2011

Last week we were honored to host USDA’s 3^rd annual Iftar commemorating the month of Ramadan and the contributions of USDA’s Muslim employees.  More than 200 attendees, including USDA employees, Muslim community members, and representatives from faith-based and secular non-profit organizations, gathered at USDA headquarters for an evening with a themed focus on “Food and Faith: Setting a Safe and Healthy Table.”

In a scene that’s a telltale sign of summer across the southern United States, farmers’ markets and grocery stores are now proudly declaring that they are stocked with ripe, delicious, American-grown peaches.

Thanks in part to a Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) grant from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to the Georgia and South Carolina Peach councils, fresh Georgia and South Carolina peaches are now also being enjoyed by our neighbors in Mexico for the first time in 17 years.

Cowboys are known for being good story tellers, and Roy and Steve Breuklander are no exceptions.

Roy might tell you how his grandparents homesteaded in Cherry County back in the 1880s. Roy’s son, Steve, might share how his family started one of the first canoe outfitters in Niobrara Valley.

Last week as I walked around the Iowa State Fair, I was reminded about the power of philanthropy.  The Iowa State Fair’s Blue Ribbon Foundation has raised more than $80 million since its inception in 1993 and helped make numerous facilities improvements all around the fairgrounds including: a new exhibition center, a remodeled food center and an animal-learning center.

Last week, Senator Debbie Stabenow and I spent the day at the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway where we were excited to learn about a new way American Farmers are leading the charge on innovation.

There, we had the opportunity to tour the NASCAR Sprint Cup Garage to view engines using American-grown biofuels.  Michigan is one of the most agriculturally diverse states in the nation. Farms of every different shape and size produce more than 200 different food commodities.  This year, the bounty of U.S. farmers is helping fuel NASCAR.  Every race car and truck in NASCAR’s top three series will be fueled by Sunoco Green E15.

More than 100 agricultural entities including farmers, ethanol producers and seed and equipment makers are partners in this effort.  And, as part of this partnership, each week, Growth Energy presents one NASCAR driver with the ‘American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award’ to a Cup Series driver who has the fastest average on restarts at the prior week’s race.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to get out of Washington, DC and travel to small towns and farm towns in the heartland of the country. I sat down with small business owners, farmers and ranchers in Iowa; I had lunch with veterans in Cannon Falls, Minnesota; and I talked to plant workers at a seed distributor in Atkinson, Illinois.

At Universidad Interamericana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Inter Metro Summer Recreation Program is a vital part of the social, physical and nutritional well-being of area children.  For six years the university has sponsored the recreation and open food service site for kids  ranging in age from 5 to 16 years old.

Judy Canales, Administrator for Rural Development Business and Cooperative Service, joined Missouri Governor Jay Nixon for an evening reception and visited with many of Missouri’s agriculture and rural elite to celebrate Missouri agriculture.  The following morning Administrator Canales, Governor Nixon, and 1,000 other farm and community leaders attended the Missouri State Fair Ham Breakfast.   The breakfast was a continuation of the Governor’s salute to agriculture.  The delicious cured ham was the main course for the 59th Annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast in the Director’s Tent on the fairgrounds in Sedalia.  The theme for the 2011 fair is “It’s a Show-Me Thing!”

Governor Nixon addressed the guests, which included the introduction of distinguished guest such as Administrator Judy Canales, Missouri Director of Agriculture Dr. Jon Hagler, several federal officials, state officials, and locally elected officials, Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe, the State Fair Commission and many other agriculture leaders and State Fair supporters.

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website:

Sue is the Executive Director at the Vernon Economic Development Association in southwest Wisconsin. 

Hello, my name is Dr. Pauline Nol.  I’m a veterinary epidemiologist for USDA APHIS.  As a veterinarian and a researcher, I’ve worked in the wildlife health field since 1999, starting my career at the United States Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.

I joined APHIS’s Wildlife/Livestock Disease Investigations Team in 2003.  Our job is to learn more about diseases that affect both livestock and wildlife populations, and to use this knowledge to provide guidance to our partners and other agencies that manage wildlife populations.  We’re also highly involved in using science to help find solutions for disease problems that occur when livestock and wildlife come together.