USDA Blog

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of providing the commencement address for Florida A&M University’s spring 2015 graduates. As a designated 1890 historically black land-grant university, FAMU plays a critical role in teaching students to meet the high quality, innovative research needs that are vital...

Every day, USDA employees are hard at work providing safe, nutritious food for our families and children; conserving our land and natural resources; supporting our nation’s farmers and ranchers; expanding market opportunities for American agriculture at home and abroad; and investing in our rural...

Congress enacted the Second Morrill Act, creating a group of African-American land-grant universities, in the year 1890. Today – 125 years later – USDA maintains a close, supportive and cooperative relation with these 19 schools located in 18 states that are commonly known as “1890 Universities.”...

Tucked in the middle of a mixed commercial and residential area of New Orleans still struggling to recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, is Carter G. Woodson Middle School − a state of the art public charter school known as Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Central City Academy. As I...

For years now, the U.S. Forest Service has been encouraging visitors to our nation’s forests and grasslands, to not only enjoy all there is out there, but to play safe and play clean. One example of this outreach effort is the PlayCleanGo: Stop Invasive Species In Your Tracks campaign. PlayCleanGo...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA's rich science and research profile. Have you ever heard the saying, “In God we trust, all others bring data?" Those are the words of William Edwards Deming, a...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA's rich science and research profile. This was not your typical class trip. The group of agriculture students from Honduras who visited USDA’s National Soil...

In the 1950s and 60s USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), working with state, local governments and partners, designed and built many dams across the United States for flood and sediment control and water storage. Many of these dams are coming to the end of their design life. In...

In late 2011, the President announced a White House Rural Council initiative lead by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to invest in rural health and link rural doctors and hospitals to financing for health IT. The initiative was designed to...

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is committed to helping America’s children get the nutritious food they need to learn and grow. Direct certification for school meals is one important strategy to make that possible for the low-income children. This process links student enrollment records to...