Welcome to our new website!  We are currently in the process of moving, but until the process is complete we would like to welcome you to visit us at our other site located here: http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/.

Latest Lab News

Redlin Receives National Award
Beth Redlin, Technical Information Specialist with the USDA/ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab (NPARL) in Sidney, has won the 2004 Excellence in Information Award. This national award, given annually by the ARS, honors the individual who has exhibited “exemplary service in information sharing that communicates ARS findings to customers and promotes NPARL, ARS, and USDA accomplishments throughout the region, nation, and internationally.”
Redlin’s nomination, based on a compilation of all the work she has done at the Sidney ARS lab, made it all the way to the top of the heap, winning out over information specialists from other ARS labs across the country. “This is definitely an honor and very unexpected, especially since we are a small lab,” Redlin says of her outstanding accomplishment.   The Roundup (http://www.esidney.com/) By Lois Kerr

ARS researchers to participate in international crop and soil meeting
Several scientists from NPARL’s Agricultural Systems Research Unit will be participating in the 2004 joint annual meeting of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA)-Crop Science Society of America (CSSA)-Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) to be held in Seattle, WA, Oct. 31-Nov. 4. Entitled “Science to Secure Food and the Environment” this year’s meeting is also being held in conjunction with the Canadian Society of Soil Science. The scientists participating from NPARL and their poster topics are:
Microbiologist TheCan Caesar, “Isolation, identification, and characterization of soil aggregating bacteria in microaggregates from two agronomic sites.” Coauthors on the poster include NPARL Plant Pathologist Anthony Caesar and Soil Scientist Upendra Sainju.
Weed Ecologist Andy Lenssen, “Yield, Quality, Water Use, and Weeds in Annual Forage-Spring Durum Cropping Systems.” Co-author on the poster is G.D. Johnson from Montana State University – Bozeman.
Soil Scientist Upendra Sainju, “Tillage, Cover Crops, and Nitrogen Fertilization Effects on Cotton and Sorghum Yields and Nitrogen Uptake.” Coauthors on the poster include W.F. Whitehead, and B.P. Singh, of Fort Valley State University, Georgia.
Soil Scientist Jed Waddell, “National Pollutant Loads from Animal Feeding Operations.”
In addition to his poster presentation, Dr. Sainju will also do an oral presentation at the meeting on “Seasonal variations in rhizoma peanut and perennial weed biomass and soil carbon and nitrogen pools.” Coauthors of that paper include T.H. Terrill, S. Gelaye, and B.P. Singh, all of Fort Valley State University, Georgia. The yearly ASA-CSSA-SSSA meetings bring together more than 4,000 people from as many as 40 countries representing academia, government and private industry, including a large contingent of undergraduate and graduate students.

About Us

The Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory (NPARL) in Sidney, MT is one of more than 120 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facilities. ARS is the in-house research agency for the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), and conducts research to solve agricultural problems of a high national priority.  (Click here to read about some national agricultural issues being studied at NPARL,for some examples, or for more information, check out our "Science" section at left.)
 

Located near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, NPARL is in the heart of the "Mon-Dak" region. Eastern Montana and western North Dakota are rich in history and agricultural potential. The "Corps of Discovery," the official name of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, camped in the area in both their outward and return journeys. The NPARL, and its partners, are a new ‘corps of discovery,’ contributing to the region’s on-going agricultural expansion and diversification.

The NPARL mission is to develop ecologically based strategies, technologies, and products for the sustainable management of crops and rangeland, and natural resource systems. Current research is focused on three main areas: biological control of selected noxious weeds, insect pests and fungal pathogens; the ecology and management of grasshoppers; and development of sustainable irrigated and dryland agricultural production systems. In addition to providing new knowledge, this research is catalyzing the development of improved management practices for sustainable agricultural and rangeland production systems in the Northern Great Plains.