By Natasha Gilbert, February 5, 2016
(Published by Science Magazine)
Farm research backers are making some political gains in their push to double funding for the U.S. government’s premier competitive grants program for agricultural science…Read more.
Today, farmers have figured out where to grow most varieties of lettuce at any time of the year. So when romaine was fingered as the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened 43 people in 12 states, the federal government was able to roll back this blanket prohibition and limit the recall to produce from central California farms, where most of the romaine is grown at this time of year. But limitations in science prevent any further specificity.
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We are at a challenging time in U.S. agricultural history. The past ten years of data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that production—all of the food, fuel, fiber, and other materials that farmers grow--has stopped increasing. The trendline flattened out and is now pointed downwards.
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The fall armyworm is the name of a two-inch-long brown caterpillar with a yellow stripe. It has a military name because common infestations are both large and destructive. The insect recently arrived in Africa and its impact on the Lake Chad region — already plagued by violence from terrorist group Boko Haram — has security experts concerned.
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