2023

Most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants who can work already do. SNAP’s food assistance benefits are critical to helping these workers put food on the table as the jobs they hold often pay low wages, offer unreliable hours, and don’t provide benefits like paid sick leave. Reliable, high-quality work is a powerful way out of poverty, and USDA’s SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) helps gain professional skills and connections to better employment opportunities.

Members of the United States Armed Forces sacrifice so much to keep us safe and protect our country. Every May Americans recognize their efforts and express gratitude during Military Appreciation Month. At USDA, we also celebrate the contributions that our Military members have made to agriculture and farming.

Can you imagine a day when healthcare is mostly proactive as opposed to reactive? Imagine if everyone has access to the vital conditions for health and wellbeing: the factors that people depend on to reach their full potential. What does that future look like?

Invasive fruit flies, such as the Oriental, Mexican, Mediterranean, and European cherry fruit fly, pose threats to many U.S. commercial and homegrown crops. If established, these flies could cause significant economic losses, requiring costly treatments to protect fruits and vegetables and reducing the marketability of infested fruit both locally and abroad. What’s at stake? The market value of invasive fruit fly-host commodities totaled approximately $11.7 billion in the United States in 2022. Approximately $8.3 billion of that was from California and $2.9 billion from Florida.

WIC is one of the most powerful, evidence-based public health programs, setting moms, babies, and young kids up to be healthy and thrive. The program is associated with incredible outcomes like improved diet quality, birth weights, and cognitive development, and reduced infant deaths, premature births, and health care costs. It’s no wonder more than six million women, infants, and children across America participate in the program.

For America’s farmers, science can act as a form of capital. According to Dr. Alexis Racelis, access to science is not always funded, developed, or distributed equitably.

How you start your day sets the tone for the rest of your day! School breakfast programs are critical in building a healthier future for America’s children.

Nearly 300 of the nation’s best and brightest young people were in Washington, D.C., last week to attend the 2023 National 4-H Conference, hosted by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). With the theme of “From Youth Success to the Future’s Best,” 4-H delegates in attendance represented 43 states, two U.S. territories and 57 Land-grant Universities (LGUs).

The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s work is under way, and we welcome your involvement in the process to update the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines. The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) encourage public participation in the committee’s review process. You can get involved by:

Every year, thousands of farmers, ranchers, and businesses grow and produce organic products – and all these operations are audited by qualified organic inspectors. Organic inspectors visit fields, pastures, or processing plants to conduct annual reviews where they meet with farmers and processors, ask questions, and observe processes. Annual inspections by qualified inspectors strengthen consumer trust in the USDA organic seal and ensure families are getting what they paid for when they choose to buy organic.