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Reflections from the Road: USDA Co-Hosts Inaugural Regional Equity Convening in Michigan

On March 26, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held the first Regional Equity Convening at Carhartt Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan in partnership with Carhartt and the State of Michigan. Regional leaders and local stakeholders from across the Midwest were invited to learn about the recommendations included in the Equity Commission Final Report that was released at the National Equity Summit in February 2023.

Informing Conservation Decisions and Policies through 20 Years of USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project

Each day U.S. farmers and ranchers make thousands of management decisions, ranging from when and what to plant to weighing options for conserving their operation’s natural resources. They depend on an array of experts, research and data to inform these decisions. One of their sources is the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency.

Happy Compromise Farm: Nourishing Their Community, Body and Soul

Happy Compromise Farm + Sanctuary grows nutritious food for their local community distributed through a “free farm stand.” Though surrounded by farms in the rural Southern Tier of New York, the area is a food desert with a 16% poverty rate, a condition that often leads to higher risk for chronic health conditions and limited healthcare.

Increasing Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Youth Engagement, Farmer Support, and Climate Adaptation on the Tohono O’odham Nation

A sustainable and just local food system for Native Americans is the goal of an Arizona nonprofit. The Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Ajo CSA), a Native American-governed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is working with the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona to preserve and revitalize traditional O’odham seeds, agriculture, and culture, including dryland farming. The center supports projects including the O’odham Farmer’s Market, business incubator programs, year-round and summer youth agricultural internship programs, and the annual Southwest Native Foodways Gathering.

Restoring Michigan’s Aquatic Ecosystems through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) worked with Michigan’s Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to remove blockages to natural water flow in streams and rivers through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). USDA invested over $18 million in federal grants and $30 million were raised in local matching funds to replace undersized culverts with timber bridges, the removal of old and failing dams, and the purchase of conservation easements to prevent urban development on farmland – particularly fruit farms.

National Agriculture Day: Fifty Years Later, Farmers Are Growing a Climate for Tomorrow

Fifty years after the creation of National Agriculture Day, America’s farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners find themselves on the front lines of climate change. They are uniquely positioned to deliver solutions by implementing climate-smart practices that conserve natural resources, build healthier soils, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon.

NRCS Engineer of the Year Monitors Potential Inundation Areas Below Watershed Dams in Kansas

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)’s 2023 Engineer of the Year, Peter Clark is clear about the importance of what people like him do. Engineers “harness the math, harness the statistics … and apply science” to figure out how to solve a problem, such as building a dam to help capture and slowly release runoff from rainfall events to reduce flooding impacts.