USDA Blog

The largest wood beams ever tested are being studied at the US Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wis. If you’ve ever wondered what 80,000 pounds of load looks or sounds like when applied to a 72-foot-long, 3-ton wood beam, now’s your chance. Bam! View this short video to...

On March 14-15, employees from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) participated in the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Employment Extravaganza in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Thanks to advertisements in the school newspaper and other local media outlets, the event had a great turnout. The...

Most people are familiar with the weekly summer ritual of mowing the lawn. At best, the smell of fresh cut grass is appealing, but often the task is considered time consuming, tiring and expensive. What if your “lawn” was actually hundreds of acres in size, and how often you mowed it, what type of...

It’s time for the NCAA Men’s Final Four --- and all eyes are usually glued to the action on the court. But this year special attention is being paid to the actual court itself. This ‘Court of Champions’ comes from the Menominee Forest and Menominee Tribal Enterprises in Wisconsin. It all began with...

If you teach it, you must live it. That is the wisdom Steven R. Kochemba adheres to. Kochemba is a science teacher and the athletic director for the Joseph Badger School District in Trumbull County north of Youngstown, Ohio. He’s also a farmer. Among his other science courses, Kochemba teaches 8 th...

John Miller got the call at 12:45 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2007. Freeborn Lumber Company – the business John’s grandfather bought in 1946 and John purchased from his father in 1986 – was burning to the ground. Less than 30 minutes later, the nearly 100-year-old building was destroyed. Lightning struck a...

Located in the heart of a “food desert” in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Joshua Farm is a unique one-acre operation that is growing produce for locals through the use of a seasonal high tunnel. The high tunnel (also known as a “hoop house”) makes urban farming possible and extends the...

Did you know that USDA manages 193 million acres of land; occupies approximately 89 million square feet of office and laboratory space and operates over 23,000 buildings? And if this isn’t enough, USDA also operates a fleet of over 40,000 motor vehicles and equipment. With statistics like these, it...

Like everyone involved in the trade mission to China, I’m excited for the opportunity to be a part of the USDA delegation and join Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse as he leads this historic trip. Not only is China a vital agricultural trading partner...

Chris Holliday has more pastureland than he needs for his cows—335 acres to be exact. So when USDA introduced a way to use that land to help create clean energy while reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, he saw it as an opportunity. “I thought it was a good idea and I had a good feeling about it...