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Named after | Henry A. Wallace |
---|---|
Established | 1910 (113 years ago) |
Types | research institute |
Location | Beltsville |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 39°01′55″N76°53′04″W / 39.0319°N 76.8844°W [1] [2] |
Parent organisations | Agricultural Research Service |
The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), also known as the National Agricultural Research Center, [3] is a unit of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It is located in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, [4] with sections within the Beltsville census-designated place. [5] [6] The BARC is named for Henry A. Wallace, former United States vice president and secretary of agriculture. BARC houses the Abraham Lincoln Building of the National Agricultural Library.
Among its research programs are Air Quality; Animal Health; Crop Production; Crop Protection and Quarantine; Food Animal Production; Food Safety; Global Change; Human Nutrition; Integrated Farming Systems; Manure and Byproduct Utilization; Methyl Bromide Alternatives; Plant Biological and Molecular Processes; Plant Diseases; Plant Genetic Resources, Genomics, and Genetic Improvement; Quality and Utilization of Agricultural Products; Rangeland, Pasture, and Forages; Soil Resource Management; Veterinary, Medical, and Urban Entomology; and Water Quality and Management.
The center's Harvest for the Hungry program donates about 75,000 pounds (34 metric tons) of fruits and vegetables each year for distribution to local charities, in conjunction with volunteers from the community who do much of the labor of harvesting.
Each February, BARC hosts the Washington's Birthday Marathon, the eighth oldest marathon in the United States.
During the tornado outbreak of September 24, 2001, the BARC facilities sustained extensive damage as the result of an F3 tornado. [7]
The center is also referenced in local folklore as the creation place of Goatman (urban legend), claiming that Goatman was once a scientist who worked at the center before an experiment on goats backfired and mutated the scientist into a half man, half goat creature who aggressively attacks cars in the vicinity of Beltsville. [8]
Accokeek, "at the edge of the hill" in Algonquin, is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is located on the Potomac River, borders Charles County and is approximately 17 miles from Washington. It is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. The population of the CDP, as of the 2020 United States Census was 13,927.
Adelphi is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 16,823. Adelphi includes the following subdivisions; Adelphi, Adelphi Park, Adelphi Hills, Adelphi Terrace, Adelphi Village, Buck Lodge, Chatham, Cool Spring Terrace, Hillandale Forest, Holly Hill Manor, Knollwood, Lewisdale, and White Oak Manor.
Beltsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in northern Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The community was named for Truman Belt, a local landowner. The 2020 census counted 20,133 residents. Beltsville includes the unincorporated community of Vansville.
South Laurel is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 29,602.
Calverton is an unincorporated area and census-designated place located on the boundary between Montgomery and Prince George's counties, Maryland, in the United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 17,316.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with extending the nation's scientific knowledge and solving agricultural problems through its four national program areas: nutrition, food safety and quality; animal production and protection; natural resources and sustainable agricultural systems; and crop production and protection. ARS research focuses on solving problems affecting Americans every day. The ARS Headquarters is located in the Jamie L. Whitten Building on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C., and the headquarters staff is located at the George Washington Carver Center (GWCC) in Beltsville, Maryland. For 2018, its budget was $1.2 billion.
Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season. They are also associated with arid conditions, areas prone to drought and those having scarce water resources.
According to urban legend, Goatman is a creature resembling a goat-human hybrid often credited with canine deaths and purported to take refuge in the woods of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States.
The Boer or Boerbok is a South African breed of meat goat. It was selectively bred in the Eastern Cape from about 1920 for meat qualities and for the ability to survive by grazing on the thorn veldt of that region. It has been exported to many countries, and has been used to improve the meat qualities of other breeds.
An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with farmers, ranchers, suppliers, processors, and others involved in food production and agriculture.
Greenbelt Park is a park in Greenbelt, Maryland, that is managed by the National Park Service. The forested park lies approximately 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., and is situated just within the Capital Beltway. The park land was originally intended to form part of the green belt surrounding the city of Greenbelt. The southern portion was assigned to the National Park Service, thus forming the park, while another section became part of the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC).
Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir trees specifically for use as Christmas trees.
Vansville is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. For statistical purposes, it is part of the Beltsville census-designated place (CDP).
Crop diversity or crop biodiversity is the variety and variability of crops, plants used in agriculture, including their genetic and phenotypic characteristics. It is a subset of and a specific element of agricultural biodiversity. Over the past 50 years, there has been a major decline in two components of crop diversity; genetic diversity within each crop and the number of species commonly grown.
The 'Alampur Baneshan' mango, sometimes spelled Banishan, is a named mango cultivar that originates from India. In southern India, it is sometimes known as Seeri. It differs from, but is related ancestrally to, the high-volume commercial cultivar Banganapalli. However, this is a much older and prized cultivar.
The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a network of institutions and agencies (federal, state and private) led by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the effort to conserve and facilitate the use of the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants and their wild relatives.
The Department of Entomology is a research department and collection unit of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), located in Washington, D.C. The department houses the U.S. National Insect Collection, one of the largest entomological collections in the world, with over 35 million specimens housed in 132,354 drawers, 33,000 jars or vials, and 23,000 slides in more than 5,200 cabinets. The department also includes research scientists and technical staff from the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Department of Agriculture Systematic Entomology Lab (SEL) and United States Department of Defense Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU).
The sugar industry of the United States produces sugarcane and sugar beets, operates sugar refineries, and produces and markets refined sugars, sugar-sweetened goods, and other products. The United States is among the world's largest sugar producers. Unlike most other sugar producing countries, the United States has both large and well-developed sugarcane and sugar beet industries. Refined sugarcane, processed sugar beet, and high-fructose corn syrup are all commonly used in the U.S. as added sugars to sweeten food and beverages.
Arlington Experimental Farm was a former federal agricultural research farm in Alexandria, Virginia that opened in 1900. It was established by an Act of Congress, moving the Department of Agriculture's main research from the National Mall to Arlington. It grew hemp beginning in 1903, or 1914. In 1928, it was the largest United States Department of Agriculture experiment station in the Washington, D.C. area. USDA researcher Vera Charles also worked at the station, collecting Cannabis seeds from across America and studying pests and pathogens that could diminish hemp crop productivity. Cultivars developed at Arlington include Arlington, Chington, Ferramington, Kymington and Arlington; Chington and Kymington were adopted "extensively" by seed farmers producing hemp in Kentucky. The seeds were probably destroyed by the government in the 1980s.
Amy Yarnell Rossman is an American mycologist and a leading expert in identifying fungi.