USDA Blog

Los vientos de invierno pueda que aún estén soplando en donde usted vive, pero ya es hora de empezar a pensar en el verano. Cuando haya terminado el año escolar, más de 20 millones de niños que reciben almuerzo (lonche) gratis o a precio reducido durante el año a través del Programa Nacional de...

The winds of winter may still be blowing where you live, but it is already time to start thinking about the summer. When school is finished, over 20 million children who receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program will be in trouble. Less...

My team at the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station recently completed a study of the District of Columbia’s urban forest using the publicly available, free iTree software suite. Understanding an urban forest's structure, function and value can promote management decisions that will improve...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: We know that to win the future, we have to ensure that our kids have access to nutritious meals and healthy lifestyles. Last September, First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Recipes for Healthy Kids competition to bring together chefs, school nutrition...

Dog waste that isn’t cleaned up isn’t just a hazard for the bottom of your shoes—it is also a cause of pollution in creeks, rivers and lakes across the country. Dog waste contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which can deplete oxygen that fish and other water-based life need to survive, as well as...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the U.S. Department of Agriculture blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the agency’s rich science and research portfolio. I had it for dinner last night, and I'm sure more than a few of you did as well. For...

Spencer Garvey, a young resident of Milton, Pennsylvania, is looking forward to visiting the children’s library at the new Milton Public Library at Rose Hill, where stakeholders and local officials broke ground last week. By early next year, the historic mansion in the heart of Milton will be...

Breakfast matters! And starting the day on a nutritious note enables our children to learn better and acquire the energy needed for academic success. To amplify that message, this week USDA celebrates School Breakfast Week to ensure our nation’s children have the best opportunity to prosper in...

The African-American farmer is a rare breed in the United States, and their numbers have declined dramatically over the past few decades. This trend, particularly, is due to the fact that young people are not entering the field to replace an increasingly aging population. In Florida, the average...

On March 3 rd, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan gave an informative speech about USDA’s ‘ Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ initiative to a packed crowd of Portland State University (PSU) students and faculty. As both a PSU graduate student of Public Administration and a new employee...