Word: usda
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...with rain and even an occasional thunderstorm, most of the nation found little relief from the drought that began in the spring. Just how much damage the prolonged dry spell has already caused was the subject of a preliminary crop forecast issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA estimated that U.S. grain production in 1988 may be only 212 million metric tons, down 24% from 1987. The corn crop is particularly hard hit -- 26% smaller than last year. The USDA pegged soybean production at 1.65 billion bu., down 13%. Wheat output is expected to decline...
Though discouraging enough, the USDA report may understate the problem. "The commercial surveys will doubtless be bolder, and lower, than those of USDA," says Conrad Leslie, one of the nation's leading private crop forecasters. Leslie predicts a corn crop of 4.4 billion bu., 800 million bu. less than the USDA estimate. A survey by the National Corn Growers Association is even more pessimistic, predicting that this year's corn yields will be down as much as 42% from last year's. The USDA estimates assume normal weather for the rest of the growing season, even though most long-range...
Lately, the mail has held quite a few specimens for Roth. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent him some cockroaches found in Florida, with a request for identification. He looked at the specimens and decided that they were German cockroaches, but the USDA wrote back, saying that the insect was not behaving like the German roach. Unlike this common species, these cockroaches are attracted to light...
Roth looked at the specimens again and decided that they might be Asian cockroaches, which had never before been seen in America. He sent the specimens to a Japanese entomologist who confirmed that it was indeed the species Roth suspected it to be. Roth and USDA officials speculate that this roach species was recently produced to America...
...USDA officials say that Roth's work was instrumental in helping them decide how to approach the growing cockroach infestation problem in Florida. "[The Asian cockroach] has a present potential to be a pest problem, so [Roth's] work is very significant in defining the pest problem," says Richard Patterson, research leader at the USDA's division on insects affecting man and animals...