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Hackathons aim to solve real problems and USDA, along with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) and the California State Fair, hosted a competitive one this past July. Software developers, designers, entrepreneurs, farmers, farm consultants, marketers and others in the agricultural industry participated in the Hackathon, which was held at the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources building in Davis, California. Participants competed for cash prizes at a “pitchfest” in front of a live audience at the California State Fair on Sunday, July 17, Prizes were awarded to the top three apps: first place won $5,000, second place $3,000 and third place $1,500. People who work in agriculture brought with them ideas for problems that technology may help solve.

“Apps for Ag” Hackathons have already resulted in multiple startups and we want to see this momentum continue to grow,” said Robert Tse, USDA California Rural Development chief strategy officer for agriculture technology and innovation. “There was no better place than the State Fair in the Capitol to showcase the ingenuity of California’s Ag tech community.”

One startup that has resulted from a previous Ag hackathon is Ag for Hire, which connects farm workers who need jobs with farmers who need workers. “Apps for Ag is where I met my cofounder, formed the concept and built our first prototype,” said Josh Brown, Ag for Hire founder and CEO. “I would not have been able to find someone so embedded in the agriculture industry on my own.”

At the Apps for Ag Hackathon, our goal was to look for new ideas for solving three big issues affecting agriculture:

• Citrus Greening – an insect and disease complex that has already severely impacted the Florida citrus industry – some of the hackers developed tools to help us detect, track, forecast and prevent this disease
• Drought and Irrigation – California continues to be in a historic drought. It is a complex crisis and agriculture objectively takes the brunt of it. There was a lot of room for innovation for this challenge. We saw ideas from precision irrigation to complex modeling
• Healthy Soil – it’s not just the dirt, but rather it’s a whole delicate mix of different kinds of organic matter. Healthy soil and the impact of farming on the soil ecosystem is a worldwide issue. Whether you deal with nitrate seepage in California or nitrates from our chicken farms in Maryland that goes into the Chesapeake Bay where it endangers our oysters, having our hackers develop solutions for taking better care of our soil is a big and important issue.

A gardening and produce-sharing app took top prize in the Hackathon, The first place team, GivingGarden, took home $7,500 in prize money, custom rodeo belt buckles and a six-month, top-tier membership to the AgStart Incubator in Woodland. The hyper-local, produce-sharing app provides gardening advice from the UC Master Gardener Program and enables backyard gardeners to connect with others who want to share their produce. The GivingGarden team members are Scott Kirkland, Josh Livni, Deema Tamimi and John Knoll.

Solutions begin with innovation and partnerships. “Hackathons are a great way to spur innovation in industry verticals where technology has not been fully adopted,” said Rob Trice, one of the judges and the founder of the Mixing Bowl and Better Food Ventures.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the U.S. Forest Service relies heavily on fixed wing and rotary aircraft to accomplish the agency’s mission. Employees take to the skies for forest inventory surveys, prescribed fire support, firefighting or to get to remote locations. Since 1919, aircraft has been an invaluable resource for the agency.

There are differing accounts as to when the Forest Service first put aircraft to use. But, it wasn’t until 1919 when Forest Service leadership talked about the use of aviation resources. In April, Forester Coert du Bois told Chief Forester Henry Graves that aerial fire patrols would begin on the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests. These patrols, supported by military pilots from the Air Service of the U.S. Army, continued through 1927, after which the Air Service could no longer support the agency.

Finally, in 1939, the Forest Service took delivery of its first aircraft, a brand new Stinson Reliant. This aircraft, used for patrols and staff transport, helped the agency explore the concept of using paratroopers for fire suppression. As this idea continued to take shape, firefighter Francis Lufkin and Glenn Smith, a professional jumper, made the first jump into mountainous terrain. This jump demonstrated the viability of using smokejumpers as a firefighting tool. These early successes lead the Forest Service to establish parachute training sites in Winthrop, Washington, and another in Missoula, Montana, in 1940. 

On July 12, 1940, Earl Cooley and Rufus Robinson made history with their first ever parachute jump into a wildfire on the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho. And, what many people don’t realize, the Forest Service’s use of jumpers occurred before the U.S. Army formalized its use of paratroopers. 

The Army definitely kept an eye on what the Forest Service was doing and even sent Army officers to the smokejumper base in Missoula to learn parachute techniques and training tips. One of the officers, Maj. William Cary Lee, later organized the first paratrooper training at Fort Benning, Georgia. It wasn’t until August 16 that same year that members of this test platoon made their first jump from a Douglas B-18 over Lawson Army Airfield.

Today, the Forest Service has a wide array of aviation resources available for use, mostly through contracts and agreements, and has over 250 smokejumpers at seven bases throughout the West.

The story behind Vermont’s Consider Bardwell could be the plot for a great movie. The lead characters are Russell and Angela, two New York City executives who decide in their fifties that they want to buy a farm, raise goats, and be artisan cheesemakers. The setting is a 300-acre dairy farm and cheese operation in West Pawlet, Vermont. And the twist…they had no previous farming experience.

What could have been a comedy is an inspiring story of dedication and perseverance. This is the true tale of an architect and a literary agent who pursue a dream to farm sustainably through a voluntary conservation approach, and create a unique farm-to-plate product. Their partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is helping to ensure the health of the natural resources on their farm.

When the couple visited friends in Dorset, Vermont, in 2000, they were inspired to search for their own farmstead, and discovered a beautiful property straddling Vermont and their home state of New York. A short year later, they connected with local NRCS Soil Conservationist Sally Eugair to improve the farm through conservation supported by Farm Bill programs.

Russell and Angela started from scratch when they made the decision to revive the farm, and embarked on a quest to teach themselves everything they could about the land management and cheesemaking.

Eugair helped enroll them in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) which allowed them to permanently protect 195-acres of healthy grazing lands for their herd of Oberhasli goats. Then, they converted all the continuously cropped cornfields to lush, healthy grasslands—providing a healthy and sustainable forage source for their goats and protecting nearby water quality.

“The grasslands also provide a valuable nesting and breeding area for many bird species,” explained Eugair.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) plan included well-managed grazing systems that improve the health and vigor of plants, enhance water quality, and reduce soil erosion. Their prescribed grazing plan allows the grass to recover while paddocks are resting and encourages the animals to uniformly graze. 

Last year, they made more than 97,000 pounds of cheese from the milk of 150 goats and 65 cows without pesticides or fertilizers. And, their cheeses have been winning national and international awards for the past ten years—and their product is served in some of the nation’s finest restaurants. Today, they have a full-time staff of 20, including three cheesemakers who produce small batches of cheese from unpasteurized milk that is antibiotic and hormone free.

When asked about the future of the business, Angela and Russell hope to expand. “We are not the kind to retire,” they explain. Both still maintain their full-time jobs as an architect and a literary agent. Russell says he believes part of their success is due to their ‘vertically integrated business’ approach. “We raise the animals, make the cheese with milk that we produce, and personally take our product all the way to the consumers.” They believe this is important to their customers who are more aware of how their food is produced. And, their dedication to voluntary conservation is ensuring that the natural resources at Consider Bardwell will be healthy and vibrant for generations to come.

While frozen, a turkey is safe indefinitely. As soon as it begins to thaw, bacteria that may have been present before freezing will begin to grow again. There are three safe ways to defrost a turkey: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in a microwave oven.

3 Ways to Thaw a Turkey

Refrigerator Thawing (Recommended)

The USDA recommends thawing your turkey in the refrigerator. This is the safest method because the turkey will thaw at a consistent, safe temperature. This method takes some time, so allow one day for each 4 – 5 pounds of weight. If your turkey weighs 16 pounds, it will take about four days to thaw. Once thawed, the turkey is safe for another two days, so you can start thawing it six days before thanksgiving (the Friday before Thanksgiving).

The other two methods (cold water and microwave) must be done immediately before you start cooking the turkey, so you’ll have to wait until Thanksgiving morning.

Cold Water Thawing

For the cold water method, leave the turkey in its original wrapping and submerge it in a sink (or container) full of cold water. It is important that the water be cold so that the turkey stays at a safe temperature. You should change the water every 30 minutes. Empty out the water and replace it with fresh cold water. With this method, allow 30 minutes of defrosting time per pound, so a 16 pound turkey will take 8 hours to thaw using this method (so you might need to start around 4 a.m. if you want to eat in the afternoon!). Once the turkey has thawed, cook it immediately

Microwave Thawing

Before you commit to thawing your turkey in the microwave, check your owner’s manual for the size turkey that will fit in your microwave oven, the minutes per pound and the power level to use when thawing a turkey. Remove all outside wrapping and place the turkey on a microwave-safe dish to catch any juices that may leak. Use the defrost function based on weight. As a general rule, allow 6 minutes per pound when thawing a turkey in the microwave. Be sure to rotate it several times, and even flip it, during the thawing process.

If the turkey starts to actually cook instead of just defrost, let it rest for 5 minutes or so before you resume thawing. Partway through thawing you may wish to cover the tips of the wings and drumsticks with a small piece of foil to shield them from the microwaves and keep them from cooking. Once the turkey has thawed you should cook it immediately.

Is it safe to use aluminum foil in the microwave? Read these safety guidelines!

How NOT to Thaw a Turkey

In case you are wondering, here are some thawing methods that are not recommended:

• thawing a turkey on the counter, in the garage or on the back porch
• thawing a turkey in a brown paper grocery bag or plastic garbage bag
• using the dishwasher to thaw a turkey (with or without water)
• any method that is not the refrigerator, cold water, or the microwave

How to Cook a Frozen Turkey

If your turkey is still icy on Thanksgiving morning, don’t panic! It is perfectly safe to cook a turkey from the frozen state; it will just take longer to cook. A solidly frozen turkey will take at least 50 percent longer to cook than a thawed turkey. If your turkey is only partially frozen, remember that it will take a bit longer to cook. Use your food thermometer, and when your bird measures 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast, it is ready.

For more information on safe thawing methods, visit fsis.usda.gov .

A bin of acorn squash sits on a pallet at the Weld County School District 6 central kitchen, right next to a bin of yellow onions and a 1,000 pound tote of russet potatoes – all locally-grown. A walk through the facility is enough to convince anyone that Weld County School District 6 is committed to scratch-cooked, locally-grown food for its 22,000 students at 35 schools.  In this rural Colorado school district, where over 40 languages are spoken at home and 66 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced price meals, fresh, tasty food is the norm – even down to the green chili, a southwestern favorite roasted in-house, using three varieties of local peppers.

About a quarter of the central kitchen is dedicated to processing fresh fruits and vegetables.  Mushrooms are sliced, carrots are shredded and onions are diced. With funding from a USDA Farm to School Grant in 2013, this food hub portion of the kitchen was furnished with tables, wash stations and equipment to process local food for Weld County’s own meals and for other districts in the area.

Natalie Leffler is the Food Hub Manager at Weld County School District 6. Her job is to coordinate partnerships with farmers, ranchers and local businesses to source as much local food as possible, defined as grown or produced within a 400 mile radius. Leffler manages an annual procurement to establish relationships and contracts. Growers must submit a food safety checklist with their bid documents, which she confirms with an in-person site visit, so the district can rest-assured that the local products are safe. 

Matt Poling, the school district’s Executive Chef, ensures that menu planning, recipe development and production processes maximize the use of local products. The freezer is full of shredded local zucchini (for blending into tomato sauce), mirepoix (the age-old combination of onion, celery, and carrots used as a base for soups) and other local ingredients to incorporate into meals in the off-season.  The team even prepares mashed potatoes made with local red potatoes and home-made gravy. Locally-grown and dried pinto beans are sorted and cooked into refried beans or chili. 

Just outside the facility are four giant compost bins designed to turn food scraps from the kitchen into compost for the district’s school gardens, funded through an innovative partnership with the West Greeley Conservation District.  Sometimes El Fuego, the district’s flashy food truck, is parked outside, too. But typically the truck is out roaming the district, serving up favorites like barbacoa street tacos and yakisoba noodle bowls to students and school staff.

The district goes beyond buying local food – school gardens, student wellness and food education are three major areas of focus. Plans are underway to transform a sandy, unused portion of a nearby schoolyard into an educational farm focused on student engagement and employment.  Called “Growing Grounds,” the project vision includes raised beds, an orchard, a teaching kitchen, hoop houses and a greenhouse.

Inspired by Weld County School District 6 and their innovative farm to school programs?  USDA is currently accepting applications for the Farm to School Grant Program, which assists eligible entities in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools. Consider applying for a grant to bring more local food into school meals, promote healthy eating habits and expand markets for American farmers and producers.

The charismatic sage grouse is often in the spotlight as the flagship species in the sagebrush ecosystem. The smaller songbirds that live alongside the grouse don’t always attract as much attention, but they are also good indicators of how the sagebrush range is faring.

Recently, in a project funded by the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Intermountain West Joint Venture (IMJV), scientists set out to evaluate whether investments in sage grouse conservation serve as an “umbrella” that extends benefits to other sagebrush-dependent wildlife, too. These findings are summarized in a new Science to Solutions report by SGI, a partnership led by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

We know from past SGI-funded research that easements put in place for sage grouse also doubled the protection of mule deer migration habitat and winter range, and that removing encroaching juniper to restore sage grouse habitat in Oregon increased the abundance of two sagebrush-loving songbirds by 50 to 80 percent.

Researchers Patrick Donnelly with IMJV and Jason Tack with University of Montana’s Avian Science Center used a trio of songbirds to further gauge the reach of the sage grouse umbrella across the West: the Brewer’s sparrow, sagebrush sparrow and sage thrasher. All three species have suffered from population declines due to the widespread loss and degradation of sagebrush habitats, and are identified as species of conservation concern by the FWS.

First, these researchers created abundance maps for each of the sagebrush songbirds using long-term bird count data coupled with measures of climate and habitat conditions. They found that the abundance of each songbird doubled when sagebrush covered 40 percent or more of the landscape. Unfortunately, they also discovered that fewer than 25 percent of sampled sites exceeded the 40 percent threshold of sagebrush-rich habitat.

Second, the scientists compared patterns of songbird abundance with the distribution of sage grouse leks, or mating grounds. Near large leks, which support 50 percent of known grouse populations, abundance was 15 percent higher for Brewer’s sparrow, 13 percent for sagebrush sparrow, and 19 percent for sage thrasher.

Third, they examined how sagebrush songbirds may benefit from sage grouse conservation actions taking place in 11 western states. Tack and Donnelly found that targeted conservation efforts for sage grouse also provide significant conservation benefits for these songbird species.

 For instance, in the Great Basin, the maps revealed that 85 percent of conifer removal projects to restore sagebrush habitat overlapped with high abundance centers for Brewer’s sparrow. In drier reaches of sage grouse range, the scientists found that priority areas for managing weed invasions and wildfire (identified by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service) encompassed 51 percent of estimated sagebrush sparrow abundance and 55 percent of sage thrasher abundance.

In addition, the research showed that Wyoming’s land protection strategy for sage grouse also helps reduce habitat fragmentation for half of the state’s largest populations of sagebrush sparrow and sage thrasher.

 These new songbird maps extend our understanding of how the sage grouse umbrella is working to benefit a host of other sagebrush wildlife, too. Plus, the maps will help partners, managers, and landowners target future conservation projects so that they generate the most return on investment for the sagebrush community as a whole.

Learn more about these findings by downloading this new report. This report is part of the Science to Solutions series offered through NRCS, SGI and the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative.

“This week is World Antibiotic Awareness week and ‘Get Smart About Antibiotics’ week. Learn more about how USDA works to ensure antibiotics remain effective to treat both people and animals when necessary and the alternatives available to traditional antibiotics.”

For billions of years, microbes such as bacteria and viruses have been in a struggle for survival in the face of naturally occurring antimicrobial substances. This struggle has continued in nature and into human society, where humans, plants, animals, and microbes themselves constantly ward off disease-causing microbes. The plight for adaptation and survival is not unlike the Red Queen’s race in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, where it takes all of the running one can do to remain in the same place. 

Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin in the 1920s gave society a lethal weapon to protect itself against disease-causing microbes in this evolutionary race. However, with generation times often as short as 20 minutes, microbes are able to run much faster than plants and animals and take a huge lead in the Red Queen’s race. Over time, many disease-causing microbes have become resistant to penicillin and other commonly administered antibiotics, leaving society increasingly defenseless in this arms race against harmful microbes. As society continues to fight harmful microbes with the same set of traditional antimicrobial weapons, microbes continue to fight back by developing antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

To address the concerns presented by AMR, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) supports extramural research, education, and extension activities and complements other USDA efforts to understand and mitigate AMR along the food chain. A NIFA grantee, Dr. H. Morgan Scott, at Kansas State University studies cattle and swine  to identify antimicrobial alternatives that less readily drive resistance in microbes. Scott’s preliminary results suggest that many types of disease-causing bacteria have the potential to become or already are resistant to zinc- and copper-based antimicrobial substances. Bacteria exposed to oregano oil and menthol, however, currently do not appear to readily develop resistance to these antimicrobial alternatives.

“There are no surprises here,” said Scott. “Bacteria in the environment are exposed to heavy metals at differing concentrations and have adapted to survive in various environments. But bacteria haven’t been exposed to concentrated levels of essential oils much in the past, hence why they would less readily develop resistance to these substances.”

Whatever the alternative, it is important to take into account the advantage that microbes have over humans, plants, and animals in the Red Queen’s race. “They can adapt to us more quickly than we can adapt to them,” says Scott. “That is why it is essential to minimize AMR by optimizing our use of antibiotics, using only as much as necessary.”

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and extension and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.

The annual White House Tribal Nations Conference provides tribal leaders from the 567 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to interact directly with high-level federal government officials and members of the White House Council on Native American Affairs. This guest blog describes how USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) supports tribal food sovereignty and economic growth.

 

By Andres Quesada, associate director, National Indian Center for Marine Environmental Research and Education, Northwest Indian College

Over recent decades there has been a steady decline of the Manila clam on the tidal flats of the Lummi Reservation just outside of Bellingham, Washington. The loss of this important food source directly impacts tribal food security and sovereignty of the Lummi people.

My fellow researcher, Dr. Marco Hatch, and I have teamed up with Dr. Andrew Thurber from Oregon State University to study what is causing the clam population to decline. With the support of NIFA research grants we have identified two possible causes: altered sulfur cycling and changes in the clam’s food supply.

Hydrogen sulfide is a compound that is toxic even in low concentrations to most animals. Sulfide can form on tidal flats when bacteria breaks down food sources and exhausts the oxygen supply. While many clams have found ways to tolerate hydrogen sulfide, it can still impact the ability of young clams to grow to harvestable adults. Our goal is to understand the role of sulfide in limiting the clam populations to devise effective management schemes by identifying the ecological mechanism that limits their productivity.

Manila clams are suspension feeders, meaning they filter the water and surface sediments for food items such as plankton, detritus and bacteria. Many factors influence the abundance of these various food sources seasonally, in both quantity and quality, and this can limit a population. By learning what clams eat seasonally we hope to better understand the link between food supply and clam survivorship.

Northwest Indian College students are using biomarkers, including stable isotope and fatty acids, to identify what the clams eat and how that varies throughout the year. Over the course of this project, the students are learning how to collect and prepare samples for analysis on a variety of instruments, including gas chromatograph-mass spectrometers and isotope ratio mass spectrometers; interpret data; and apply cutting-edge food-chain models.

To date, the project has directly trained Native scholars in the field and engaged 20 in the classroom. In addition, more than 40 Native middle and high school students have learned about the project through outreach events.

By the end of this project we will better understand what is impacting the Manila clam. In addition to preserving a vital food source, these projects will protect and grow revenue for the Lummi commercial and subsistence clam diggers while providing hands-on experiences from the field to the lab for many students.

USDA’s emergency food program in Flint, Mich., offers a unique response to the city’s lead crisis.  To support the health of the area’s low-income residents, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service promotes key nutrients and adequate diets.

“This community is an old manufacturing town. A lot of the factory jobs have left the area, and unfortunately the people are left behind,” explains Matthew Purcell, Executive Director of Genesee County Community Action Resource Department (GCCARD), a local community action organization that assists low income residents.  After dangerous levels of lead were discovered in the city’s water pipes, everyday life in Flint became even more challenging. When a local resident like Reggie needs to take his medications, he can’t fill a cup of water from the kitchen sink.  He makes regular trips to water pickup stations in churches and abandoned parking lots to ensure an adequate supply of safe drinking water in his home.  When Mrs. Smith draws a bath for her four grandchildren, she is afraid to use the water from the pipes.  She drags large jugs from the front porch through the house and pours them, one by one, into the tub.

FNS is using nutrition to help Flint residents recover from the public health crisis.  With the assistance of state and local partners, FNS provides packages that contain foods rich in vitamin C, iron and calcium – which are believed to offset the absorption of lead into the body. Fruit juices, whole-grain cereals, beans and low-fat milk provided by the USDA are packed into supplemental food boxes at GCCARD’s warehouse in eastern Flint. 

Tom Priest and his coworkers from the State of Michigan’s Food Distribution Department are such avid supporters of the program, they use their personal vacation time to volunteer with GCCARD. “The USDA gave us additional food to help deal with lead mitigation for the citizens of Flint, so we’re here helping get those packages packed and ready for distribution,” explains Priest.  GCCARD distributes these supplemental boxes to 17,000 households across Flint alongside USDA’s ongoing The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).  If recipients struggle to make it to a distribution center, the boxes are delivered directly to their homes.

The boxes offer more than just healthy foods.  “We’re helping to address some of the psychological, as well as financial burden, that they may be facing,” Purcell points out. Recipients are grateful to have their load lightened. “To be honest, we’d be struggling if we didn’t have the assistance,” says Reggie Brass.  His elderly mother appreciates the contents of the box, as well as the connection she has with James Norman, the GCCARD worker who brings the 14 pound packages into the house.  “Most seniors don’t have a lot of people that come visit them… When I see them, they’ll give me a hug, and it makes their day,” explains Norman, who delivers packages to nearly 400 residents.  “We’ve got some wonderful people here in the city of Flint,” adds Brass.

In addition to the nutrient-targeted food packages, FNS offers extensive nutrition education through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, commonly known as SNAP-Ed.  The program teaches ways nutrition can be used to minimize the impact of lead, while providing more than $220,000 to help area schools purchase additional fresh fruits and vegetables.  The emergency food packages will be available through the end of 2016, when residents will be encouraged to utilize ongoing FNS nutrition assistance programs to meet iron, calcium and vitamin C targets.

For more information about USDA’s support for those affected by the Flint lead crisis, please visit our Flint Fact Sheet.