In 2001 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (see the July 2, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics) launched several services that collectively offer expanded access to information on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food, natural resources, and rural development. The briefing rooms are in-depth overviews of over 70 selected topics which include...

This thoughtful collection of materials related to ethics and nutrition was created by the folks at the American Physiological Society (APS) in honor of National Nutrition Month. The items here include teacher-developed studies that explore ethical issues related to nutrition and agriculture. The topics explored include meat consumption and alternatives, population growth and resource depletion,...

Nearly a third of the seven billion people alive on Earth today directly depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. So when floods, storms, and - above all - droughts occur, it is this swath of the population that suffers most. In addition, a new United Nations study concludes that as the effects of global climate change increase, these losses accrue more and more to the farmers who can least...

The Future Agricultures group is a UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded consortium comprised of the Institute of Development Studies, Imperial College London, and Overseas Development Institute. The group is committed to examining the issues that surround agriculture and rural development across the world, with a particular focus on the developing world. Their work includes...

As this Nature Web focus explains, "just four countries account for 99% of the world's commercially grown transgenic crops," and other countries "have been stalling over whether to embrace transgenic agriculture, but won't be able to put off the decision for much longer." Readers can get an in-depth look at this issue with free features from Nature, including recent news articles, an interactive...

The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) works at the highest national level to coordinate and support research being conducted at universities, provincial institutions, and federal institutions. The four main PARC research divisions are: Crop Sciences, Natural Resources, Animal Sciences, and Social Sciences. The PARC website contains summary information about these main research areas,...

This remarkable site was created by Professor Gerhard Leubner and his colleagues at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Here, visitors can take advantage of a veritable cornucopia of reference materials related to seed biology, such as diagrams and illustrations of seed germination, plant hormones, endosperm weakening, and seed dormancy. Neophytes may wish to start by looking at the Seed...

From Wenatchee to Orono, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is looking into everything from colony collapse disorder to hop cultivation. Of course, their work doesn't stop there as they also coordinate science partnerships with a wide range of businesses and government agencies. Visitors to their website will be presented with a list of "I Want To", where they can find an ARS location,...