USDA Blog

Throughout Minnesota, women are increasingly responsible for the stewardship of private forestlands, as the number of women owning and managing land across the country increases. To address this trend, the Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network (WWN) was formed in 2010. WWN provides resources to women...

Some people have “heaven on earth.” Have you ever wondered who or what they were talking about? If you were in Wyoming, it might have been Gary and Karen Ricley and their ranch along Slater Flats. When Gary was offered an early retirement from his executive job in the auto industry in 1998, he was...

As construction gets underway, Vian, Oklahoma residents eagerly await the completion of their new regulation size track and fitness facility. This small rural community located in eastern Sequoyah County hopes to encourage fitness and healthy living with the new facility, funded in part by USDA...

Last year for Homeownership Month we visited Rita Fincher to whom we had made a Single Family Housing Direct loan to help purchase a home. I was so impressed with her story last year that I decided I wanted to go back and visit her to see “what difference a year had made in her life with her new...

Earlier this week Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O’Brien and Congressman Bruce Braley met with nearly 30 northeast Iowa producers and residents to discuss the important role rural economic development provisions have in the upcoming discussions of the next farm, food and jobs bill...

It was lights, camera and action as a videographer for the National Rural Economic Developers Association (NREDA) and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) traveled across eastern South Dakota. Hosted by the Rural Electric Economic Development, Inc. (REED) Fund, video interviews...

As you may know, USDA recently issued its Expenditures on Children by Families, 2011 report, which analyzes the costs of raising a child born in 2011. USDA has been tracking the cost of raising a child annually since 1960. Expenses are examined by the age of the child, household income, budgetary...

Understanding a community’s food environment is key to understanding a community’s identity. But what can a “food environment” tell us? A community’s food environment is a technical term for assessing information about the who, what, where, and how of food availability in a given community: Who are...

As Americans joined family and friends to celebrate America’s independence, tens of millions took to our highways and Interstates – and I know that gas prices were on the minds of many. President Obama understands the impact gas prices can have for families, and he is committed to an “all of the...

Though the morning could be cool, even pleasant at times, scorching heat was promised to each of the more than 250 volunteer students who signed up and traveled – some more than 2,000 miles – to Monument Valley, Utah, to work in the desert sun on Navajo homes.