The U.S. Office of Personnel Management aimed this week to alleviate confusion about the status of federal offices during inclement weather or natural disasters. The department issued new language and updated dismissal and closure procedures after Hurricane Sandy left employees and the public baffled about whether offices were opened or closed. The new announcement will be: “Federal offices are closed-Emergency and telework ready employees must follow their agency’s policies.” The old announcement stated that federal offices were closed to the public, leading people to think that employees still had to come to work. Read more (Federal News Radio).

USDA researchers have found a way to conserve water given post-harvest to early-season peaches in California’s San Joaquin Valley without affecting the quality. Early-season peaches are harvested in May but require most of their water from June through September when temperatures and demand for water are high. According to the study results, giving 50 percent less water than normal would have minimal effect on the quality and yield and trees needed less pruning and maintenance because the deficit irrigation slowed plant growth. Read more.

Turkey always serves as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving Day meal, but many of today’s birds are far from what originators of the holiday ate. Scientist from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics have found that domestic turkeys that now end up on dinner tables vary greatly from their ancestral wild counterparts that were first domesticated in 800 B.C. The study showed that breast development and size were major differences. Commercial turkeys served today descended from Mexico and were discovered during the Spanish Conquest and transported to Europe. Learn more (Smithsonian) or review the study.

Nearly four centuries after the very first Thanksgiving feast, Americans sitting down with their families can still taste the role agriculture plays in the holiday – and the even bigger role it plays in their lives.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), U.S. farmers will raise 254 million turkeys, and harvest 768 million pounds of cranberries and 47 billion pounds of potatoes this year. The most recent NASS data reports that producers also grew 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins and 1.9 billion pounds of green beans to provide many sides dishes this Thanksgiving. Compare that with the menu that history tells us Thanksgiving consisted of in 1621 — a handful of wild turkeys and geese, along with a few baskets of assorted beans, corn and pumpkins grown by pilgrims and Native Americans. Read more.