April 2011

In an effort to counter rising obesity rates among children, one Montana group is looking to a younger generation to take the lead in bringing locally-grown, nutritious food to schools in the area. The Grow Montana coalition, in conjunction with AmeriCorps, is accepting applications from March 25 to April 22 for a team of 11 FoodCorps members who will develop Farm to School programs in Montana’s food deserts. Because many residents in these areas must drive an hour or more to the nearest grocery store, good nutrition is literally out of reach.

As AmeriCorps VISTA members, the FoodCorps team aims to address this problem by connecting schools with farmers and ranchers to serve healthy, locally-grown meals, building and tending school gardens, and educating students about how and why to eat nutritious foods.

A newly released report Solar Energy Use in U.S. Agriculture. Overview and Policy Issues published by USDA’s Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, serves as an overview of solar energy use by farmers and ranchers in the U.S.

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” This is the pledge that 300 4-H youth and volunteers gave on Monday when the 2011 National 4-H Conference kicked off in Bethesda, Md. Youth and adults from 47 states and territories, as well a delegation from Canada, took part in an event that has happened in the Washington area since the 1920s, when 4-Hers slept in tents on the Washington Mall in front of the USDA headquarters. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, is the parent organization to 4-H National Headquarters. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke to 4-Hers about community service, valuing education, and embracing positive health and nutrition habits.

USAID’s Food for Peace program has provided U.S. grown food and nourishment to billions of hungry people in 150 countries during the past 50+ years.  The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) plays an important supporting role in ensuring that the grain and products provided are of high quality and meet nutritional specifications.

Nebraska Rural Development State Director Maxine Moul was joined by South Dakota State Director Elsie Meeks and Iowa Area Director Theresa Jordison on March 30th to recognize Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska with a plaque for their production of advanced biodiesel fuels.  The business produces advanced biodiesel from soybean oil created in two facilities, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa and St. Joseph, Missouri.

In January 2011, AGP received payment of almost half a million dollars under the USDA  Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, based on eligible production of advanced biodiesel from soybean oil produced at the two plants.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

Under a bright Hawaiian sun, a group of girls ages 11 to 18 planted a special vegetable garden that will not only teach others about ecosystems but will also help endangered sea turtles. The project is inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Lets Move! campaign and the USDA People’s Garden Initiative. The girls, who attend the same church in Mililani, Hawaii, needed a community service project. Sea Life Park on Oahu had land and a seed of an idea to plant a garden. The U.S. Forest Service helped to bring the two groups together.

Local media had a glimpse into one of the largest biofuels plants in the United States and the high-profile biofuels production industry last week.  Inside HERO BX in Erie, Penn., camera crews rolled video and snapped photos of energy’s future—the conversion of materials like animal fat and vegetable oil into bio-diesel.

HERO BX received over $275,000 in payments from USDA Rural Development’s Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels to support and ensure an expanding production and distribution of advanced biofuels in rural areas.   Through programs like this, we are working to increase the production of biofuels to help meet the President’s goal of achieving a one-third cut to foreign oil imports and in turn, out-build and out-innovate global competitors.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday the infusion of $1 million from the current U.S. Forest Service budget toward projects and programs that get kids outside to experience the great outdoors, connect with nature and help nurture future land stewards.

The two programs receiving funding through this announcement will reach tens of thousands of young people this year, and support the goals of both President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative.

Recently, I visited Tohono O’odham Community College, in Sells, AZ, one of the tribal colleges that the Department of Agriculture supports around the country to level the playing field and open the doors of higher education to more young people. The Tohono O’odham or “Desert People” live in the Sonoran Desert on tribal lands in the southern part of the state, bordering Mexico. The terrain is flat, dry desert and presents numerous agricultural challenges that USDA helps students address through research and hands-on training, teaching traditional scientific disciplines – but through the lens of the tribe’s needs and culture.

The college is doing a lot of work to keep their tribal language alive, providing language classes for all students. But science professor Dr. Teresa Newberry has taken that to a whole new level by building a Web-based database of plants that is built in three languages: English, Latin and Tohono O’odham. It’s the kind of project that integrates the native culture into learning in a practical, living way.