For more than a decade, bee keepers have had a hard time keeping colonies alive, and it is a problem they say is still happening, and they blame it largely on climate change.
“We know that that’s affecting them because it’s affecting when flowers are blooming because they’re flowering too early, they’re flowering too late, and it doesn’t match when the bees need that energy. So we’re trying to come up with alternative forage that farmers can plant, that beekeepers can plant, that will help sort of compensate for that difference,” said Lanie Bilodeau, Research Leader at the USDA Bee Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
during the 1980s, a 10 percent colony loss was considered normal. However, since then, keepers have reported as much as half their hives either dying or disappearing.
Scientists say studying how cattle digest seaweed could help shape future livestock nutrition and sustainability efforts.
Emily Oberbroeckling says producers in northeast Iowa have made strong planting progress while continuing to monitor moisture conditions.
Jeff Frazier of Scoular discusses the early High Plains canola harvest, acreage growth in Kansas and Oklahoma, and theoutlook for planting and production.
Large animal vets say the parasite is now showing up in regions where it historically has not been common.
NRCS leadership affects how conservation dollars, technical assistance and working-lands priorities reach farmers and ranchers.
At the center of the announcement is the Blue Point Project in Louisiana, a $3.7 billion ammonia facility, USDA says, that will become the world’s largest ammonia plant once completed.
