research

Medical researchers say they developed a vaccination against chronic wasting disease in deer, a fatal brain infection similar to mad cow disease that affects deer, elk, caribou and moose.

A research team led by Florida State University identified four-stranded elements of DNA in corn that could affect thousands of genes, says an FSU release.

Farmers are far less likely than scientists to say climate change is occurring and that people are a driving force in it, says a study by Purdue and Iowa State universities.

A University of Arizona survey of 77 studies, released in 2013, found "well-documented cases of field-evolved resistance to Bt crops in five major pests as of 2010, compared with only one case in 2005.

Researchers at the University of Buffalo say babies given foods high in sugar, fat and protein in their early months of life are more likely to eat less nutritious foods later in life.

Research into mice infected with salmonella, a bacteria often the cause of food-borne illness, poses "ominous questions about the widespread, routine use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics in livestock," says the Stanford Medical School.

The World Organization for Animal Health says pig blood products are unlikely to spread the deadly Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus when used as a feed ingredient.

The Agriculture Department announced $118 million in grants for research and market-building for specialty crops - fruits, vegetables, horticulture, nuts and nursery crops.

In an interview with AgWeb, Pamela Anderson, director of agriculture development for the Gates Foundation, describes the foundation's strategy on agricultural research and food security.

The agriculture sector should broaden its coalitions so it can land more research money, said Dan Glickman, former agriculture secretary, in a speech at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Agriculture Department received 51 patents and unveiled 180 inventions during fiscal 2013, according to its annual Report on Technology Transfer.

On Earth Day, AgSec Vilsack announced in Des Moines that USDA awarded $6 million to 10 universities to study the effects of climate change on agricultural production and to develop responses to them.

AgSec Vilsack is optimistic about a foundation created by the 2014 farm law to encourage agricultural research. Funding is a recurrent problem despite wide agreement about the long-term payoff from the work.

The Agriculture Department announced $35 million in grants to the historically black 1890 land grant colleges and universities.