USDA Blog

Recently tomato farmers from across the Bay State converged on Boston City Hall Plaza seeking top tomato bragging rights at the 26 th Annual Tomato Festival. I joined a panel of food writers, chefs, cookbook authors, grocers, and state officials as we readied our score sheets.

Imagine an open field of vegetables and greens, exposed to the sun and the wind on the outskirts of your town. Now imagine a row of trees sheltering the crops from hot dry winds and producing more marketable melons than in open fields; more snap beans earlier and later in the season when prices are...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio. As adults, we have heard for years about the value of adding fish to our diets. But have you ever stopped to consider...

Support local farmers, strengthen rural communities, promote healthy eating, and protect natural resources…these goals of our Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative find a lot of support in the results of a major new scientific study by the National Research Council, Toward Sustainable...

I recently traveled to the Texas State capitol of Austin for a speaking engagement in the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) “3E’s of Healthy Living 2010 FND Staff Conference.” Prior to the event I was given the opportunity to tour Decker Elementary, a recipient of American Recovery and...

I recently visited Lansdowne Middle School in Baltimore, Maryland to see new equipment the school purchased with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) grant money. I was delighted to hear Jerrisa Carter, Maryland’s Area Regional Food Service Director, say their new convection oven...

Providing our children safe and nutritious meals at school is a key priority for the Obama Administration. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) helped meet this goal through its $100 million investment in local school systems to enhance the nutritional quality of school meals...

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act continues to help families, the elderly, the unemployed and children across the country. The Act provided for an increase in monthly benefits for USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. ARRA money provides participating families of four...

I just took part in an exciting event at Brock Elementary School in Slidell, Louisiana. The school proudly hosted a visit by First Lady Michelle Obama on September 8, when she spoke about her Let’s Move! initiative and the importance of a healthy lifestyle for kids. As you can imagine, the school...

Cross posted from the White House Blog. Ed. Note: Building on the President’s commitment to address issues important to rural Americans, Administration officials are visiting State Fairs around the country, see a map of where we've been so far. When you grow up in rural America, as I did, there is...