May 2011

USDA Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein joined USDA Rural Development Nebraska State Director Maxine Moul and staff in commemorating Earth Day last month with the residents of the City of Bayard, Nebraska.  The event celebrated the recent financing of a water improvement project that will serve the 1,200 residents of the city.

A water pipe was signed by each person instrumental to the project.  The city received a plaque from the administrator recognizing the awarding of funding from Rural Development.  Bayard school children participated in the event with a coloring contest and Earth Day readings.

The United Kingdom (UK) has long played an important role in U.S. agricultural exports. This history dates back to the completion of the Erie Canal in the early 1800s, which linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard, significantly increasing the export of food, particularly Midwestern wheat, to England.

To this day, the United Kingdom offers tremendous opportunities for U.S. agriculture and the United States exports more than $1.6 billion annually in agricultural, fish and forestry products to the UK. Many of these products are showcased each year during USDA-endorsed trade shows, such as the International Food Exhibition (IFE), which took place in London in March.

What do wild Alaskan salmon and Sitka black-tailed deer have in common? Other than playing starring roles on many Alaskans’ favorite dinner menus, they also both thrive in forests with large open canopies of hardwood and conifers with thick plant undergrowth. Such characteristics exist in mature forests but not in clear-cut areas.

Historically rich in fish and wildlife species, the Starrigavan Creek watershed in Sitka, Alaska, was clear-cut about 40 years ago by the state of Alaska for timber production, impacting fish and wildlife habitat in this popular local recreation area.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

In March 2011, USDA Special Nutrition Programs Regional Director Julie Mikkelson and I met Chef Paul Penney at a HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) award celebration in Canton, Michigan. Chef Paul, a volunteer with the First Lady’s Chefs Move to Schools initiative, was in the kitchen at Dodson Elementary School helping school foodservice staff prepare mashed sweet potatoes and apples and Michigan cherry chili.

Both dishes, recipes he created for the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, were making their debut at Dodson that day. At the lunchroom entrance, Chef Paul greeted each student and handed out 2 ounce “tasting cups” of the chili and the sweet potatoes. (He credits Plymouth-Canton foodservice director Kristen Hennessey with the idea.)

A new DVD is helping to deliver conservation messages designed to encourage Hmong Americans to enjoy public lands and be mindful of the responsibilities associated with enjoying the America’s great outdoors.

Conservation professionals have lacked culturally-appropriate tools for reaching the Hmong American community, especially in major Hmong population centers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and California.

Residents in the rural Eastern Kentucky community of Prestonsburg have a new place to call home after Preston’s Crossing opened the doors on a newly constructed multi-family housing complex. Prestonsburg is located in Floyd County, which is one of Kentucky’s  persistent poverty counties.

You may remember when USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last June that People's Garden’s existed in all 50 states, two U.S. territories, and three foreign countries. Since then, People’s Gardens are cropping up at Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) posts throughout the world.

More than 112,000 Rio Grande Valley moms, infants and children depend on the nutritional benefits provided by WIC - the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program Women, Infants and Children. The four counties that make up the Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy) have done a good job of identifying and serving nutritionally at-risk households using innovative outreach methods. They have caught the attention of USDA Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Max Finberg and USDA FNS Southwest Regional Administrator Bill Ludwig, who toured Hidalgo County’s main WIC clinic on April 11.

A new report titled Measuring Up: Synchronizing Biodiversity Measurement Systems for Markets and Other Incentive Programs was just released by the Willamette Partnership with funding and support from USDA’s Office of Environmental Markets (OEM). The report analyzes 25 existing biodiversity measurement systems to identify the elements necessary for a good system.  It presents a standard process for developing measurement systems and offers options for improving the performance of biodiversity markets and conservation programs.  The report’s findings are useful to those interested in measuring conservation effects and increasing the effectiveness of incentive programs.  For example, the report examines how to balance precision and usability, and standardization and customization.

In 2009, 14.7% of U.S. households were insecure, meaning that at some point during the year these households were uncertain of having, or unable to obtain, enough food.  In addition to tracking and reporting on hunger in the United States, USDA plays a significant role in helping families acquire food through a myriad of nutrition programs (15 in all), inluding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the National School Lunch Program.

An area of USDA support for finding solutions to hunger that may be overlooked is through our National Instutite for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), an agency within the Department that supports research, education and extension programs in the Land-Grant University System and other partner organizations.  Last week we annouced eight awards totaling more than $18 million, made through the Agriculture Food and Research Initiative (AFRI), that are supporting local and regional food systems while investigating sustainable solutions to food access within those regions.  Here’s a list of the projects: