USDA Blog

With a name like Fhb1, this particular gene is unlikely to ever become a household name. But it has the potential to combat a fungal disease that has been plaguing wheat farmers for years. Wheat scab can cripple a farmer’s yield and cost millions of dollars in crop losses.

April may be Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month, but I live it year-round. I spend my days with a team of fellow tree climbers, looking for signs of Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) damage in the treetops of Bethel, Ohio. This is where ALB damage is most evident – oftentimes not visible...

Since Congress overhauled the federal tax code in December 2017, forest landowners and timber business owners have scrambled to figure out how the new changes will affect them in 2018.

Financing is a challenge for business start-ups, and it is especially true for small farms. Sarah Longstreth, owner of Good Stead Farm, made her agriculture career goal a reality with some help from USDA.

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s here to help with all aspects of agriculture, it includes no-cost architectural services for stakeholders across the country. These services consist of initial design and plan evaluation for the construction or remodeling of wholesale markets...

Whether you’re a cattle producer, a pork processor, or a lamb feeder, reliable and timely market information is key to navigating the agricultural marketplace. Producers and businesses across America look to USDA Market News, part of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), as the source for...

Have you ever wondered how new looking and different tasting types of apples or tomatoes come to be? Improvements in taste, size, and color are often the result of years of research and plant breeding efforts. Many times, plant breeders search for traits in older varieties of plants to create new...

Hokuao Arce, a 12-year-old student at Molokai Middle School in Molokai, Hawaii, is naturally following in his family’s footsteps and embracing his agricultural background.

The mission of USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) is to anticipate trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food and rural America and produces objective economic research to inform and enhance public and private decision making. Among its research activities, ERS is conducting research on the...

At the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), researchers sometimes get a little destructive. They bend and break wood samples of all sizes, and even shoot lumber out of a cannon at 100 miles per hour.