A visit to the ARS National Visitor Center gives you a chance to look through a very special window. Through it you can view the resources of the Agricultural Research Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-described by Abraham Lincoln as "the people's department." You can find thousands of research experiments that provide technological advances for the nation's largest industry—agriculture—and dozens of related fields.

If you want a tour of research, you'll find that your questions and specific interests will lead you to some pretty familiar things—kitchen and garden sciences.

The historic Beltsville buildings, barns, silos, fields, and animals form the basis of your visit. Tour stops cover a variety of agricultural topics, including plants, animals, human nutrition and the environment.

Here are some commonly asked questions from visitors:

• What are the origins of modern foods?
• We all know about supermarkets, but how does agricultural science lead to such a wide variety of food choices?
• How are raw commodities-such as milk, soybeans, or oranges-processed into cheeses, cooking oil, concentrated juice, and other products?
• What's the latest in feeding, raising, and breeding of livestock?
• What careers are in agricultural research?
• How does research on the human diet improve our health?
• How do ARS scientists know what to study and for how long?

No matter where your interests lie, you're bound to learn something about the science of agriculture while at the ARS Visitor Center.

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