AGRICOLA
The U.S. National Agricultural Library's free index for agriculture and the food sciences.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- U.S. National Agricultural Library (NAL), USDA
- Coverage
6M+ records covering agriculture, animal and plant sciences, food and nutrition, forestry, and the environment, including much grey literature (verify current counts).
- Access
Free and open; no registration.
- Free alternative
- It is free; CAB Abstracts for the broader subscription index.
- Regional
U.S.-centric but internationally used agricultural index.
Our Take
AGRICOLA is the agricultural counterpart to a free government index like ERIC or PubMed — the National Agricultural Library’s catalog of journal articles, reports, and the grey literature that agricultural research generates in volume. For food science, agronomy, and related fields it is a solid, free starting point, especially for USDA and North American material. The limits are that it is U.S.-leaning and less comprehensive internationally than the big subscription indexes, and inclusion is not a quality filter. Use it as your free agricultural index; pair with CAB Abstracts or Scopus for global comprehensiveness.
Power Tips
- Use it to surface USDA and North American grey literature — reports and bulletins the commercial indexes miss.
- For a comprehensive international review, pair it with CAB Abstracts or FSTA.
- Filter carefully; inclusion here is not a peer-review guarantee.
Alternatives & Complements
CAB Abstracts, FSTA, Scopus, Web of Science
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026