USDA Blog

The concept of ensuring access to foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products dates nearly to the founding of the Republic, when Thomas Jefferson was posted to Paris to, in his own words, ensure “the receipt of our whale-oils, salted fish, and salted meats, on favorable terms; the admission of...

Did you know that the average DC commuter spends an average of 5.5 hrs each week stuck in traffic and that Americans around the country who commute to work emit approximately 1 ton of pollutants each year? Telework helps to keep our skies blue and our roads open- all while still continuing to...

One ag-educator expressed the feelings of many at the first meeting of the USDA Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers when he concluded, “This meeting is a progressive step in the right direction. USDA should be commended for doing this, and should convene this kind of public forum more often.” A...

Petoskey Plastics, owners of a Blackford County-based plastics recycling and manufacturing facility, completed installation last week of a Meteorological (MET) tower at its Hartford City location. The MET tower will measure wind speed, velocity and direction, as well as provide the first precise...

Celebrations always seem bigger in Texas. And the one on February 25, at Brawner Intermediate School in Granbury, Texas, was no exception. The event recognized the school’s invaluable partnership with dairy farmers, the Fuel Up to Play 60 program and USDA, who teamed to make an unprecedented pledge...

Last fall I was honored to participate in the Job Corp’s Top Chef Competition held on at the Department of Agriculture (USDA). I must say it was one of the most delicious assignments I’ve ever had! The competition, inspired by Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, was a huge success. Over 20 Food...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: Today I had the honor of joining some of our nation’s principal thought-leaders at the site of Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines an unprecedented private-public partnership committed to child health and...

A regional initiative in Southwest Iowa originally intended to train farmers on local-food production has evolved into a rural-urban partnership that touches a poverty-stricken community. I joined USDA Rural Development Acting Deputy Under Secretary Doug O’Brien in Oakland, Iowa, recently to meet...

Please join us for music, food, games and other merriment at USDA’s Harvest Festival this Friday, October 29 th, from 10 am to 2 pm in the People’s Garden and Farmers Market at USDA Headquarters on the corner of Jefferson Drive and 12 Street, SW in Washington, DC.

Every summer since I was four years old, I’ve been returning to a small glacial lake in Northern Wisconsin where my family had summer cottages. As a child, I’d spend all day swimming in the lake that was darkened by the tannins secreted by the surrounding hemlock trees. The lake was often so cold...