Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers a product’s life cycle & quantifies the relevant impacts caused by it. The agricultural & food communities need to familiarize themselves with LCA use & interpretation because of its use to examine & quantify the impacts of agricultural production & its growing influence on decision-making.

Innovation in agricultural production is necessary to aid in combatting the negative effects of climate change and new pest and disease pressures that result from trade between geographical regions.

The transition team for the Biden Administration introduced the Climate 21 Project as the blueprint for how the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) can help advance the role of agriculture and forestry to mitigate and adapt to climate change pressures. This report will summarize for each of the key recommendations and priorities where current agricultural science and technology for plant and animal production can be applied and where new investments will be critical to meeting the goals of the administration.

This paper discusses the crucial factors of what we define as empirically based science (rigorous, proven methodologies, and peer reviewed results), emphasizing that whether science is conducted by a private company, a university, or a government department or agency, it is all the same, requiring that sound methodologies be followed.

Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has pursued a national policy of an abundant and inexpensive food supply. Increased animal productivity has improved efficiencies of animal production and reduced the carbon footprint for production of meat, milk, and eggs. Some components of the technologies employed by animal producers to improve efficiency of animal production include improved nutrition and reproduction; advances in genetics; and health and management practices; as well as feed additives, hormonal treatments, and growth enhancing technologies (GETs).

This paper examines the many economic factors and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the agriculture sector.

Technology is a key enabler of more efficient agricultural production as growers attempt to meet the cost-effective need for increased food, fiber, and bioenergy, while managing limited inputs, conserving valuable natural resources, and protecting environmental quality. Each new pest management technology (weed, insect, disease) developed brings a number of benefits and risks—environmental, health, resistance—that must be considered and managed through effective stewardship practices to ensure that benefits are fully realized while risks are minimized.

Today, the technology necessary to culture cells for human consumption in the form of cell cultivated meat is developing at a rapid pace. Milestones to bring these products to market for consumer purchase are being achieved quickly, and media attention has dramatically increased. Still, there are many questions that need to be addressed before cell cultivated meat is ready for the dinner table.

This commentary documents the need for and anticipated benefits of developing data-sharing standards, incentivizing researchers to share data, and building a data-sharing infrastructure within agricultural research.

Pollinators are responsible for about 1/3 of our human diet by volume. Although honey bees are one of nearly 20,000 bee species, they support more than $19B in food and crop production in the United States each year.