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"Research Excellence: Meeting Customer Expectations"

Northern Plains Area (NPA)

On this page:

Welcome to the Northern Plains Area of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service! We are home to 42% of our Nation's rangeland, one-third of its cropland, 13% of its surface water, and the largest wildlife habitats of any region in the lower 48 states.

Farmers in the Northern Plains provide our Nation with 51% of its barley, 46% of its wheat, 44% of its grain sorghum, 37% of its sorghum silage, 32% of its sheep and lambs, 27% of its cows and calves, and between 13-24% of its oats, forage, grain corn, silage corn, soybeans, hogs, and pigs, with a combined value of approximately $34 billion annually.

Solving Problems - "Research Excellence: Meeting Customer Expectations"

To sustain and enhance this agricultural productivity and our natural resources, Agricultural Research Service scientists at 14 locations (linked on map above) in the 8-state Northern Plains Area conduct research on bioenergy, global climate change, human nutrition, water management, sustainable agriculture, soil management, crop protection, animal health, food animal production, food safety, manure and byproduct utilization, plant biology, plant diseases, plant genetics, rangelands, crop production, air quality, and veterinary entomology. Please see our " Research" section for information on specific projects or check out our " Products and Services" section for a handy listing of models, software, germplasms and other useful products growing out of that research.

These individual research projects are primarily conducted in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming and contribute to solving national problems by addressing high priority research of our National Programs.

We invite you to delve deeper into our website to learn more about the many research efforts underway in the NPA...and return often, because new discoveries are just a click away!


		NPA News & Events Find out what's happening in the Northern Plains Area.			New Scientists Newly appointed scientist professional development program info.

		Outreach, Diversity, & Equal Opportunity The NPA values the diversity of employees.			Ethics Ethics info for NPA employees.

		Voices Publication A biannual publication of the NPA Diversity Task Force.			Internship & Apprentice Information Summer employment information for students.

A Message from the Area Director:

Welcome to the Northern Plains Area of the Agricultural Research Service. We hope this web site will provide valuable information for our employees and the general public. The primary purpose of our site is to link you with our research programs and our Area Office function. In addition, links have been provided to connect you with several other important sites of information on agricultural research and administrative management. We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement. Thanks for visiting our web site.

- Dr. Will Blackburn

About the pictures on our site...

Images Explained All the graphics and photos used on our website depict research efforts and landscapes from the NPA. Many of the pictures were taken by the skilled photographers of ARS' monthly Agricultural Research magazine. Photographers represented on our site include: Scott Bauer, Jack Dykinga, Keith Weller, Stephen Ausmus, Tim McCabe, Bruce Fritz, and Bob Richard, APHIS.

Other pictures on our site were provided by ARS employees from NPA research locations throughout our eight-state region. We thank them, as well, for their beautiful contributions!

Note: Many of the photos used on this site can be downloaded from the ARS Image Gallerywebsite, along with hundreds of others depicting ARS research from across the nation. Both high and low resolution versions are available. Enjoy!

The user-friendly URL for this page is: www.ars.usda.gov/npa