Watermelons Tapped for Ethanol

"Agricultural Research Service (ARS) studies in Lane, Okla., have shown that simple sugars in watermelon juice can be made into ethanol. In 2007, growers harvested four billion pounds of watermelon for fresh and cut-fruit markets. Around 800 million pounds--or 20 percent of the total--were left in fields because of external blemishes or deformities.

Now, instead of being plowed under, such melons could get an economic "new lease on life" as ethanol. Normally, this biofuel is produced from cane crops like corn, sorghum or sugarcane as a cleaner-burning alternative to gasoline. The watermelon work reflects a national push by ARS to diversify America's "portfolio" of biofuel crops that can diminish the reliance on petroleum, especially from foreign suppliers." Jan Suszkiw (ARS)

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Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Study Finds Sugar Beet Varieties React Equally to Nitrogen Applications

"A study conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their cooperators has dispelled a belief among some sugar beet growers that different sugar beet varieties require different nitrogen fertilization applications.

In integrated farming systems, sugar beet growers harvest the root for cash income and use the tops and root-processing byproducts for livestock feed. This dual benefit works well, but the amount of nitrogen fertilizer required to produce more tops decreases the amount of sugar in the root."

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Source:USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Agriculture deputy secretary Merrigan announces funding for new organics initiative

"WASHINGTON, May 5, 2009— Speaking today to the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced $50 Million for a new initiative to meet the Obama Administration's promise to encourage more organic agriculture production. Funding for the initiative is being made available as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)"
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Source: www.usda.gov
Release No. 0146.09