Our precious Earth is continuously transforming, and we must recognize and support these changes in order to formulate a long-lasting relationship with our home.

Agriculture is the lifeline of all human beings, and our environment is the lifeline of agriculture.

While we all should be nurturing our planet every day, Earth Day is prime opportunity to demonstrate our support for the environment: recycle, compost, reduce your carbon footprint, use natural energy sources, and help keep our land, air, and waterways clean.

Here at ARS, we work every day to enhance, improve, and protect our environment. This includes promoting sustainability, addressing climate change, and looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

One thing we can all agree on is that we all want safe and nutritious food to eat, fresh water to drink, and clean air to breathe.

What can you do to help the planet?

Invest in Our Planet: How to Do Your Part

Composting: Nature's Way of Recycling Organic Materials
Composting is becoming ever increasingly popular, both on the farms and at home. Learn how to compost and why.

Go Back To Step Forward this Earth Day: Ways To Fight Food Waste
This Earth Day, find inspiration to curb food loss and waste with these tips.

Tips for Healthy Soil in Your Backyard Garden
Why not plant a flower or vegetable garden to celebrate Earth Day?

Facebook Premiere on Beekeeping
Try your hand at beekeeping with these tips from our bee expert and help our pollinators.

How are Scientists Helping the Planet? 

Digging Deeper into Climate Change Data (2023)
A new online tool helps California farmers reduce the risks of climate change.

Soil Health: Sustaining Life with Better Management (2023)
Learn how the work of ARS scientists is increasing soil health and helping the environment. (video)

Working to Keep the Chesapeake Bay Healthy (2023)
ARS scientists are conducting research to better understand the Bay's ecosystem.

Helping Reduce Methane Emissions by Solving a Sticky Problem for U.S. Produce Exporters (2023)
The USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Foreign Agricultural Service are collaborating with Sinclair Systems International to produce compostable price look up (PLU) labels that meet the EU standards for home compostability.

The Role of Agriculture in Earth Preservation
Special Earth Day edition of Under the Microscope featuring an interview with ARS molecular biologist Lisa Ainsworth.

Regenerative Farming 
ARS scientists across the nation are helping producers keep their lands healthy and sustainable, while limiting their impact on our precious ecosystem. (video series)

Our Planet Earth: Looking to the Future
ARS scientists play a vital role in protecting our environment by developing agricultural solutions that are sustainable while meeting the needs of our growing world.

Adapting Corn to Ever Changing Climate
Learn how ARS researchers are developing corn that responds to our ever changing climate through genetics. (video)

Alfalfa: A Winner for Producers and the Environment
Alfalfa has a long history as the go-to feed for farm animals and poultry. But what has not been widely recognized is alfalfa's importance to the environment.

Carbon Mapping on the Go
A new tool helps farmers better understand how their land management practices impact carbon sequestration, a method of mitigating climate change by storing CO2 in the soil, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.

Revolutionary New Freezing Method Promises Better Food Quality and Energy Savings

A new method of freezing food without turning it rock solid could not only improve the quality, but save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, too.  Developed by a team of ARS and University of California-Berkeley scientists, “isochoric” freezing works by storing foods in a sealed, rigid container that’s completely filled with a liquid such as water. Unlike conventional freezing in which the food is exposed to air and freezes solid at temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, isochoric freezing preserves food without turning it to solid ice.

Worldwide adoption of isochoric freezing over conventional methods could cut energy use by as much as 6.5 billion kilowatt-hours annually. This switchover could also reduce power-related carbon emissions by 4.6 billion kilograms—the equivalent of removing roughly one million cars from roads!

Read "New Food Freezing Concept Improves Quality, Increases Safety and Cuts Energy Use" to learn more.

Microscopic Roundworms Recruited to Fight Cranberry Pests

Nematodes with a taste for "insect innards" may offer cranberry growers a natural alternative to fighting hungry crop pests with chemical insecticides. Annually, Americans consume 2.3 pounds of cranberries per person, primarily as juice but also in dried fruit snacks and holiday fare such as cranberry relish. However, the path from cranberry bog to juice bottle (or table) can be a perilous one—no thanks to redheaded flea beetles, Sparganothis fruitworms, and other insect pests.

Severe infestations can force growers to apply costly insecticides. ARS scientists in Madison, WI, developed a biobased pesticide made of insect-killing roundworms called entomopathogenic nematodes that worked just as well.  In tests, spraying the nematodes reduced pest populations by 60 to 70 percent or more.

Read "Microscopic Worms to the Cranberry Rescue" to learn more.

Making Air Travel More Environmentally Friendly with Science

Salad dressing and margarine are among soybean oil’s many food uses. But there are many non-food uses, too, including as biobased jet fuel. Blending biobased fuels with conventional formulations made from petroleum is one way the aviation industry hopes to emit fewer greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which, in 2018 amounted to 905 million metric tons.

However, soy-oil-based jet fuel doesn’t have enough “aromatic” compounds, which help keep jet engine seals soft and working properly. ARS scientists in Peoria, IL, tackled the problem using a special catalyst that increases the fuel’s aromatics levels by 34 percent.  This means more soy-oil jet fuel can be blended with conventional formulations to make air travel more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Read "Making Air Travel More Sustainable with Soy-Fuel Innovations" to learn more.

Bacteria Doing Good on Earth and in Space!

ARS scientists in Florence, SC, aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty while researching ways to manage manure and protect water resources.  

Now, one solution could come from a group of manure-loving bacteria they “dug up” called anammox. In addition to helping to remove pollutants from wastewater and septic tanks, anammox bacteria could end up in space. NASA and a Hampton, VA, firm are exploring the bacteria’s use in a water-recycling system for astronauts that could mean savings of about $83,000 per gallon or $24 million in annual resupply costs! Learn more.

* Image courtesy of Getty Images

Readying Crops and People for Climate Change

Carbon dioxide is a “greenhouse gas” that’s increased by 45 percent since the Industrial Revolution and is a major contributor to global climate change. Another greenhouse gas is ozone, which unlike carbon dioxide, causes direct harm to plants, reducing their growth and yield.

To assist producers in the future, scientists in Urbana have begun “mining” the genetic variability in corn and soybean varieties for traits that could help them better cope with rising levels of these greenhouse gases.  A high-tech facility called SoyFACE that allows for open-air field tests simulating conditions predicted for 2050 is helping this effort. The team is also working to “pass the baton” to the next generation of researchers and industry leaders through their mentorship of student scientists and post-doctoral associates.  Learn more.  

A “Burning” Ecological Question

In western rangelands, the use of prescribed fire is a practice that can help control invasive weeds, improve forage quality, increase plant diversity, and maintain wildlife habitats. Although prescribed fire mimics the natural growth and regeneration cycle brought about by wildfires, some rangeland managers are reluctant to use it and opt to use mowing or grazing instead.

ARS scientists in Miles City, MT, decided to investigate the matter. They found that while mowing offered some benefits, prescribed fire proved better at rejuvenating the soil, eliminating combustible debris, and promoting the growth of nutrient-rich grasses for cattle.

More information can be found at https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2020/ars-ecologists-address-a-burning-question/.

“Juicing” Alfalfa for a Sustainable Aquaculture

Cows and horses aren't the only fans of alfalfa. Yellow perch like it, too. ARS scientists in Madison, WI, are experimenting with alfalfa as a promising alternative to using fishmeal, a protein-rich ingredient in aquaculture feeds given to "farm-raised" finfish and shellfish.

There’s concern that increasing consumer demand for aquaculture products like these will outpace what the ocean's wild-caught stock of sardine, anchovy, menhaden and other small forage fish can supply as a fishmeal resource for aquafeeds. Nutritious, affordable, plant-based alternatives could help ease the burden on these forage fish populations, which are important members of the marine ecosystem and its inhabitants, particularly larger predatory species.

Read "Researchers are Juicing Alfalfa as a Next-Generation Aquafeed" to learn more.

Matching Milkweeds to Monarch Butterflies

Not all milkweeds are created equal when it comes to species of the native flowering plants that monarch butterflies like most. Now, ARS and university scientists in Ames, Iowa, have a better handle on the situation.

Their studies of nine milkweed species in critical breeding areas of the country show that female monarch butterflies prefer laying their eggs on certain milkweed species, but they don’t specialize in reproducing only on one kind. This knowledge is key to a broader national effort to reverse this iconic insect’s declining numbers through milkweed habitat restoration projects.

Read Which Milkweeds Do Monarch Butterflies Prefer? to learn more.

Rejuvenating Soil with Biochar

Long ago, the Amazonians discarded agricultural wastes like corn husks by burning or burying them underground. Today, a similar approach is taken to make a porous, charcoal-like substance called biochar from agricultural materials, including manure and wood chips.

Burning these materials in low-oxygen conditions creates the carbon-rich biochar, and—taking their cues from the Amazonians—ARS scientists in Corvallis, OR, are examining its potential to rejuvenate the soil, especially in degraded land areas like mining sites where high acidity and pollutants like heavy metals can stop or slow plant growth. Biochar may also help farmers reduce their need for fertilizers as well as handling wastes like chicken manure.

Read Exploring the Benefits of Biochar to learn more.