Plant, Environmental, and Soil Sciences: Agricultural Research Service

The mission of animal production and protection national programs is to improve the health, well-being, and efficiency of livestock, poultry, and aquatic food animals to ensure a productive and safe food supply. Emphasis is placed on germplasm characterization, improvement, and conservation; understanding the mechanisms of disease resistance, and the development of tools to prevent, control, or eradicate diseases that threaten our food supply or public health; and identifying and developing sustainable systems for the production of high-quality meat, milk, and eggs.

(NP #101) Conduct research to improve food animal production efficiency, industry sustainability, animal welfare, product quality and nutritional value while safeguarding animal genetic resources.

(NP #103) The mission of the program is to deliver scientific information and tools to detect, control, and eradicate animal diseases that impact agriculture and public health.

(NP #104) The mission of National Program 104, Veterinary, Medical, and Urban Entomology, is to eliminate arthropod vectors and the diseases that they transmit to livestock, humans, and other animals and to nullify their economic impact.

(NP #106) The mission of National Program 106, Aquaculture, is to conduct research and deliver technologies that improve domestic aquaculture production efficiency and product quality while minimizing impacts on natural resources.

Crop Production and Protection (CPP) National Programs deliver science-based information, genetic resources, and technologies for increased crop productivity, economically and environmentally sustainable methods of crop production, and protection from plant diseases and pests.

(NP #301)To safeguard and utilize plant genetic resources (genetic raw material), associated genetic and genomic databases, and bioinformatic tools to ensure an abundant, safe, and inexpensive supply of food, feed, fiber, ornamentals, and industrial products for the United States and other nations

(NP #303) Develop control strategies to reduce losses caused by plant diseases that are effective and affordable while maintaining environmental quality

(NP #304) To provide technology to manage pest populations below economic damage thresholds by the integration of environmentally compatible strategies that are based on increased understanding of the biology and ecology of insect, mite, and weed pests.

(NP #305) Develop and transfer sound, science-based information and technologies for productive and profitable food, fiber, and floral/ornamental crop production systems that meet consumer demands for high quality, affordable products, grower needs for a stable income and competitiveness in the global marketplace, worker needs for a safe working environment, and the public's desire for maintaining or improving environmental quality.

Natural Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems National Programs support researchers at seventy locations developing the technologies and strategies needed to help farmers, ranchers, and other managers effectively steward the diverse agricultural mosaic spread across the nation. From livestock grazing expansive natural western rangelands, to crops grown in the rich Midwestern Heartland and the Southern States regions, to the high-value produce that comes from the valleys and plains along both coasts, these diverse landscapes generate more than $200-billion in goods and services that are the basis of a strong rural economy. Emphasis is given to developing technologies that are economical to use and systems that support profitable production and enhance the Nation’s vast renewable natural resource base. Research priorities are identified through a continual dialogue with a wide range of customers and stakeholders to ensure that our science is relevant and provides effective solutions to their concerns. We address issues affecting both private and public lands because together these are the foundation of a healthy and vibrant agricultural industry that not only provides food, feed, fiber, and renewable energy to the nation but also abundant and high-quality supplies of fresh water and clean air, as well as healthy ecosystems.

(NP #211) The mission of this National Program is twofold: (1) to conduct fundamental and applied research on the processes that control water availability and quality for the health and economic growth of the American people; and (2) to develop new and improved technologies for managing the Nation's agricultural water resources. These advances in knowledge and technologies will provide producers, action agencies, local communities, and resource advisors with the practices, tools, models, and decision support systems they need to improve water conservation and water use efficiency in agriculture, enhance water quality, protect rural and urban communities from the ravages of droughts and floods, improve agricultural and urban watersheds, and prevent the degradation of riparian areas, wetlands, and stream corridors. The rationale for this program is that water is fundamental to life and is a basic requirement for virtually all of our agricultural, industrial, urban, and recreational activities, as well as the sustained health of the natural environment.

(NP #212) The ARS National Soil and Air Program has as its mission: to improve the quality of atmosphere and soil resources affected by, and having an effect on agriculture, and to understand the effects of, and prepare agriculture for, adaptation to climate change.

(NP #215) Research in NP215 is broadly classified into four Components that are organized around physical scales. Component 1 is designed to provide basic information at the plant and soil-based scale to expand genetic and genomic resources of plants used in grass, forage and rangeland production systems; enhance soil and plant interactions and function; and advance the understanding of plant metabolites and metabolic pathways. Components 2 and 3 address field-scale research to improve harvested and pasture-based forage productions systems. Component 4 addresses ecologically-based and landscape-scale research related to rangeland management that is critical to efficient and economical beef and sheep production. All four components address the agronomic productivity of grassland, forage, and rangelands; innovative uses of technology and production alternatives; systems-level analysis; production system resiliency to extreme weather and other disturbances; and provisioning of ecosystem services.

(NP #216) The mission of National Program (NP) 216, Sustainable Agricultural Systems, is to deliver scientific solutions that improve the holistic sustainability of U.S. agricultural and food systems and to design new systems that will be sustainable well into the future. Holistic sustainability includes food and nutrition security for all people, profitability for people employed in the agricultural sector, environmental health of agricultural landscapes, and quality of life for rural populations and society.