Food System Resources: Recommended Databases

AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) serves as the catalog and index to the collections of the National Agricultural Library, as well as a primary public source for world-wide access to agricultural information. The database covers materials in all formats and periods, including printed works from as far back as the 15th century.

AGRIS was created by FAO in 1974 to facilitate information exchange and to identify world literature dealing with all aspects of agriculture. Particularly strong in literature from developing countries. Searches can be made in English, French, and Spanish.

CRIS was authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1966 to document the publicly-funded activities of the USDA/State agricultural and forestry research system. Available initially only to researchers, research administrators, and government personnel, the major portion of the database is now available free of charge to all users with access to the Internet. In addition, CRIS now documents a large and increasing number of education and extension activities funded by NIFA.

CRIS projects relating to human nutrition are provided annually to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for inclusion in the Human Nutrition Research and Information Management database (HNRIM). In CRIS these projects are designated as the subfile, "HNRIMS." Updates occur annually, therefore, all human nutrition projects in CRIS may not yet be coded as "HNRIMS."

Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index covers a wide range of serial titles including general gardening titles of national, international, and regional interest, and titles devoted to specialty gardens and plant groups. Indexed and abstracted are more than 500 core titles, the majority of which are published in English. Coverage for many titles extends back further than a decade. Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index brings together articles about plants and gardens into a single source, and it includes titles that are not available in any other index.

Plant Management Network (PMN) is a not-for-profit, online publishing effort whose mission is to enhance the health, management, and production of agricultural and horticultural crops. PMN achieves this mission by developing science-based resources that help researchers, crop management professionals, consultants, growers, educators, and students make better plant management decisions and recommendations.