Blog del USDA

Cross posted from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blog: Last week, hundreds of innovators gathered at the World Bank IFC Center to brainstorm about how Open Data can be harnessed to help meet the challenge of sustainably feeding nine billion people by 2050. The group included...

Terry Bachtold is proud of what the Indian Creek Watershed Project is doing for water quality in north central Illinois.

At a Town Hall meeting in Burlington, Vermont, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of Vermont Renewable Energy Company for a USDA Rural Development Business and Industry Loan Guarantee for a $10 million loan given by Community National Bank. The funds will be used to provide essential...

Every month, USDA shares the story of a woman in agriculture who is leading the industry and helping other women succeed along the way. This month, we hear from Barbara Rater from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. This month we’re focusing on the Census of Agriculture, which has been...

DC Truck Farm is a collaborative effort between D.C. Central Kitchen (DCCK) and USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative. Now in its second year, this garden on wheels travels around the Nation’s Capital teaching urban youth about agriculture, soil science and nutrition education. It got moving thanks to...

Over the last 15 years, the USDA has made great strides in our efforts to reduce fraud and abuse in its programs. Payment accuracy has never been higher: in FY 2010, 96.19 percent of all benefits were issued correctly, the fourth consecutive year the program has achieved a historically high rate...

June is Homeownership Month. Today we are sharing a first person account of a 76-year old Kentucky resident who used USDA’s home loan program to purchase her first home. She submitted this account through the USDA Rural Development Kentucky State Office and we are sharing it so that others who are...

One hundred fifty years ago – just two months after the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, a historic measure that created the land-grant university system. Twenty-eight years later, Congress enacted a second Morrill Act to establish African...

A budding new crop of People’s Garden volunteers recently blossomed. Nearly 60 USDA employees received certificates at a ceremony, marking their completion of the department’s 2011 Executive Master Gardener (EMG) training program. Class of 2011 graduates were welcomed as “new-bees” during a sweet...

By Nancy Conway, USDA Rural Development, Arizona A group was on hand for Arizona Rural Development State Director Alan Stephens announcement that the San Carlos Apache Telecommunications Utility, Inc. (SCATUI) will receive a grant of $5.2 million and a low-interest loan of $5.2 million through the...