USDA Blog

To recognize the contribution that research in agriculture makes in our daily lives, we’re focusing this month’s Science Tuesday blogs on the successes that USDA science agencies have achieved for us all. How do we know where we’re going unless we know where we’re starting from? That question is the...

The U.S. Forest Service Green Team wants you to know that Green Office Week has arrived from across the Atlantic. The first Green Office Week was launched in 2009 in Great Britain in response to research showing that United Kingdom employees felt they were being held back from being environmentally...

As the weather begins to get warmer and the sun stays high in the sky longer, we hope your thoughts turn to camping and outdoor activities on your national forests and grasslands. Whether you are camping on the ground, in a tent or in a recreational vehicle, whether it’s your first time or you’re a...

Sigurd, Utah, located on the border of Fishlake National Forest, is a town of 435 and varying elevations. The highs and lows of Sigurd’s landscape make it a beautiful place to live, but with an outdated water system, the location caused problems for the residents. For years, the town coped with a...

Until recently, Thomas Barnett, formerly of Washington state, did not have a career goal in mind. However, this spring, the 24-year-old graduated from the Centennial Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Nampa, Idaho, and will begin his career as a seasonal firefighter on a fire crew with the...

When it comes to growing crops, weather is a constantly changing variable. These past few years, grain farmers have been on a veritable weather roller coaster. The floods of 2011 were followed by perfect spring planting conditions in 2012. Conditions deteriorated rapidly, resulting in one of the...

May 2 nd dawned a majestic spring day in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado as rural and tribal stakeholders from the Four Corners region descended upon the San Juan National Forest Headquarters to learn more about USDA’s StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity Initiative...

Some children are unaware that in order to reduce tree hazards, protect other trees, or to get wood, it is necessary to cut trees. So the recently published book “Why Would Anyone Cut a Tree Down?” is intended to raise awareness of the issue. The book, which primarily targets first to third grade...

This year, USDA is committed to helping Congress get a comprehensive, multiyear Food, Farm and Jobs Bill passed as soon as possible. This is critical to provide certainty for U.S. producers, while giving USDA the tools we need to continue strengthening the rural economy. Without a Food, Farm and...

Austin Midkiff thinks, breathes and lives farming. It’s all he has done since he was six years old. By the time he was 14, he took over his grandparent’s 10-acre farm in Springdale, W.Va. “When I turned 16 my grandparents sold everything to me in order to teach me how to get things on my own and...