ASO-UncastK Fuming, Saturday, March 28, 1998
Members of the Solanco Young Farmers tou red the Belts
vllle ARS she Tuesday this week.
Cows And ‘Eggs’ Open Gates
Of Research At Beltsville ARS
(ContiniMd from Pag* A 26)
include:
• Development of a solar fly
“zapper” designed to mimic the
head of the cow, attracting pests to
their doom, on display at the ARS
National Visitor Center.
• Bee research on how to control
deadly mites.
• A feeder that allows the deer
population, through eating, to car
ry an insecticide to help fight lime
disease.
• Work on a male-female semen
separator in swine.
• Development of an explosive
device to tenderize meat
• Work in the horticultural areas
to examine potato pathogens.
DNA isolation techniques were
under examination the day of the
tour.
• Research into new turf grasses
and soybean and alfalfa varieties.
• A great deal of virus and fun
gus effects transgenic studies
on plant material, including
Duane Taylor, herdsman/supervisor for the USDA Agri
culture Research Service Dairy Research Facility, exa
mines the array of electronic feed allocation tubs In the
dairy bam.
sugar cane, potatoes, home and
garden plants, etc.
• Parasitology (the behavior of
animal parasites) research.
According to tour guide John
Kucharski, head of the ARS
National Visitor Center at the his
toric Log Lodge, a focus of the
ARS is on development new com
puter systems and constructing
new animal and horticultural facil
ities on site. New facilities in horti
culture will look into plant disease
pathogens.
Beltsville ARS is one of 103
USDA research sites in the nation,
according to Kucharski.
Altogether, dine are 502 research
scientists at the site.
“If it doesn’t grow here, we
don’t work on it,” noted
Kucharski.
A major new thrust for research
is coming up with alternate pro
ducts made from plant material,
primarily com, soybeans, and
wheat. Kucharski presented the
tour group with products made
Duane Taylor, Beltsvllle research farm herdsman, far left, explains the use of a
single-mix TMR system to the Solanco Young Farmers.
from com, including a tractor oil
filter, a high-absorbency powder,
and cornstarch-based packing
material. He also showed the tour
group a red pigment made for use
on plastic mulch for vegetable
crops that controls soil nematodes.
Also. Kucharsld showed the group
an alternative wood product that
can be used for papermaking,
grown in Africa; pea material used
to retain fat in hamburgers as part
of military rations; the develop
ment of pharmaceuticals from
sheep urine and potential applica
tions of animals to the production
of human pharmaceuticals; phyto
nutrient studies in vegetables;
potatoes resistant to late blight; the
use of hairy vetch as a living mulch
to retain water and nutrients for
vegetable crops; and other items.
An interesting development is
the invention of a foam-based fast
food storage product that can read
ily withstand heat, soon to be
released in the marketplace, deve
loped at another ARS site in the
Midwest, according to Kucharski.
The tour guide noted that for every
$1 spent on ag research, the return
is $1.50 to consumers.
Beltsville Agricultural
Research Center (or B ARC) is also
the home of the National Agricul
tural Library, housed in a 15-story
building. The library contains a
2-million-volume collection of
printed materials on agriculture
and related sciences. Kucharski
noted that anybody with access to
the Internet can make a request for
information to the library about
any agricultural subject and
receive a response via email.
Visitors who want to schedule a
tour of the Beltsville ARS can con
tact Kucharski at BARC-East,
10300 Baltimore Avenue, Belts
ville. MD 20703-2350. or call
(301) 504-9403. To find the latest
information on research at Belts
ville or any of the ARS locations or
for USDA information, contact the
ARS on the Internet at
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/
Taylor explain* the use of the “egg" radio transmitter to
the Solanco Young Farmers tour group. The “egg” Is a low
frequency radio transmitter attached to a cow’s neck to
open the headgate.
The radio “egg” opens these headgates at the Beltsvllle
site.
Produce Auction
Season To Open
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
Recently, several auctions
announced the starting dates and
times for sales. Many begin with
flowers and bedding plants or spe
cial Easter sales. They are:
• Buffalo Valley Produce, Mif
flinburg. Begins April 28 at 10
a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Cumberland Valley Produce
Auction, Shippensburg. Begins
March 31 and every Tuesday and
Thursday at 9 am.
• Hope Produce, Mount Hope,
Ohio. Begins April 28 up to June at
10 a.m„ then also Tuesdays and
Thursdays in June.
• Kirkwood Produce, Kirk
wood. Begins April 8 at 10 am.,
continuing Wednesdays through
April and including Tuesdays ana
Thursdays in June.
• Kutztown Produce, Fleet
wood. Begins March 24 at 10 a.m.,
every Tuesday and Thursday.
• Leola Produce, Leola. Spe
cializes in flowers before Easter.
Begins Tuesday, March 31 at 10
ajn. and, beginning April 2, is held
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Morrison Cove Produce.
Roaring Spring. Begins Tuesday,
Match 31 with Easter flowers each
Tuesday for a few weeks.
• Shippensburg Produce Auc
tion, Shippensburg. This produce
auction runs all year.
• Windmill Produce Auction,
Penn Yan, N.Y. Begins May 1 at
10 a.tn. and continues every
Friday.