, including this greenhouse in Maryland filled with poinsettias.

Maple Tree Budding

Spring is finally coming to Jackson County, Missouri! April 6, 2014.

USDA-Funded Researchers Map the Loblolly Pine Genome

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Scott Elliott, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, on April 4, 2014 at 1:00 PM

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, including research into trees that could fuel new energy solutions.

A team of researchers led by the University of California–Davis has mapped the complete genome of the loblolly pine. And if you don’t think that understanding the genetic makeup of loblolly pine is a big deal, perhaps you cannot see the forest for the trees.

Loblolly pine, the most commercially important tree in the United States, is the source of most paper products in this country and 58 percent of timber. On the surface, that might be reason enough for the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to invest $14.6 million in 2011 toward science that could increase the productivity and health of American forests.

Loblolly pine also looms large on the horizon as a feedstock for the next generation of American biofuel.  President Obama’s goal of reducing the United States’ dependency on foreign oil by 30 percent by the year 2030 will be met, in large part, by producing home-grown biofuel. According to Genome Biology, approximately 75 percent of that biofuel will have to come from non-grain, non-food sources called lignocellulosic biomass – and loblolly pine could be a major contributor to filling that need.

Mapping the loblolly genome, then, became an important part of the plan in terms of improving the health and sustainability of this important plant. But, mapping a genome is no easy task, and the loblolly pine proved to be the greatest challenge to date for this type of research. The loblolly genome is the largest ever sequenced and is about seven times larger than the human genome.

To sequence a genome, scientists must first examine the DNA of their subject and then “map” the location of each nucleotide (the “A, C, T, and G” bases) of the entire DNA chain. Scientists use this information to find the best traits, such as disease resistance, and develop better future generations.

The challenge of overcoming the sheer volume of loblolly data is a triumph of its own for the research team.  According to David Neal, team leader and professor of plant sciences at UC–Davis, the team could “read” the nucleotide letters, but only in short batches. The problem was putting together the 16 billion fragments in a way that would allow them to read the complete story of the loblolly pine.

Researchers met this task by employing a new technique developed at the University of Maryland.  Team members overlapped smaller sections of data to form larger chunks and then threw away the redundant information. The process eventually meant the computer had 100 times less sequence data to deal with. The success of this process may help speed up future genome-mapping projects.

The loblolly project team consisted of UC–Davis, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Indiana University–Bloomington, Texas A&M University, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, and Washington State University.

Their complete articles of this research were published in the March 2014 issues of GENETICS and Genome Biology.

Sycamores

Sycamores along the Little Blue River, Jackson County, Missouri. March 29, 2014.