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Contact: Bob Ellison
USDA Office of Communications
(202) 720-4623
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NEW TV FEATURES:
1. SEC. VILSACK COMMENTS ON RECOVERY ACT
2. USDA SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR STUDIES IRRIGATION
3. USDA SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR HELPS SMALL RANCHERS
Three new television features are available on the USDA FTP site:
Filenames:
VILSACK ARRA
West SOY
Ark SOY
Download instructions:
The host: ftp://ocbmtcmedia.download.akamai.com.
User name: usdanews
Password: Newscontent1
The new files are in QuickTime Movie and HDV formats in both high and low resolutions.
Please email bob.ellison@xxxxxxxx if you have problems or suggestions.
Also, use this free ftp client if you have problems.
FEATURE – USDA RECOVERY ACT PROJECTS TO CONTINUE IN SECOND YEAR
INTRO: On the first anniversary of the recovery act, US Dept of Agriculture officials are taking stock of how the money is working in rural America. USDA’s Patrick O’Leary has more from Washington. (1:43)
ONE YEAR AFTER THE FIRST WAVE OF RECOVERY ACT FUNDS, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TOM VILSACK SAYS THE MONEY IS WORKING TO HELP RURAL AMERICA. HE SAYS THE FAST DELIVERY OF MORE MONEY FOR USDA FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS HAS HAD AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT.
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture: When you, essentially, put the SNAP monies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance monies, into the stream of commerce quickly, you’re helping families stretch those food dollars, but you’re also keeping those folks in grocery stores and the folks who truck foods to the grocery store and the folks who process, you keep them in business. So you’re maintaining jobs.
VILSACK SAYS STIMULUS INVESTMENTS IN RURAL BUSINESSES, AND IN BROADBAND EXPANSION, ARE ALSO MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
Vilsack: To the extent that we are getting our business and industry loan program guarantees out, we’re really making a fundamental difference in a lot of small businesses in rural communities, to be able to stay in business, expand operations that will make them stronger and better in the future.
And then, the ability to expand broadband, high speed internet – it allows small businesses in those areas to convert their local market to global markets, it creates distance learning opportunities and telemedicine opportunities, all of which help to strengthen communities, create new economic opportunity.
VILSACK SAYS OTHER BENEFITS FROM THE RECOVERY ACT INCLUDE MONEY FOR CLINICS, HOMES, WATER SYSTEMS AND OTHER COMMUNITY ASSETS; THE CREATION OF GREEN JOBS FROM CONVERSION OF FOREST PRODUCTS; AND DIRECT HELP FOR FARMERS AND RANCHERS.
Vilsack: Farmers who received some of the direct loan money, they’re still in business because of it. So there’s an awful lot of activity going on out there in rural America because of the Recovery & Reinvestment Act, and I think over time we’ll see even more, this year it’s going to be very, very active in rural America.
IN WASHINGTON, FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, I’M PAT O’LEARY
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FEATURE – USDA SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR STUDIES IRRIGATION
INTRO: The US Dept of Agriculture’s Distinguished Scientist of the Year is a California researcher who studies irrigation using reclaimed water. USDA’s Pat O’Leary has more. (1:55)
IN THE WEST, COMPETITION FOR WATER BETWEEN AGRICULTURE AND URBAN INTERESTS IS ALWAYS INCREASING. EASING THAT COMPETITION IS THE LIFE’S WORK OF THIS YEAR’S U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DISTINGUISHED SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR.
We get good ph measurements…
GEOCHEMIST DONALD SUAREZ WORKS FOR USDA’S AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE IN RIVERSIDE CALIFORNIA. HIS FOCUS IS ON ALTERNATIVE WATER SOURCES FOR IRRIGATION.
Donald Suarez, USDA Scientist of the Year: The existing guidelines were designed in an era of abundant water supplies. We wanted to use waters of only the highest quality that would avoid any problems in terms of plant production, or in terms of adverse effects on the soils. But that luxury of being so conservative in terms of which waters we use doesn’t exist anymore.
SUAREZ AND COLLAGUES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AND ELSEWHERE ARE LOOKING AT USING RECLAIMED WATER FROM FARMS AND MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS
Suarez: These marginal quality waters, we need to understand when we can use them and when we can’t use them. The challenges are related to salinity, organic matter in the soil, differences in ph. We also, with these waters, often have potentially toxic trace elements present.
This is a traveling irrigation sprinkler system…
BY SIMULATING DIFFERENT IRRIGATION CONDITIONS, HE DEVELOPS COMPUTER MODELS THAT PROJECT LONG TERM EFFECTS OF USING RECYCLED WATER ON CROP PRODUCTIVITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT.
Suarez: The models that we’ve developed have been well received throughout the world and are being adopted. We have a leadership position setting the criteria for irrigation. And we have a large number of visiting foreign scientists that come through our lab. The problems we face are the same problems that irrigated agriculture faces in all the arid regions of the world. And it’s a real honor for me to receive this award from the agency.
FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, I’M PAT O’LEARY.
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FEATURE – TOP USDA SCIENTIST HELPS SMALL RANCHERS
INTRO: One of the US Dept of Agriculture’s Scientists of the Year works on better ways to raise cattle on small farms. The USDA’s Pat O’Leary has more. (1:58)
AT THIS RESEARCH CENTER IN BOONEVILLE, ARKANSAS, THE FOCUS IS ON THE LITTLE GUY.
So Ben, are those exit velocity eyes six feet apart?
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S EARLY CAREER SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR UNDERSTANDS WHY SMALL FARMERS ARE IMPORTANT.
Michael Looper, USDA Early Career Scientist of the Year: I’m a fifth generation small farmer. I grew up in this part of the country, in Arkansas, and so I want to do research that’s applied on the farm because I know the small budgets that small farmers have to operate on and so, anything we can do to keep that small farm in business, I think that’s what they hired me to do.
MICHAEL LOOPER AND HIS COLLEAGUES WITH USDA’S AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE ARE WORKING ON RAPID TESTS THAT COULD HELP SMALL CATTLE PRODUCERS IMPROVE BOTH EFFICIENCY AND FOOD SAFETY.
Looper: How cattle are managed on the farm affects pathogens. And so, if we can keep one animal that’s infected with Salmonella or e-coli from getting into a larger pen of cattle at a feed yard, can we go through and take a single sample of some kind, and measure a certain hormone, a certain enzyme, and then allow the producer to make a management decision, with the ultimate goal of having a commercialized, chute-side test.
LOOPER TESTS DIFFERENT FORAGE TYPES ON CATTLE PRODUCTIVITY. HE ALSO LOOKS AT FERTILITY FACTORS THAT COULD HELP PRE-SELECT SUPERIOR ANIMALS.
Looper: If we can identify blood hormones, can we say that that animal is going to have a calf every year, or maybe not – maybe there’s going to be a threshold where she has a calf every eighteen months. And again, twelve months versus eighteen months, thinking about the profitability of the small farm.
LOOPER CREDITS COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER RESEARCHERS FOR HIS SUCCESS, AND HOPES HIS AWARD WILL LEAD TO DISCOVERIES IN THE FUTURE.
Looper: We want to make an impact and I think this shows that what we’re doing is making a difference. That gives us that little nudge and kind of catapults us to that next level, I hope.
FOR THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, I’M PAT O’LEARY.
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