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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals", can persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in animals, humans, and plants. These chemicals can be a threat to human health.
What are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances?
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a class of man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States, since the 1940s. The chemicals are categorized as "forever chemicals" because they bioaccumulate in animals and plants and do not breakdown naturally in the animals or plants or in the environment. These chemicals are causing major challenges to our food producers, who need innovative scientific solutions to detect, identify, and reduce the presence of these dangerous chemicals on our farms, ranches, waterways, and in our food.
PFAS have become increasingly found in the environment, posing significant challenges for producers, and farming communities, highlighting the need for agricultural researchers to develop innovative and practical solutions.
Many within the agricultural community are facing new challenges when PFAS chemicals are detected within their farms, resulting in this being a new challenge to farmers’ continued capacity to sustain healthy soil and water on their farms, as well as continued capacity to provide safe and dependable food and fiber supplies to our nation and the world. The suggested long-term roadmap solutions for improving these circumstances include finding new means of detecting when PFAS contamination is a problem, better understanding of how it moves through the agricultural system and innovating new ways to interrupt that movement or remove the chemicals before they can do harm.
ARS continues to expand its PFAS research to address its impact on U.S. agriculture. Our research portfolio on PFAS includes finding new means of detecting when PFAS contamination is a problem, better understanding how these chemicals move through agricultural systems, and innovating new ways to interrupt that movement or remove the chemicals before they can do harm. Our research and collaboration with the agricultural industry is vital to ensuring that our nation maintains a safe and abundant high quality food supply while being good stewards of the environment.
Reducing PFAS in Agriculture
Developing Solutions for PFAS in Agriculture
A workshop results in long-term roadmap for solutions to PFAS in agricultural soils and waters.
The fall armyworm is a pest that devours crops like corn and cotton. Since 2016, it has spread from the Americas to Africa, Asia, and Australia, leaving agricultural destruction in its wake.
Many farmers use insecticide to control the worm but knowing how much and what kind to apply can be a challenge. Researchers at ARS are conducting experiments to help answer these questions and more, in part by tracking the migration patterns of the moth. Watch this video to learn more.
What hasn’t ARS done for apples? From the ground up, we’ve invented disease-resistant rootstocks, environmentally friendly pest control methods, picker-friendly harvesting methods, better storage atmospheres, and natural preservatives to keep apple flesh from browning after cutting. ARS maintains an experimental orchard in Geneva, NY, devoted to bringing you even better apples for the future.
Photo courtesy of Chris Dardick, ARS Plant Molecular Biologist
ARS and NASA Partner to Produce Apples in Space
Feeding astronauts on long space missions requires more than just leafy greens and tomatoes. Healthy diets call for rich sources of vitamins and antioxidants that primarily come from fruits such as oranges, peaches, cherries, or pears, but many of our healthiest fruits that grow on trees are not compatible with spaceflight.
Researchers at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV, had previously developed dwarf, continually flowering plum trees that can be grown like tomatoes. Now they have taken this research one step further by engineering Gala apple trees that do the same. These dwarf flowering apples are even parthenocarpic, meaning they don’t need to be pollinated to set fruit and are seedless — making them potentially perfect for busy astronauts with little time to farm.
These space apples are being tested in the EPCOT Biotechnology Lab at Walt Disney World Resort. It’s here that USDA scientists are showcasing their work with NASA in custom-made plant growth chambers that mimic growing conditions on the International Space Station.
Bees are essential to healthy, biodiverse ecosystems.
Photo by David Kosling, USDA
While there are native bees in the United States, some of which are managed for commercial production of many high-value and specialty crops, honey bees are more prolific and easier to manage, especially on a commercial level for pollination of a wide variety of crops. Honey bees are a critical link in U.S. agricultural production. About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. Commercial production of many high-value and specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables depend on pollination by honey bees. But managed honey bees have come under serious pressures from many different stresses, which has resulted in beekeepers losing many colonies.
USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is using innovation and state-of-the-art technologies to enhance overall honey bee health and improve bee management practices. Our main focus is studying honey bee diseases and parasites and how best to control them, how stress levels and unpredictable and extreme weather conditions affect bee performance, and honey bee biology and genetics. ARS scientists are working on diverse projects and collaborating with agricultural agencies, universities, beekeepers, and industry groups to improve honey bee health and the health of all pollinators.
Together we can keep bees and other pollinators healthy, happy, and buzzing!
ARS is focused on improving the health of managed and wild honey bees by finding ways to mitigate the impacts of pathogens, pests, and pesticides and enhancing bee nutrition and management. Our researchers are also working on projects that take a bigger-picture view toward helping honey bees. This includes developing better knowledge about areas such as gut microbes and their interactions with honey bee immune systems, preservation and expansion of honey bee genetic diversity, and evaluating the effect of land management practices on bees to assure better productivity of pollinators.
Buzz around below to listen, watch, and read about our bee research, and what you can do to help our pollinator friends.
Podcast: The Buzz Around Bees
Ep.1: The State of the Honey Bee
One of the world's leading honey bee experts, ARS entomologist Jay Evans discusses the state of honey bee populations.
Honey bees are facing larger and more diverse threats than ever before. The Four P’s (pathogens, pests, pesticides, and poor nutrition) are longstanding issues, and they are being exasperated by changes in weather conditions, fewer food and water resources, and having to re-establish in new environments. All these factors tend to overlap and interact with one another, which further complicates their survival and productivity. In addition, there are other issues that have impacts on honey bee health, such as the narrow genetic base of honey bees in the United States.
Below are some of the most pressing threats to honey bees and what we’re doing to mitigate these threats.
Parasites and Pests
Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are essentially a modern honey bee plague. The Varroa mite has been responsible for the deaths of massive numbers of honey bee colonies since its arrival in the United States in 1987. A native of Asia, Varroa normally parasitizes the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana, which is a different species from the European or western honey bee, Apis mellifera, on which this country primarily depends for crop pollination.
Varroa mites directly damage honey bees by attaching and feeding on the fat body of the honey bee. They also indirectly damage honey bees because, similarly to mosquitos, Varroa mites also transmit an array of pathogenic viruses to honey bees such as deformed wing virus.
Beekeepers have identified Varroa mites as their single most serious problem causing colony losses today.
Small hive beetles, native to sub-Saharan Africa, were first found in the United States in 1996 and had spread to 30 States by 2014. Large beetle populations are able to lay enormous numbers of eggs. These eggs develop quickly and result in rapid destruction of unprotected combs in a short time. If large populations of beetles are allowed to build up, even strong colonies can be overwhelmed in a short time.
Wax moths arrived in the United States in 1998 in Florida. This can be a very destructive insect pest, damaging beeswax comb, comb honey, and bee-collected pollen. Wax moths are rarely the initial cause of colony failure but can overcome weak colonies.
Tropilaelaps mites are the most serious parasites of Apis mellifera in Asia. The parasitic mites feed on honey bees and serve as vectors for viral diseases like deformed wing virus (DWV), one of the leading causes of honey bee colony losses. DWV results in the death of immature brood and wing deformities in infested adult bees. Because the introduction of tropilaelaps mites into the United States would be added burden to the beekeeping community USDA's APHIS is monitoring the possible introduction of it into the United States.
Pathogens
Since the 1980s, many new exotic pathogens that infect honey bees have been found in this country. These include deformed wing virus, paralytic viruses such as Israeli acute paralysis virus, which was first found in 2004, European foulbrood bacteria, and Nosema ceranae fungi, which arrived in 2005. They have all become major problems for U.S. honey bees and beekeepers.
Honey bees' natural diet comes primarily from nectar and pollen gathered from a wide variety of flowers. Insufficient or incomplete nutrition has come to be recognized as an essential factor that weakens the honey bee's immune systems and is likely to make bees more susceptible to all of the other problems troubling them today.
As demand for pollination services grows, bee colonies often are kept for more time on sites in a mono-crop environment before being moved directly to the next mono-crop area. As more and more land is lost to urbanization and suburbanization, it also means a loss of habitat with a diverse mix of nutritious bee forage plants. In addition, when it comes to helping bee colonies survive the winter and droughts, both times when nectar supplies can be scarce for bees, beekeepers often provide an artificial diet. Scientists are still trying to perfectly duplicate a bee's natural pollen/nectar diet for those times of the year when good forage is not available.
ARS researchers are looking to perfectly duplicate a bee's natural pollen/nectar diet for those times of the year when good forage is not available. They are also studying different food sources that could provide more nutrition and health benefits for honey bees.
A survey of honey bee colonies conducted in 2010 by ARS researchers looked at 170 pesticides or their residues in honey bees, beeswax, and pollen. The data showed no consistent pattern of pesticide that differed between healthy and Colony Collapse Disorder affected colonies. The most commonly found pesticide in the study was coumaphos, which is used by beekeepers to treat honey bees for Varroa mites.
Photo by Preston Keres, USDA
The pesticide class neonicotinoids (for example, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and imidacloprid) has been accused of damaging or killing honey bees or being the cause of CCD even when the exposure is below the level expected to be toxic. The nicotine-based neonicotinoids were developed in the mid-1990s in large part because they showed reduced toxicity to wildlife compared with previously used organophosphate and carbamate insecticides.
The scientific data about the impact of pesticides and neonicotinoids in particular at environmentally and agriculturally realistic levels is mixed. Some findings have shown that neonicotinoids have sublethal effects on honey bees at or below approved doses and exposures. Documenting such sublethal effects is very difficult due to the many factors that can influence individual situations in field studies and during grower use including timing of use, health and nutritional state of the bees, total mix of pesticides, pathogens and parasites present, crop type, weather during the growing season, and accumulation of pesticides from year to year. Other studies have indicated that healthy colonies appear not to be impacted.
In October 2006, some beekeepers began reporting losses of 30-90 percent of their hives. While colony losses are not unexpected, especially over the winter, this magnitude of losses was unusually high. Colony Collapse Disorder is specifically define by very low, or no adult honey bees present in a hive but with a live queen and no dead honey bee bodies present. Often there is still honey in the hive, and immature bees (brood) are present. Varroa mites, a virus-transmitting parasite of honey bees, have frequently been found in hives hit by CCD. No scientific cause for CCD has been proven. Most research has pointed to a complex of factors being involved in the cause of CCD, and possibly not all of the same factors or the same factors in the same order are involved in all CCD incidents.
In fact, the number of managed colonies that beekeepers have reported losing specifically from CCD began to wane in 2010 and has continued to drop. But the beekeeping industry continues to report losing a high percentage of their colonies each year to other causes.
ARS researchers work closely with beekeepers to monitor potential instances of CCD and study possible causes of this threat.
Northern Giant Hornet
Photo by Stacy Herron, USDA
Northern giant hornets, Vespa mandarinia, formerly known as the Asian giant hornet, are the largest wasps in the world. At roughly 2 inches in length, this invasive species from Southeast Asia has distinctive markings: a large orange or yellow head and black-and-orange stripes across its body.
Though its native range extends from northern India to East Asia, the hornet has been found in western Washington State as well as Vancouver Island and Langley, Canada and is classified as an invasive species in the United States.
The northern giant hornet is a threat to honey bees in its native territory and could also endanger honey bees in the United States if it becomes established here. Recently, the northern giant hornet was eradicated from the United States. ARS researchers will continue to work with state and local governments to detect any future sightings of the northern giant hornet.
There are over 4,000 species of bees native to the United States, including leafcutter bees, bumble bees, alkali bees, mason bees and blue orchard bees, yet we have little information on the health, distribution, and population trends of most of these species. Several non-native bee species are managed for commercial production of many high-value and specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables. Leafcutter and mason bees of the genus Megachile are common members of the North American bee fauna, and many Megachile species are important pollinators of summer flowering crops and native plant species. Bumble bees are important pollinators of crops and wild land plants and are the primary pollinators for crops in greenhouses. While alkali bees, Nomia melanderi, are incredibly efficient pollinators of alfalfa. In Washington state, growers in the Touchet area have been managing alkali bees for over 50 years in bee beds adjacent to alfalfa seed fields.
Latest News On Native Bees
Grass Flowers Something to Buzz About
ARS scientists found a turfgrass that serves as a food source for five types of bees.
Beekeepers: Beekeepers can use best management practices including supplemental feeding in times of nectar/pollen scarcity.
The Logan BeeMail Shelter – a portable unit for managing cavity-nesting agricultural pollinators (James Cane, USDA Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research Unit)
General Public: The best action the public can take to improve honey bee survival is not to use pesticides indiscriminately. In particular, the public should avoid applying pesticides during mid-day hours, when honey bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar and pollen on flowering plants. In addition, the public can plant pollinator-friendly plants-plants that are good sources of nectar and pollen such as red clover, foxglove, bee balm, joe-pye weed, and other plants. (For more information, visit www.nappc.org.)
An alfalfa leafcutting bee (Megachile rotundata) on an alfalfa flower. (Photo by Peggy Greb, ARS)
Blue orchard bee on a California five-spot flower. (Photo by Jim Cane, ARS)
The western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis. (Photo by Stephen Ausmus, ARS)
Hunt’s bumble bee, Bombus huntii, a native to the intermountain west. (Photo by Leah Lewis)
A honey bee being inoculated with Nosema to determine bee infection rates and immune responses.
Honey bee landing on a watermelon flower. (Photo by Stephen Ausmus, ARS)
Sweat bee visiting a dandelion. (Photo by Scott Bauer, ARS)
The blueberry bee, Osmia ribifloris, is an effective pollinator of commercial blueberries and is one of several relatives of the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria. (Photo by Jack Dykinga, ARS)
A mustached mud bee, Anthophora abrupta. (Photo by Scott Bauer, ARS)
European honey bee with a Varroa mite on its back. (Photo by Scott Bauer, ARS).
Photo by Lance Cheung, USDA
ARS Bee Research Sites and Resources
Did you know? ARS bee research laboratories are located throughout the United States. Each of the labs focus on a wide range of issues that impact bee health.
Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research Lab - Areawide IPM Project dedicated to bees
ARS Grand Challenge Synergy Project - creating pollinator landscapes and overwintering practices to increase pollinator populations in a changing environment.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Our job is finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day, from field to table. ARS conducts research across the country and internationally to deliver scientific solutions to national and global agricultural challenges. One of those challenges is finding ways to reduce food loss and waste.
What is ARS’s Role in Reducing Food Loss and Waste?
ARS researchers are on the forefront of finding innovative solutions to help reduce food loss and waste. While the agency does not receive direct funding for food loss and waste programs, we conduct research nationwide that aims to reduce food loss and waste in homes, schools, farms, and businesses, as well as converting it into value-added products such as bioplastics, biochemicals, and biobased alternatives to fossil fuels.
Food loss and waste is a monumental problem, both in the United States and globally. Here in the United States, as much as one third of our food supply is wasted, including an estimated 31% of food at the retail and consumer levels.
Most people don’t realize how often they waste food and the negative impacts it can have for food security, the environment, and climate change. Safe and wholesome food that is currently thrown away could help feed millions of hungry families and reduce food insecurity here and around the world. Each year, Feeding America and its network of food banks rescues around 3.6 billion pounds of food. Unfortunately, this represents only a small percentage of wholesome food that could have been donated but instead ended up in a landfill.
When food is wasted, so is the land, water, labor, energy, and other inputs that are used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, and storing food. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in the United States, food is the largest category of material placed in municipal landfills, where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Municipal solid waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.
And finally, food waste and loss costs money for everyone. Just looking at consumers, on average, a family of four could save more than $3,000 a year by reducing waste!
There are simple steps that everyone can take to reduce food loss and waste. Consumers, food producers, schools, businesses — we all have a role in this! Check out the section What is Your Role to learn how you can do your part.
Does the government play a role in this?
Absolutely! USDA is partnering with many local, state, and federal agencies to provide strategies and incentives to significantly reduce food loss and waste in America. The goal is to get everyone involved, from the farmers and growers to the retail stores and consumers.
Research is another critical factor for finding innovative, sustainable solutions for the food loss and waste problem. ARS has projects underway across the country designed to improve growing practices, breed fruit and vegetables that can better handle storage and transportation, find environmentally friendly alternatives to pesticides and sprays, develop new technologies to make processing and delivery more efficient, and turn post-harvest waste into usable foods and materials, including biofuels.
Below is a sampling of our innovative research projects, some of which have already been introduced in the marketplace.
Preventing Food Loss & Waste
Disease Detection in Farmed Salmon
A new detection method increases testing speed while maintaining accuracy for infectious salmon anemia virus.
What can I do to reduce food loss and waste?No matter your age, where you work, where you live, or what your occupation, you can take simple steps to reduce food loss and waste. Here are some examples, with links provided to make a bigger impact on this massive global challenge.
For Consumers
Before you go to the grocery store or order online, make a list so you don’t buy more than you need.
Only put on your plate what you intend to eat. You can also go back for seconds.
Pack leftovers in small portions in shallow containers, mark the contents and date, refrigerate, and use within 3 to 4 days or freeze immediately.
Recycle food scraps into compost, an organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. Set up a home compost bin or drop your food waste at a local compost center.
Allow students to decline some components of a reimbursable meal as a way of providing choice and reducing waste (also called offer-versus-serve).
Extend lunch from 20 to 30 minutes, thereby creating more time for students to finish their lunches.
Create designated stations (share tables) where children can return whole and/or unopened food or beverage items they choose not to eat. These items are then made available to other children who may want another serving during or after the meal service.
Donate surplus wholesome food to a food bank or nonprofit.
Please join ARS in meeting USDA’s goal to reduce food loss and waste 50% by 2030!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is deeply committed to reducing food loss and waste, and we provide helpful tools and guidance as well as incentives for consumers, farmers, schools, and businesses to do their part in reducing our food footprint. If you would like to learn more about ways to reduce food loss and waste, check out the links below:
For more information on USDA efforts to reduce food loss and waste in America, contact: Dr. Jean Buzby USDA Food Loss and Waste Liaison jean.buzby@usda.gov
View the 2024 USDA ARS Food Loss and Waste Report.
Not a fan of broccoli? Peppers have you seeing red?
Well, you might want to reconsider passing on those veggies and others. New research by a team of ARS scientists in Grand Forks, ND, reveals that increasing the quantity of vegetables in a person’s diet, even briefly, can have a positive impact on their mental wellbeing. That’s such a powerful message, and it’s something that is within people’s control. Learn more about the study.
Agriculture and energy development are often thought of as competing land uses, but ARS researchers in Las Cruces, NM, are working on a new concept called agrivoltaics that could provide a win-win for everyone involved. Rather than land being used for growing crops and raising livestock or hosting solar panels, the researchers believe it can be used for both, with panels situated several feet off the ground. At that height, they can provide shade for both plants and animals, improving animal health and shielding plants from the harshest sun. At the same time, the presence of plants underneath could also help the panels to function more efficiently. Does the future of farming include harvesting solar rays along with crops? Find out and learn more about this exciting new approach.
Good News Coffee Drinkers, There's an App for That!
Hawaii’s unique climate and volcanic soils make it an ideal growing location for several distinctive crops, including coffee and macadamia nuts. Recently, however, Kona coffee—one of Hawaii's most legendary and valuable agricultural crops—has been under increasing threats from two economically devasting foes, coffee berry borer and coffee leaf rust.
Coffee leaf rust is a fungal pathogen that results in severe defoliation. Until 2020, Hawaii was the only major coffee producing region that was free of coffee leaf rust. The coffee berry borer, an insect pest that causes millions in losses of coffee beans each year, was discovered in Hawaii in 2010.
The delicious macadamia nut, another one of Hawaii's legendary crops, is also under threat from insect infestations and diseases. Early detection and identification of these threats is crucial.
Now, a team of ARS researchers in Hilo, HI, is providing growers with new apps to help manage these threats. Check out the apps.
Bees are essential to supporting both agriculture and ecosystems. But they are vulnerable to a number of different diseases that can endanger them and the plants they pollinate. Scientists at ARS are exploring solutions to help boost bees’ defenses and keep them buzzing.
Learn more about how researchers study disease in bees, and how they investigate possible treatments in the video A Honey Bee's Life.
