Blog del USDA

Both of us grew up in small towns, Kathleen in Greenfield, MA and Bob in Ancram, NY. From our own experiences, we understand the challenges and the importance of a strong rural economy. We recently visited Brevard, a town of about 6,000 people in North Carolina’s Transylvania County. While there we...

When it comes to local foods, it doesn’t get much fresher than vegetables direct from a school garden. In West Salem, Wisconsin, students are not only growing their own vegetables; they’re eating them – with enthusiasm -- in their school lunches. Even more, they’re having fun planting, digging, and...

Marla Emery looks at plantain – an ordinary weed to most people – with an eye on how some people will use it. After all, her work with the U.S. Forest Service as a research geographer leads her to interesting conversations with people who forage in rural and urban forests.

Pop music star Beyonce recently partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to create the Let’s Move! Flash Workout. The Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Cherokee, N.C. has embraced the Let’s Move! concept, and launched a Healthy Eating and Active...

Thanks to Foreign Agricultural Service employees serving at USDA’s 98 international posts, American Thanksgiving traditions – and food – are being enjoyed around the world this November.

“Would you like a doggy bag to take home?” asks the waiter. “That would be great” says the diner. Nearly half of her dinner remains on the plate and will make a quick second meal for another day. But wait. Here’s the same diner calling the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Meat and Poultry...

As we gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, USDA would like to thank our troops for their dedication to protecting our country and for the sacrifices they make to preserve our freedom.

U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station is breaking out its 79-year-old collection of 20,000 fungus cultures – yes, the stuff that grows in dark, damp places – to help create a new 1,000-species fungal directory.

Yesterday, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline joined celebrity chef Ingrid Hoffmann and FDA’s Howard Seltzer to answer Thanksgiving food safety questions via Twitter. With @FoodSafetygov selecting questions from the audience, the panel of experts was able to answer 22 questions in an hour using the...

Last week, I was honored to travel to Bogotá and lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s trade mission with Panama and Colombia.