Emerald Ash Borer Information Session

Officials from the DACF Maine Forest Service and Division of Animal and Plant Health, United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and USDA Forest Service will hold an information session in Lebanon, ME on Monday, October 1st, 2018 starting at 6:30 pm, at the Lebanon Elementary School, 65 Upper Guinea Rd, Lebanon, ME. The purpose of the public meeting is to provide background information on the insect; an update on the response to the detection of emerald ash borer; and discuss impacts on movement of wood products.

Bloomberg Op-Ed: Trust The Facts On GMOs

ED: TRUST THE FACTS ON GMOS Jul. 6, 2018 Bloomberg reports: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has come up with cheerful new labels for genetically modified foods. The bright green and yellow circles depict a happy sun, a winking smiley face or a verdant landscape stamped with the letters "BE," for "bioengineered" - rather than the familiar "genetically modified" or "genetically engineered."

Pinch a penny and win the war

This is the trademark of the Paris Garters brand, an ad for which appeared in the July 3, 1918, Arkansas Democrat. The Great War demanded sacrifices in July 1918 -- from restrictions on when you could eat a beef sandwich in a restaurant to whether the market would or would not deliver your groceries, to how many times a proper woman was supposed to revamp the same old frock .

Resistant varieties, beneficial predators can help producers win sugarcane aphid battle

While sugarcane aphids have been difficult to suppress in past years due to their natural traits and limited insecticide options, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study shows resistant sorghum varieties and beneficial predators could provide a solution. Dr. Ada Szczepaniec, AgriLife Research entomologist at Amarillo, recently authored "Interactive effects of crop variety, insecticide seed treatment, and planting date on population dynamics of sugarcane aphid and their predators in late-colonized sorghum" in the Crop Protection journal.

Congress pours money into fight against Louisiana’s wetland pest

The fight against an insect invasion that's killing coastal wetlands is receiving long sought-after help from the federal government. Congress plans to contribute $500,000 to help control or eradicate the tiny Asian insect, known as a scale, that's been destroying roseau cane, a sturdy, erosion-resistant reed that holds much of the lower Mississippi River Delta together.

Mr. Toxicity Zaps America

America's all-time-leading heartless anti-science zealot EPA Administrator Scott "Mr. Toxicity" Pruitt, as of March 2017, nixed his own agency's proposal of 2015 to ban the toxic chemical chlorpyrifos, an insecticide that attacks the nervous system of pesky insects, as well as pesky and non-pesky people . It's sprayed on crops of foodstuff that ends up in grocery stores.

Cornell awarded $130,000 to study new pest that threatens onion crops

U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney met with local officials and agricultural leaders Wednesday to celebrate the award of $130,000 in state and federal matching funds to further Cornell University's study of a new pest that is threatening the region's $40 million onion and allium crops.

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017: Sen. Collins shows courage, Fulford for Congress, don’t use pesticides

Maine has a proud tradition of independence and leadership. Decades ago, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith stood up to partisan bullying in the Senate in a famous floor speech , and recently Sen. Susan Collins has shown the same courage.

Workforce event highlights PSU initiative

PlantVillage, an online crop-disease knowledge library and image database co-founded by a Penn State researcher, was represented at an event unveiling a new agricultural workforce development initiative Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Rural Council - in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, other federal agencies and private-sector stakeholders - announced America the Bountiful, which will include wide-ranging efforts to expand and diversify the U.S. agriculture workforce. David Hughes, assistant professor of entomology and biology, was an invited guest at the event, which was held at USDA headquarters.

Killer flesh-eating screwworm found in Florida

In this February 2013 file photo, a Key deer forages for food in the National Key Deer Refuge in the Florida Keys. The New World screwworm , which can kill livestock within two weeks, was found on animals in Big Pine Key and No Name Key in Florida earlier this month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Flesh-Eating Worms Have Returned to Florida

The adults lay eggs in open wounds, and the hatched larvae burrow, corkscrew-like, through flesh. Screwworms ate their way into livestock, dogs, deer, and even humans in the U.S. until they were wiped out in 1982, in one of the most successful national eradication campaigns ever.

Garden Q&A: What organic means; what are the moth-looking insects in…

I was in the grocery store and started wondering, what am I really getting when I buy organic fruits and vegetables? What makes one onion organic, and another not? The United States Department of Agriculture answers your question this way: "Organic agriculture produces products using methods that preserve the environment and avoid most synthetic materials, such as pesticides and antibiotics," and "a are grown and processed according to federal guidelines addressing, among many factors, soil quality, animal raising practices, pest and weed control, and use of additives." The key words in that rather long definition are "according to federal guidelines."

Mosquito Mascot Trolls Senate Republicans At Zika Hearing

A man in a full-body mosquito costume trolled Senate Republicans on Wednesday by distributing insect repellent outside of their hearing on the Zika virus. The human-sized mosquito, a reproductive rights advocate with NARAL Pro-Choice America, made an appearance to denounce Republicans' lack of action on the Zika epidemic.