Story Bank USDA AFRI

• Iowa
• Food Safety
• Human Health & Nutrition

Dr. Mellata and her team’s project focuses on improving food safety by reducing harmful bacteria in poultry products. Its major goals are: 1) advance our understanding of the zoonotic...

• Michigan
• Animal Sciences
• Pests & Diseases

The perfect deli sandwich starts with optimal living conditions for turkeys everywhere. Temperature stress right before processing turkey directly impacts the quality of turkey meat that...

• Iowa
• Animal Sciences
• USDA AFRI

Hongwei Xin and associates compared cage-free systems with more conventional approaches and found that the cage-free approach resulted in more airborne bacteria, ammonia, and dust. Worker...

• Florida
• Plant Sciences
• Pests & Diseases

Dr. Carrie Lapaire Harmon’s lab, Florida’s Plant Diagnostic Center, serves as the state’s early detection system. Her lab is equipped to quickly test and diagnose numerous plant diseases,...

• Wisconsin
• Transdisciplinary Research
• Animal Sciences

The dairy industry is committed to reducing GHGs associated with milk production. The researchers learned that if farmers implemented best management practices worldwide to reduce GHG...

• North Carolina
• Human Health & Nutrition
• Microbiomes

More than 30 million Americans have diabetes and more than 80 million American adults have prediabetes. Dr. Shengmin Sang is working to determine if there are dietary strategies focused...

• Alabama
• USDA AFRI
• Food Safety

Dr. Woubit Abdela, Dr. Temesgen Samuel, and Dr. Teshome Yehualaeshet at Tuskegee University have tinkered with a 30-year-old genetics tool to invent a fast and portable foodborne illness...

• Nebraska
• Genomics
• Human Health & Nutrition

Wheat provides 20 percent of the protein and 20 percent of the calories consumed by humans worldwide. By developing cross-pollinating hybrids, scientists hope to leverage the natural...

• Georgia
• Data Analytics
• Genomics

Dr. Misztal and a team of international researchers are working to simplify genetic analyses for dairy cattle evaluation. Using data from more than 3 million Holstein cows, the team...

• California
• Plant Sciences
• Genomics

Dubcovsky leads a collaboration of wheat-breeding labs throughout the U.S. whose work has made this acceleration possible. He and his colleagues have mapped out more than 90,000 genetic...

• Virginia
• Data Analytics
• Animal Sciences

Dr. White focuses on precision animal nutrition to improve livestock health and the efficiency of food production. Her team explores how the nexus of a specific animal’s behavior and...

• New York
• Human Health & Nutrition
• USDA AFRI

Marketers have mastered the art of generating impulse purchases at grocery stores. Customers waiting in line find tantalizing candy and other treats within their reach. Dr. David Just is...

• Texas
• Animal Sciences
• USDA AFRI

Antibiotics have been prescribed for people and animals at rates that have encouraged bacteria to expand resistance. If this trend continues, life-saving antibiotics may be ineffective in...

• Pennsylvania
• Pests & Diseases
• Plant Sciences

When caterpillars attack tomato plants, proteins in the insect saliva disarm the tomato defenses. Dr. Felton and his colleagues have identified another set of proteins in caterpillar...

• Pennsylvania
• Microbiomes
• Soil Sciences

This Penn State team is working to better understand how soil microbes and plant roots interact in order to provide new tools that maximize production, improve soil health, and reduce the...

• New York
• Plant Sciences
• Genomics

Dr. McCouch and Dr. Wang analyzed genetic sequencing of all the rice varieties whose seeds lie in the public domain to determine the genetics responsible for production levels in specific...

• Ohio
• Animal Sciences
• Pests & Diseases

Chang-Won Lee, PhD, and his colleagues worry about more than the avian flu. They focus expansively on more than a single respiratory disease. While scientists may be able to generate...

• Wisconsin
• Human Health & Nutrition
• Genomics

The American Heart Association notes a recent study that showed millions of people worldwide could prevent early deaths and disability from heart disease by eating more fruits and...

• Texas
• Animal Sciences
• Genomics

Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is a combination of viral and bacterial cattle infections made worse by the stress of transportation to the feedlot. This project plans to breed enough...

• Nebraska
• Animal Sciences
• Genomics

Daniel Ciobanu, PhD, and his team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that sows expressing age at puberty early in life produce more litters during their lifetime.

• Nebraska
• Microbiomes
• Human Health & Nutrition

Inflammation is a major cause of health problems. Drs. Hutkins and Walter and their collaborators set out to improve gut health by using a novel formulation of probiotics (healthy...

• Virginia
• Plant Sciences
• Genomics

Phytophthora sojae is one of the most disruptive pathogens in soybean fields across the U.S. These scientists used information from P. sojae genomes to develop new diagnostic tools and to...

• Iowa
• Genomics
• Animal Sciences

Biosecurity protocols and vaccinations help prevent or reduce disease in pigs, but some animals will still get sick. To address this, Dr. Dekkers and his international team utilized the...

• Iowa
• USDA AFRI
• Data Analytics

Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore and Dr. Matthew Helmers lead an interdisciplinary team of scientists who have found an innovative way to minimize runoff, keeping water clean without sacrificing...

• Kansas
• Pests & Diseases
• Plant Sciences

The rice blast fungus is a feared pathogen, even after genetic research discovered how to introduce resistance in rice plants. Dr. Barbara Valent took on the blast-fungus challenge....

• North Carolina
• Plant Sciences
• Human Health & Nutrition

Nearly three million children and adults in the U.S. suffer from peanut allergies and their severe medical consequences. Dr. Jianmei Yu and her colleagues at N.C. State University...

• Illinois
• Data Analytics
• Plant Sciences

Dr. Guan and his team use computer modeling to determine how increasing temperatures impact soybean growth and crop production.  This enables them to more accurately predict the future...

• California
• Microbiomes
• Soil Sciences

Healthy crops depend upon healthy soil. Dr. Scow leads a multi-disciplinary team of researchers working at UC Davis’ Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility and in farmers’...

• California
• Food Safety
• USDA AFRI

Dr. Nitin and his team are discovering multiple techniques to minimize cross-contamination, which is a leading cause of foodborne outbreaks in fresh produce. They study how to prevent...

• Florida
• Genomics
• USDA AFRI

At University of Florida, researchers are working to save Florida’s citrus industry by applying a new gene-editing technique to combat citrus greening disease.

• Colorado
• Animal Sciences
• Microbiomes

Antimicrobial resistant-microbes (AMRs) pose a serious threat to public health. AMRs are found in people, animals, food, and the environment. They spread from animals to people, and from...

• Indiana
• Sensors
• Plant Sciences

Dr. Rainey and Dr. Cherkauer are automating part of the breeding process for soybeans. Drones fly over test plots and record high-resolution photos in a fraction of the time that it would...

• Texas
• Transdisciplinary Research
• Soil Sciences

Dr. Morgan and her team are helping farmers and the public understand the importance of soil health. No-till farming, or growing crops without disturbing the soil through tillage, is a...

• Michigan
• Food Safety
• Microbiomes

Salmonella is a formidable foe in low-moisture foods. The project’s overall goal is to enhance the development, improvement, and commercial adoption of pathogen-reduction technologies for...

• New York
• Food Safety
• Human Health & Nutrition

Foodborne illnesses can be caused by food coming in contact with bacteria on surfaces in food-processing plants, restaurants, and households. When enough bacteria congregate, they create...

• Indiana
• Human Health & Nutrition
• USDA AFRI

People suffering from thiamin deficiencies often don’t know the cause of their symptoms, which may include exhaustion, loss of appetite, and shortness of breath. Dr. Mauer and Dr....

• Pennsylvania
• Microbiomes
• Human Health & Nutrition

Dr. Perdew explains that all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, cauliflower) contain an organic chemical compound called “indole glucosinolates.” When that...