USDA Blog

I am a rancher and a military veteran, in addition to being a data collection coordinator for USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That makes me particularly passionate about one of the additions to this year’s Census of Agriculture: a question about military veteran status. All...

Memorial Day Weekend means hitting the road for many of us – vacations, camping, or even moving to a new home. But watch out for an invasive pest that also enjoys new destinations—the destructive gypsy moth. Gypsy moth caterpillars can defoliate, weaken and kill more than 300 different species of...

Every month, USDA shares the story of a woman in agriculture who is leading the industry and helping other women succeed along the way. This month, we are proud to share the story of Sarah Jovan, a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Portland, Oregon. Sarah, along with her colleague...

Adversity isn’t a stranger to Florida citrus growers. Throughout Florida’s history of citrus production, producers have dealt with damages left in the wake of multiple hurricanes and freezes. Larry Black is a fifth-generation citrus grower and general manager of Peace River Packing Company in Polk...

May is peak time for seasonal allergies, so it’s also a great time to learn more about how food allergies affect children and the critical role schools play in keeping children who suffer from them safe at school. Understanding food allergies and identifying allergic reactions could even help save...

May is World Trade Month, a time set aside to acknowledge and reflect on the importance of global trade. But here at USDA, you could say that every month is “Trade Month” because few industries depend more upon – and benefit more from – trade than American agriculture.

A variety of students, faculty, and wellness organizations promote the messages of MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans through our MyPlate On Campus initiative. As many colleges and universities prepare for the end of the semester, we wanted to look back on MyPlate activities conducted...

April showers bring May flowers. That is what many would like to have seen Mother Nature deliver this spring. Instead, late April brought an onslaught of unusual weather across the country. Excessive rainfall caused record-breaking floods in the central U.S., a blizzard pelted the High Plains...

By probing the life cycles of parasites, Jitender Dubey’s research during the past 40 years has been instrumental in saving lives, curbing disabilities in newborn infants and greatly reducing the number of horses, cattle and lambs killed each year by infectious diseases. Dubey, a parasitologist with...

It’s that glorious time of year when spring is in full effect – everything is green, the weather is warm, flowers are in bloom, and the birds are chirping. It’s hard not to have an extra spring in your step this time of year, no pun intended. Your local farmers market is likely brimming with a wide...