USDA Blog

Late last week Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan attended the Working Lands Alliance’s Tenth Anniversary Conference at Yale University. While there, the Deputy Secretary announced that a total of $207,000 in funds from the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program (RBEG) will be provided...

Yesterday it was my privilege to address those attending the Biomass 2010 Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Obama Administration is committed to fighting the effects of climate change while supporting farmers and ranchers, and promoting sustainable economic growth. My...

A few weeks ago, USDA Rural Development helped the Antlers, Oklahoma EMS purchase a brand new six-wheeled ATV with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This was an important investment considering that the EMS team did not own one already.

When Lela Bunch talks about the prospect of building a new home so she and her children can have a place of their own and more living space, you can hear the excitement in her voice. Between deciding what trees to plant and selecting new furnishings and appliances, it is clear how much the prospect...

USDA Rural Business-Cooperatives programs Administrator Judith Canales was the luncheon speaker earlier this week to a crowd of nearly 100 at the Rural Jobs, Rural Opportunities conference hosted by Nebraska Rural Development in Kearney. The conference was a follow up to the Rural Jobs Forum held...

The Forest Service is collaboratively developing a new planning rule for the National Forest System that will be rooted in science. The collaborative dialog really opened up March 29-30 in Washington DC at the National Science Forum. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited the Forum in...

During the school year, the National School Lunch Program serves more than 30.9 million students. What happens when school lets out? In the summer, about 1.4 million of these children eat a school meal in summer school, while over 2 million more enjoy breakfasts, lunches or snacks through the Summer...

Written by Kelly Edwards, USDA Public Information Officer

Today is an exciting day at USDA – and across the government – as we release our Open Gov Plan that formalizes plans to integrate openness, transparency, participation and collaboration into our every day activities. The path has been an exciting one, and USDA has met the Open Government Directive...

This week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack left the beauty of a cherry blossom adorned nation’s capital to travel to the origin of the beautiful pink and white flowered trees—Japan (where one finds even larger crowds of tourists, amateur photographers, and general admirers of the cherry blossom...