ARS & You March 2013

United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service

1

Keep It Simple!

As part of the Department’s and ARS’s effort to implement 

and support the Plain Writing Act of 2010—which 

requires Federal agencies to use “clear government 

communication that the public can understand and 

use”—ARS will be launching a 3-month information 

campaign on April 1, 2013. The effort focuses on providing 

online training and resources to employees interested in 

learning plain writing techniques. All Federal agencies are 

required to use plain writing in every paper or electronic 

letter, publication, form, notice, or instruction. The main 

elements of plain writing include logical organization 

and use of personal pronouns, active voice, “common”/

everyday words, short sentences, and lists and tables. The 

“Introduction to Plain Language” course is available on 

AgLearn. Look for the course in your AgLearn “To Do” list!

For more information, contact ARS’s Plain Writing 

Coordinator, Tara T. Weaver-Missick, by email 

(tara.weavermissick@ars.usda.gov) or by phone 

(301-504-1663). D

New ARS Web Site Coming Soon!

ARS will be launching its new public Web site this spring. 

Here’s a sneak peak at the new design! The site will 

conform to the new “USDA Web Standards and Style 

Guide.” Other USDA agencies also are making progress 

in changing to the new style—including ERS, GIPSA and 

NRCS. This project is a huge undertaking. ARS has more 

than 278,000 Web pages, and approximately 250,000 

of those are dynamic—including patents, publications, 

people, research projects and annual reports—making 

it one of the most comprehensive USDA Web sites. One 

new feature on the ARS Web site will be “Popular Topics,” 

which will be based on trending data from the most 

frequently visited publicly accessed ARS Web pages.D

September 2011 www.ars.usda.gov

Research for the Growing World

March 2013 www.ars.usda.gov

 

Please submit story ideas and national award items

 to Mina Chung, mina.chung@ars.usda.gov, or call

 301-504-1653.

 

 In This Issue:

 Your Two Cents

 Around ARS

 Notable Awards

 Did You Know?

The National Herb Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum, 

Washington, DC.
ARS & You March 2013

United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service

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On February 13, 2013, employees from the ARS Robert 

W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health in Ithaca, NY, 

participated in a Science and Math Expo at the Freeville 

Elementary School in Freeville, NY. They provided handson activities such as insect displays for students to look at 

under the microscope. One of the most popular displays 

was that of the emerald ash borer that included all of its 

life stages. Living insects also were available for children 

to touch. 

On February 21-23, 2013, ARS Robert W. Holley Center 

for Agriculture and Health employees and those from 

the ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva, NY, 

participated in the New York State Farm Show in Syracuse, 

NY. This annual farm show is one of the largest agriculture 

shows in the Northeast, attracting over 25,000 visitors 

and 400 vendors. ARS scientists were on hand to explain 

their research projects. D

Approximately 1,400 visitors at USDA’s 2013 Agricultural 

Outlook Forum in Arlington, VA, February 21-22, 2013, 

were treated to many different USDA exhibits, including 

an exhibit by the ARS Information Staff highlighting ARS 

research and an exhibit by the National Agricultural 

Library (NAL) showcasing resources from NAL’s Food and 

Nutrition Information Center and Alternative Farming 

Systems Information Center. The theme of this year’s 

Forum was “Managing Risk in the 21st Century.” This 

annual conference is an opportunity for producers, 

policymakers, and government and industry analysts 

from around the world to come together and discuss 

agricultural issues. D

Your Two Cents (Y2C)

www.ars.usda.gov/yourtwocents

The ARS Cultural Transformation (CT) Team continues to 

re-invent ARS’s cultural transformation efforts. Watch for 

new CT site components added to the new ARS Intranet 

site coming soon! Your Two Cents site improvements are 

continuing to be made, based on suggestions received 

at the Y2C Summit. Most notable of these changes is 

the addition of an “Action Items” management console, 

which will allow employees to track the progress of action 

items and related accomplishments. We plan to unveil 

the improved site just in time for Y2C’s third birthday this 

May, so stay tuned! D 

Around ARS

On February 11, 2013, the Landsat Data Continuity 

Mission (Landsat 8) was successfully launched from 

Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, CA. This satellite 

continues the 40-year Landsat program legacy of global 

Earth observation of human activity—recording changes 

in land cover, and agricultural and urban land and water 

use in response to increasing population and changing 

climate conditions. Research Physical Scientists Martha 

Anderson and Feng Gao, ARS Hydrology and Remote 

Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, attended the launch. 

They served on the Landsat Science Team developing 

applications for monitoring crop life cycles, water use 

and drought impact. Other USDA Team members include 

representatives from the National Agricultural Statistics 

Service, Risk Management Agency and Forest Service. D

ARS exhibit at the New York State Farm Show.

Landsat 8 being lifted into orbit by an Atlas V rocket. 

Photo by NASA.
ARS & You March 2013

United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service

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Research Agricultural 

Engineer Mark E. Casada, 

ARS Center for Grain and 

Animal Health Research, 

Manhattan, KS, received 

the Andersons Cereals 

and Oilseeds Award of 

Excellence from Multistate 

Project NC-213–The U.S. 

Quality Grains Research 

Consortium for his superior 

contributions to science 

and education related to 

cereals and oilseeds at the 

organization’s annual meeting 

on February 13, 2013, 

in Kansas City, MO. D

Notable Awards

Kevin Hackett, ARS 

National Program Leader 

for Biological Control, 

Beltsville, MD, received 

the Rutgers University 

Graduate School’s Lifetime 

Achievement Award at 

the Annual Distinguished 

Alumni Award Ceremony 

on March 1. Hackett was 

honored for his leadership 

in pest management and 

insect genomics and for his 

research accomplishments 

 in insect pathology. D

Two ARS scientists were honored at the 37th biennial 

meeting of the American Society for Sugar Beet 

Technology in Anaheim, CA, February 27-March 3. 

Research Plant Pathologist Linda Hanson, ARS Sugarbeet 

and Bean Research Unit, East Lansing, MI, received the 

Meritorious Service award for her research on sugar beet 

plant pathogens, especially soilborne diseases caused 

by Fusarium and Rhizoctonia. Research Plant Geneticist 

Robert Lewellen, ARS U.S. Agricultural Research Station, 

Salinas, CA, received the Honorary Member award for 

his work with Rhizomania disease resistance crucial in 

maintaining the profitability of the sugar beet industry in 

the United States and worldwide. D

Biological Science Technician 

Chris Werle, ARS Thad Cochran 

Southern Horticultural Research 

Laboratory, Poplarville, MS, 

placed second in the Ph.D. 

student poster competition 

for his poster, “Optimizing 

Ambrosia Beetle Monitoring 

Using Colored Traps,” at 

the annual meeting of the 

Southeastern Branch of the 

Entomological Society of 

America in Baton Rouge, LA, 

March 3-5. Werle is a Ph.D. 

student at Louisiana State 

University’s School of Plant, 

Environmental and Soil Sciences. D

Kevin Hackett.

Chris Werle.

Mark Casada.
ARS & You March 2013

United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service

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 Did You Know?

The previous PHZM was done in 1990. But 

interestingly enough, the 2012 map looks more like 

the map done in 1960 than it does the 1990 version.

The PHZM also is available with additional features 

as an iPhone/iPad app called ClimateWise Plant 

Hardiness. For more information on the app, visit 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/climate-wiseplant-hardiness/id505897090?mt=8 or www.

climatesource.com/.

Written by Kim Kaplan, ARS Information Staff.

 

 

 

 

Executive Editor

Sandy Miller Hays

Managing Editor

Tara T. Weaver-Missick

 Writer-Editor Designer-Editor

 Mina Chung Carol Nathan

 Contributors

 Sean Adams Kim Kaplan

 Carol Durflinger Linda Neuenhahn

 Melanie J. Filiatrault Joseph Spence

 Jennifer Gilbert Tara T. Weaver-Missick

 Tracy Havermann Monica Williams 

Whether you sow just 

a tomato plant or two 

in the spring or raise 

abundant flowers, 

herbs and produce, 

ARS can help you be a 

better gardener. To be 

a successful gardener, 

you need to match your 

growing conditions to 

plants that will thrive in 

those conditions. One 

of the most important 

conditions is cold 

hardiness—the average 

coldest temperature at

which a plant will thrive.

With the new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

(PHZM), developed by ARS researchers and Oregon 

State University collaborators, ARS has already 

helped more than 2.7 million people learn what their 

zone is. The new map has already had 123.6 million 

total hits its first year on the Web.

It’s not just gardeners who need to know their zone. 

The hardiness zones provide a common language 

between those who buy plants and those who 

develop new ones. Breeders test their new plants 

so they can correctly label where a new variety will 

thrive. It’s amazing how the zones in which a plant 

will thrive can differ between varieties of the same 

species. For example, Musa basjoo (Sichuan Hardy 

Banana) is hardy down to zone 7 (0-10 °F), while 

Musa ‘Siam Ruby’ (Siam Ruby Banana) is only hardy 

down to zone 9 (20-30 °F).

Besides the 80 million gardeners in this country, 

many people need the PHZM. For example, USDA’s 

Risk Management Agency uses the map to set 

certain standards for crop insurance for nursery 

crops; Federal, State and local agencies use the map 

to design lists of recommended trees and shrubs for 

public land plantings; and many types of researchers 

integrate the map into their scientific models.

Geranium sanguineum at 

the U.S. National Arboretum, 

Washington, DC.