AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH:
Tornado Rips Apart Maryland Center
Robert Koenig
BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND--A tornado struck here in the early evening on 24 September, dealing a serious blow to research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), the world's largest agricultural research complex. BARC's director estimates the destruction at $20 million, including extensive damage to one-third of BARC's 8400 square meters of greenhouses. In addition to plants damaged by the flying debris, high winds, and exposure to the elements, a power outage of nearly 48 hours may have ruined numerous frozen tissue samples and collections.