Word: usda
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...France, then in Ireland and England. The disease, which can also be transmitted by handlers, makes it difficult for a mare to conceive and carry a foal for the full eleven-month term. Still, neither the British nor the Irish made too much of the malady when the USDA inquired. Neither did the French. According to Ralph Knowles, the department's chief staff veterinarian, the French told the U.S. that the sickness was not highly contagious and that they could certify horses sent to the U.S. as being free from the disease. Unconvinced, the USDA sent a team...
...real addiction, of course, is to Federal welfare. There are hit songs about USDA surplus food allotments, and now about the food stamp program, which have done a marvelous job of ending hunger. The massive support that the food stamp program provides, which some consider just reparations for the wealth subtracted from Puerto Rico, is mostly perceived as the only difference between Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean...
...acceptable methods of insect 'control will be expensive. The cost of producing even a few ounces of a pheromone runs into thousands of dollars; the expenses involved in sterilizing insects, identifying and isolating their hormones or finding parasites or pathogens that will prey upon them are equally high. The USDA alone, for example, will spend $48 million on insect control research this year. It will be money well spent, essential for keeping the insects at bay. Even as manufacturers begin producing some of the new biological controls, there are ominous signs that the ever adaptable insect may be adjusting...
...currently being grown on some 45 million acres in India, Pakistan and Africa; it accounts for 20% of the food increase attributed to the so-called "Green Revolution" in agriculture. Scientists are also seeking, through cell manipulation, to improve the characteristics of plants. Biologists at the USDA laboratory at Beltsville, Md., and at other centers are experimenting with ways to improve the efficiency of both nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis, the processes by which plants produce the proteins necessary for growth. One researcher has already succeeded in showing that plant engineering may some day be practicable. In 1972 Peter Carlson...
...their crops. Grain is not officially inspected until it reaches New Orleans, Houston or other ports. There inspectors' employed by private agencies but licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture grade the grain and also certify that ships are clean enough to carry it in their holds. Altogether, USDA has licensed about 3,000 inspectors, who earn an average salary of $10,000 a year; their relatively modest incomes are often supplemented by overtime wages and seasonal bonuses. Since loading delays can cost shipowners up to $20,000 a day, it is often more economical to bribe inspectors...