USDA Blog

I want to thank Avoided Deforestation Partners for holding this event and inviting me to join all of the distinguished speakers here today in urging the adoption of REDD plus as part of a global climate framework.

Today in Copenhagen, agricultural research took center stage at the United Nations Climate Change Conference when Ministers from 17 countries and I launched a Global Research Alliance that will help us better understand how agriculture can help reduce greenhouse gases while also growing more food...

Late last month Bill Wehry, State Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency and I warmly welcomed a crowd of over 35 to the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Building for a roundtable discussion on jobs and economic growth in Pennsylvania. This event was held on a Monday following an intense...

Langston, Oklahoma is a lot like many rural towns across the country; it has an aging population and a growing need for health care facilities. Now, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Langston will be able to renovate and expand its local health clinic.

Oklahomans gathered in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Tuesday to kick off 2010 by accepting President Obama’s invitation to participate in the development of the next step in his administration’s strategy to create jobs and promote economic growth. Nearly 50 people joined together on the first business day...

Nearly every seat in the Edmunds Conference Center at Northern Maine Community College, in Presque Isle was filled January 5 th for the USDA Community Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth in Maine’s largest and most northern county. The seventeen inches of snow that fell in previous days did not...

USDA’s Rural Development and Farm Service Agency hosted a Jobs and Economic Growth Forum on January 5, 2010 at the Rutgers EcoComplex in Bordentown, NJ. USDA was asked to lead the effort to listen to community leaders, non-profit organizations, business owners, economists, federal, state and local...

Labor, banking, local government and development officials joined representatives from USDA in Guam last month for a jobs forum, one of a number scheduled across America. The Obama Administration, through USDA Rural Development and Farm Service Agency staff, is seeking comments from Americans in all...

Freezing temperatures, swirling winds and snow didn’t stop about 90 people from coming out and sharing their ideas with the USDA about how the agency can best create jobs and economic development in rural communities. The North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota offices of USDA Rural Development and...

The Mississippi Jobs Forum, a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama, was held on Wednesday, January 6, 2010.