• NPARL Botanist and Pest Management Research Unit Leader John Gaskin spoke at the Impact of Global Climate Change on Plant Genetic Resources Symposium on the “Hybridization and Plant Invasions” discussing the implications of increased plant invasion involving hybrid and how hybridization can force us to alter our methodology for controlling plant invasions.
• NPARL Agronomist W. Bart Stevens’ talk was entitled “Tillage and Irrigation Method Effects on Yield and Quality of Sugarbeet and Malting Barley” and discussed the use of reduced tillage and high-efficiency irrigation systems to reduce fuel and water inputs in those crops compared to conventional practices.

Sidney, MT ARS researchers presenting posters at the joint meeting were:

• NPARL Soil Scientist Upendra Sainju presented two posters entitled “Cropping Sequence Effect on Dryland Crop Root and Soil Properties” and “Tillage, Cropping Sequence, and Nitrogen Fertilization Effects on Dryland Soil Carbon Dioxide Emission and Carbon Content (GRACEnet Project).”
• NPARL Weed Ecologist Andrew Lenssen presented a poster entitled “Crop Diversification and Management System Influence Yield and Weeds in the Northern Great Plains.”
• NPARL Soil Physicist Jay Jabro whose poster was entitled “Tillage Depth Effects on Soil Physical Properties, Sugarbeet Yield and Quality.”
• NPARL Agronomist Brett Allen whose poster was entitled “Dryland Corn Seeding Rate and Row Configuration Impacts on Biomass, Grain Yield, and Water Use.”
• Drs. Stevens, Sainju, Lenssen, Jabro and Allen are all members of NPARL’s Agricultural Systems Research Unit.

Montana ARS lab hosts international Wheat Stem Sawfly Conference October 13-14. (USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory, Sidney, MT)  The Fourth International Wheat Stem Sawfly Conference will be held Oct. 13-14 at the Agricultural Research Service's Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory (NPARL) in Sidney, MT. The 1-1/2-day conference, held only every three to five years, brings together scientists from across the region, the Prairie Provinces of Canada, and from Montpellier, France, to discuss ongoing and future research into the biological, cultural and chemical control of wheat stem sawfly. Topics for the conference include discussions on the genetics of the wheat stem sawfly and new wheat varieties intended to help combat the pest, as well as biological and cultural management research and survey information. Among the scheduled presenters are wheat breeders Luther Talbert and Phil Bruckner, entomologists David Weaver and Kevin Delany, and chemical ecologist Micaela Buteler, all with Montana State University–Bozeman; cereal agronomist Brian Beres and entomologist Hector Carcamo of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta; and entomologist Walker Jones and molecular biologist Marie-Claude Bon, both with the USDA-ARS European Biological Control Laboratory in Montpellier, France. The wheat stem sawfly is a serious pest in the Northern Great Plains and Canada, causing yield losses of more than $100 million a year, with annual losses in Montana alone exceeding $25 million.

ARS Scientist to chair a FAO/IAEA consultants meeting devices and systems for early and rapid detection of animal diseases:  On October 13-15, William Wilson, ARS microbiologist, Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory, Laramie, WY, will participate and act as chairman in a Consultants Meeting on devices and systems for early and rapid detection of animal diseases, early response to emerging diseases.  The meeting will discuss amplification and non-amplification systems, biosensor, nanotechnology devises and equipment, sniffer technologies, remote sensing, communication technologies, administrative and logistical set-ups, networks and partnerships.  Wilson will give a presentation on tools for early detection from pen-side to high-throughput.

September 10, 2008

ARS Scientist To Attend Conference In China:  September 21-26, Paul Flinn, Research Biologist with the Biological Research Unit, Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, KS, will make a presentation “Effects of Outside Air Temperature on Movement of Phosphine Gas in Concrete Elevator Bins” at the Controlled Atmosphere and Fumigation Conference in Chengdu, China.

August 27, 2008

ARS Laboratory Hosts Ethnobotany Walk-N-Talk: On August 15th, the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory hosted Linda Different Cloud-Jones, Ethnobotanist from the Standing Rock Lakota Nation, who led a walking tour of the native pastures at the USDA-ARS lab in Mandan, North Dakota. Cloud-Jones selected native plants and shared extensive information on their nutritional and medicinal use by native peoples. Thirty-five individuals interested in natural health and native plants from as far away as Minnesota joined her. Staff at the lab provided a barbecue for their guests following the tour to facilitate continued discussions. Cloud-Jones has been an audience favorite at the lab’s annual ‘Friends & Neighbors Day’ which attracted over 1000 guests this past July. She begins her PHD program in Ethnobotany at Montana State University in Bozeman in September.

ARS Scientist to Present at Major Biomass Biofuels Conference: On October 10th, Dr. David Archer, USDA-ARS Agricultural Economist will present “Corn Stover as Feedstock for Cellulosic Ethanol – Cost, Availability, and Sustainability” at the Platts 3rd Annual Cellulosic Ethanol and Biofuels conference in Chicago, Illinois. Over twenty of the nation’s foremost biofuel authorities were invited to present new research and development information at this key industry educational symposium.

ARS Grain Marketing and Production Research Center to Host Meeting of the Food Protection Committee of the International Association of Operative Millers: On 3-4 September, the ARS Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, KS, will host a meeting of the Food Protection Committee of the International Association of Operative Millers.  The committee meets three times a year, and consists of about two dozen members from most of the major U.S. grain processing companies.  Jim Throne, Research Leader of the ARS Biological Research Unit in Manhattan, will attend the meeting to report on recent ARS stored-product insect research of interest to the committee and to discuss the grain processing industry’s research needs.

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August 13, 2008

ARS Entomologist To Speak About Stored-Product Insect Pests at Thailand's Postharvest Technology Innovation Center At Chiang Mai University:  On August 15-25, Jim Throne, Research Leader of the Biological Research Unit at the Grain Marketing and Production Research Center in Manhattan, KS, will present two seminars on his research entitled "Computer modeling of the population dynamics of stored-product pests" and "Entomological applications of near-infrared spectroscopy" at Chiang Mai University, Thailand.  He also will discuss postharvest pest management techniques and future collaborative research with scientists at the Postharvest Technology Innovation Center.

August 7, 2008

CDC Branch Chief Presents Entomology Seminar: On August 4, CDC Entomology Branch Chief Dr. Bob Wirtz presented a seminar “An Overview of CDC Entomology Branch Activities” at the Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, KS.  His presentation included CDC work targeting vector-borne diseases such as malaria and lymphaitic filariasis.  He also discussed the joint CDC-ARS work where they are applying NIR techniques developed by the ARS Engineering Research Unit to identify and age-grade disease vectors.

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