Links for Agricultural Librarians

Core Sites

  • National Agricultural Library – U.S. Department of Agriculture. Produces a wide variety of information resources useful to producers, consumers, librarians, and teachers. Specifically look at the TOPICS page which highlights core resource areas.
  • USDA – information about the programs and services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Topics from animals to climate change to forestry to nutrition to trade.
  • FAO – information about the programs and services of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. 

Bibliographic and full text databases and resource center

General

  • AGRICOLA – database of bibliographic records created by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and its cooperators, which contains citations for books, audiovisual materials, and journal articles, and web publications.
  • AGRIS – brings together world literature dealing with all aspects of agriculture. Millions of bibliographic records in 90 different languages from the member countries of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N. Prioritizing the collection and harvesting of peer-reviewed and grey literature in equal measure . No full text
  • FAO publications – Full text to FAO publications – searchable via the search icon on the top right of the FAO pages
  • PubAg – a portal to USDA-authored and other highly relevant agricultural research. Includes full text.
  • PubMed – from the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources. Includes veterinary medicine, animal science, nutrition and health, and genetics information.

Subject specific

  • AgEcon Search – repository of full-text journal articles, working papers, and conference papers in agricultural and applied economics.
  • Breeds of Livestock – Information on cattle, goats, horses, sheep, swine, and poultry breeds.
  • Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA) – a core full text collection of historical agricultural texts published between the early nineteenth century and the middle to late twentieth century.
  • Current Research Information System – (CRIS) The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) documentation and reporting system for ongoing and recently completed research projects in agriculture, food and nutrition, and forestry. Indication of published research about the projects may be included.
  • Farmland Information Center – a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship.
  • National Agricultural Law Center – includes full-text of federal and state laws relating to agriculture and environment.
  • NRCS Soils Web site – Scientifically based soil information. Includes full-text technical manuals, soils surveys, and educational material.
  • Nutrition.gov – gateway to reliable information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety for consumers.
  • PLANTS Database — by USDA, searchable by scientific and common name, provides taxonomy and distribution information, often includes photos and further information.
  • TreeSearch – full text of US Forest Service publications and research.
  • US Forest Service Library catalog – citations to forestry and forestry-related natural resource literature. Some full text.
  • USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System – (ESMIS) contains the full text of nearly 2500 reports and datasets covering U.S. and international agriculture and related topics. Mostly statistical but some analysis as well.
  • USGS National Wildlife Health Center – includes information about avian flu, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile virus.  

Statistics

  • Agricultural Statistics (Annual) – (USDA) contains statistics on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns.
  • Census of Agriculture – taken every five years, and provides statistics by state, county and zip code.
  • Commodity Markets – A World Bank website provides monthly world prices of commodities (pink sheets) as well as forecasts of key commodity prices.
  • FAOSTAT – free access to food and agriculture data for over 245 countries and territories and covers all FAO regional groupings from 1961 to the most recent year available. 

Image Specific Sites

  • ARS/USDA Image Gallery – animals, crops, fruits and vegetables, insects and lab work.
  • Bugwood Images– includes invasive species, forestry, agriculture, integrated pest management, plants, insects, diseases, fungi, wildlife, fire and other natural resource issues. Most images are in the public domain.
  • Iowa State Entomology Gallery – includes some ants, bees, wasps as well as beetles, lice, cicadas, flies and mosquitoes, grasshoppers, ticks and damage to crops by insects.
  • Noble Foundation Plant Image Gallery — searchable by scientific or common name, includes photos and background information.

Page information
The resources on this list were originally compiled by unknown, date unknown.

Page last updated by Helen Smith (Agricultural Sciences Librarian, Life Sciences Library, Penn State), May 2, 2023

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