ARS: Moving Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality Research from Development to Practical Outcome

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is a problem solving federal agency which conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural concerns of high national priority. ARS provides research, information access and dissemination to: Ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products; Assess the nutritional needs of Americans; Sustain a competitive agricultural economy; Enhance the natural resource base and the environment; Provide economic opportunities for rural citizens, communities, and society as a whole. ARS research is conducted under 4 programs in ARS: Animal Production and Protection; Crop Productions and Protections; Natural Resources& Sustainable Agricultural Systems; and Nutrition, Food safety and Quality. The research conducted is planned in 5 year actions plans which guide the research agenda. The major issues in the next few years will focus on research to address how we can increase production of high quality and nutritious foods to feed and expanding population estimated to reach 9 billion globally by 2050. Among the areas to be addressed are climate change, post-harvest food waste, increased food security and safety. ARS is ideally situated to conduct the research and transfer the technology and solutions to our stakeholders in solving the problems posed by the significant increase estimated in global population.