USDA Blog

America’s farmers, ranchers and growers are some of our nation’s greatest assets. Not only do we rely on agriculture for our food, feed, fiber, and fuel, our agricultural producers preserve our environment, and help drive our national economy. As I travel the country, I often ask folks when they...

It was fitting that the afternoon session of this month’s National Congress of American Indians meeting in Washington, DC, featured, as the lead speaker, former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan. After leaving office, Senator Dorgan created a center for Native American Youth and remains an advocate...

In one of the first of its kind studies in the South, a research social scientist with the Forest Service Southern Research Station recently examined Latino access to local public lands in Hall County, Ga. Census-track-based information from studies like this can help municipal and county planners...

Pacific Northwest diversified crop and livestock producers now have a valuable online tool to help them better evaluate whole-farm insurance protection. AGR-Lite is a federally subsidized, whole-farm revenue protection package and is available through private crop insurance agents in 38 states. The...

The Forest Service has added an iPhone/iPad application called Invasive Plants in Southern Forests: Identification and Management to its strategy of reducing nonnative invasive plants in the South. The free app will allow more people to get involved in eradicating foreign plants, which, along with...

Each year, USDA Rural Development assists thousands of limited income Americans achieve the dream of homeownership. We do it with the support of our partners and our field staff. Below, cross-posted from the White House website, is the story of one person in Utah who teamed with USDA to make a big...

Last month the White House and the USDA hosted the “Recognition of Manufacturing Success in Rural America” event at the White House Eisenhower Executive Office building in Washington, DC. The ceremony recognized 46 rural manufacturing companies that have made outstanding contributions to the economy...

Every five years USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service asks millions of people around the country to fill out the Census of Agriculture. And inevitably, we get millions of questions about it. This time around, we are taking advantage of communication tools that weren't available to us last...

Cross posted from Politico: As agriculture undersecretary and a former director of state Health and Human Services departments in Maine, Oregon and Iowa, I know the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. In today’s difficult economic times, this vital...

Bhutan is a small mountainous kingdom nestled in the Himalayas. Some people know it as the country that measures gross national happiness in addition to its gross domestic product. Others may have heard about its innovative, eco-friendly approach to tourism or of its Dragon King’s royal wedding in...