2011

Recent news articles have reported that a healthy diet is expensive if one were to consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.  As the senior economist with the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) with over 20 years of experience in the area of food economics developing food plans and market baskets, I agree.  Depending on the food choices, a healthy diet can be relatively expensive.

However, there is a compelling fact that these news reports fail to highlight -- a healthy diet can be relatively inexpensive.  Now some readers of this blog may think that this is another case of economic double talk or spin, but healthy foods come in a variety of forms and a range of prices that likely fit just about anyone’s budget.

For the past year, Thaddeus White provided education and training to the Iraqi people as an advisor for the Department of Agriculture's (USDA)  Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in Baghdad.

In early August, USDA Rural Development Puerto Rico held a stakeholder meeting to discuss Rural Development priorities for President Obama’s 2013 budget and 2012 Farm Bill.

The main objective the meeting was to obtain valuable input to develop and improve our mission area priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.  Leaders of local businesses & NGO’s shared their ideas and discussed on how Rural Development can enhance their programs and serve better our rural communities.

For as long as Dr. Katherine Ralston could remember, she wanted to be a veterinarian. "My 6th grade teacher wrote on my report card (that I still have!), 'When you become a vet, I'll bring Clint (his black Labrador) to see you.' As I got older, I discovered more and more reasons why I wanted to pursue veterinary medicine, including the challenge and choices for career focuses."

In 2008, that dream of becoming a veterinarian became a reality when Katherine Ralston, a little girl from Vandergrift, Pa., became Dr. Katherine Ralston, graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, and full-time public health veterinarian, or PHV, at USDA’S Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

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

Lance Morgan is an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and President, CEO, and co-founder of Ho-Chunk, Inc., the award-winning economic development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe.

Recovery Act funding spurs a renaissance in backcountry trail maintenance.

This year, visitors to the Los Padres National Forest, near Goleta, Calif., are seeing widespread wilderness trail improvements thanks to Recovery Act funds.  Nearly $2.3 million was allocated to the forest for wilderness trail rehabilitation and maintenance which was divided among its five ranger districts.

Dozens of people gathered in Monticello, Ky., on Wednesday to break ground on a project in which five local families began the process of building their own homes.

Great partnerships can lead to great projects – and this event highlighted several strategic partners that worked incredibly hard to make it happen, including USDA Rural Development, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, Southern Tier Housing Corporation, the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE) and the families of Pedro and Omaira Ruiz, Mary and Silvino Castillo, Yvonne Hernandez, Brenda McGuire and Patsy Perdue.

USDA’s Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance (SITC), a program with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is in its tenth year of protecting American agriculture from invasive pests and diseases. Some of SITC’s efforts toward this goal include identifying and closing routes of illegal products originating in foreign countries and products from pest and disease quarantine areas of the U.S.

With just over two weeks left in the 2011 Feds Feed Families campaign, Forest Service employees are joining forces all over the country in an extraordinary show of commitment and compassion as its summer food drive moves to full gear in helping reach the USDA’s goal of 500,000 pounds of donated food. Across the country, Forest Service employees have stepped up to the plate to help feed the hungry in their region. Here are some examples of what’s happening:

“Packing on the Pounds,” a collaborative effort between the Pacific Northwest Region and the Pacific Northwest Research Station is tipping the scales to feed Portland, Oregon’s hungry families.  Their goal is to collect one ton of foodstuffs; they’re more than halfway to their goal.

For many American consumers, the first thing that comes to mind when they think of USDA is the mark of inspection on their food labels and products.

The mark of inspection gives consumers confidence that the meat, poultry and processed egg products they are about to enjoy are safe and wholesome. And we can give consumers this confidence because of the work of the men and women of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

That is why, this week, FSIS launched Faces of Food Safety, a monthly in-depth look at one of the scientists, veterinarians, inspectors, or other professionals that play a role in making our nation’s food safe.