July 2021

The Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) mission is to create domestic and international marketing opportunities for U.S. producers of food, fiber, and specialty crops. To accomplish this mission, AMS supports farmers markets in four ways.

The Secretary proclaimed the first week of August as National Farmers Market Week (PDF, 146 KB) as a way to champion the direct-to-consumer producers, market managers, and customers that make their communities come alive during market days.

Meal kits became more popular during the pandemic, as many households opted for food delivery due to stay at home orders and preferences for maintaining social distancing. Do these kits also help reduce food waste? Dr. Brenna Ellison, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, provides insights based on her study with USDA on meal kits.

In May, APHIS was awarded the prestigious Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The recognition is for Wildlife Services (WS) work with diverse partners to protect the Hawaiian goose and Laysan albatross from dangerous collisions with aircraft and to increase the birds’ populations and nesting habitats.

Do you appreciate your parents – the things they have done for you, life advice, or traditions they passed down? Now is a good time to ponder these things as every year, on the fourth Sunday in July, we celebrate National Parents’ Day!

Beginning July 23, all eyes will be on Japan as it hosts the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. For me, this summer’s Olympics is the perfect blend of things that I’m passionate about – there’s cycling, there’s an international governing body that oversees the games, and there’s fellowship between the United States and Japan.

A USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) project is trying to reimagine how carbon markets can work with and for small landholders. The Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP), led by the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and The Nature Conservancy, bases carbon payments on specific forest management practices that have been scientifically shown to increase the amount of carbon that gets removed from the atmosphere and stored in the trees and soil. The project’s goal is to facilitate the participation of nearly 300 million acres of family-owned American forests in carbon markets

Wetlands are one of nature’s most important and productive ecosystems. They provide wildlife habitat, store floodwaters, filter pollutants, capture carbon, and offer recreational opportunities. Since 2016, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has spent $20 million to establish wetland mitigation banks to help restore and protect wetland ecosystems on agricultural land.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 5.8 million Americans aged 65 or older live with Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is projected to nearly triple by 2060. Fortunately, USDA-funded research may have found a tasty way to slow disease onset.

This Fourth of July, join the revolution against foodborne illness. Summer’s rising temperatures make picnics a playground for bacteria as families prepare, cook, and eat food outside. Here are some tips to keep you safe: