USDA Press Releases

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced today that approximately $11.9 million in organic certification assistance is available through state departments of agriculture to make organic certification more affordable for...

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $6.5 million in the Ogallala Aquifer region this year to help farmers and ranchers conserve billions of gallons of water and improve water quality. Funding will be...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new report showing tremendous demand for recent college graduates with a degree in agricultural programs with an estimated 57,900 high-skilled job openings annually in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2015 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is providing more than $100 million in loans to build or improve 1,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines for rural electric cooperative utilities in four states. "We commend rural electric...

Amman, JORDAN, May 10, 2015 - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Jordan Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury, today signed an agreement to support agricultural development and trade in Jordan. "Jordan is one of our most effective, capable and...

ISTANBUL, May 8, 2015 – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following statement today, May 8, after endorsing the final communique by the G-20 Agriculture Ministers in Istanbul, Turkey: "I commend Minister of Agriculture Mehmet Mehdi Eker for hosting this important ministerial on food...

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is making $30 million available to farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs to develop new product lines. Funding will be made available through the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. "Farmers and ranchers...

WASHINGTON, May 8 2015 - West-wide snowpack has mostly melted, according to data from the fifth 2015 forecast by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "Across most of the West, snowpack isn't just low – it's gone," NRCS Hydrologist David Garen...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2015 – The next World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, which will be released at 12 noon ET on May 12, will present USDA's initial assessment of U.S. and world crop supply and demand prospects and U.S. prices for the 2015/16 marketing year. It will also...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2015 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released the following statement today after USDA's Food and Nutrition Service issued new data showing that 95 percent of schools are successfully meeting the updated meal standards made possible by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010...