2012

Promoting access to fresh and nutritious foods for the millions of Americans who participate in nutrition assistance programs is a top priority for USDA. We’re happy to announce that we’re emphasizing our commitment to promoting healthy food choices by giving more SNAP participants the ability to spend their benefits at farmers’ markets. Starting this month, we are making $4 million dollars in funds available to equip farmers’ markets with wireless point-of-sale equipment.

Este sábado pasado, el Departamento de Agricultura (USDA por sus siglas en inglés) participó en la celebración del vigésimo aniversario del Festival Nacional del Cinco de Mayo® ¡Salud en Cinco de Mayo! patrocinado por la Liga de Ciudadanos Latinoamericanos Unidos (LULAC, por sus siglas en inglés) y la compañía de danza Maru Montero.  USDA unió esfuerzos con LULAC, con quienes trabajamos en el reclutamiento de profesionales hispanos, en el tema de nutrición en la comunidad y a través de la iniciativa de la Primera Dama Let’s Move!

Al lado de otros representantes del gobierno federal, nuestro Subsecretario de Mercadeo y Programas Regulatorios Ed Avalos brindó palabras de bienvenida y resaltó un mensaje de herencia cultural y de salud durante esta celebración. Sam Kass, Chef de la Casa Blanca y Asesor de la Primera Dama en materia de alimentos saludables también estuvo presente.

This past Saturday, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) participated in the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the National Cinco de Mayo Festival® ¡Salud en Cinco de Mayo!, sponsored by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Maru Montero Dance Company.  USDA partnered with LULAC, with whom we work on the recruitment of Hispanic professionals, promoting nutrition in the community, and on the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative.

Along with other representatives of the federal government, our Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Ed Avalos, gave welcoming remarks and emphasized a message of cultural heritage and health during this celebration.  Sam Kass, White House Chef and Senior Advisor Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives for the First Lady, was also present.

During the previous 18 months, a team of USDA multidisciplinary experts reviewed, analyzed, and synthesized almost 1,000 responses from stakeholders about its June 2010 report (PDF, 771 KB) that put forth a roadmap for the United States to produce advanced biofuels.  The roadmap report provided a basis for continued conversations about moving forward with producing more domestically grown fuels and reducing our dependence on foreign fossil fuels, improving the environment, and revitalizing rural communities.

Following the roadmap report, USDA held 57 stakeholder workshops in 41 States and Puerto Rico.   The workshops succeeded in gathering numerous and helpful comments from farmers, industry groups, biorefinery executives, and academia.   Stakeholder comments, as a whole, successfully broadened the view of the roadmap by providing additional information and insights.  The majority of comments echoed USDA’s conclusion that this nation has the natural resources to produce enough domestically grown biofuels.  The key to success, according to the comments, lies in a few critical areas that include: consistent policy support from the public sector, greater consumer awareness, utilization of a wide variety of feedstocks, sustainable conservation and cropping practices, and more recognition and use of forestry and wood products.

Today, on Teacher Appreciation Day, we have an opportunity to say “thank you” to America’s educators.   In particular, I’d like to send a brief message of thanks to our teachers working in small towns and rural communities across the United States.

A quality education is imperative to the lives of children in every corner of our country, no matter where they live. This can be more challenging in smaller rural schools that face unique geographical challenges, tight budgets and barriers to technology in the classroom.

On my recent trip to Miami, Florida, I had the opportunity to hold a White House Business Council roundtable, hosted by the South Florida Hispanic chamber of Commerce.  The roundtable discussion focused on challenges and accomplishments within the Hispanic community, including access to credit, broadband, small business, agricultural markets, plant pests, and community outreach.

While in Miami I was also invited to speak at the Latino Health and Wellness Expo in Miami.  “La Exposicion de Salud” was well attended with over 800 participants.

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 USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Recent warming of terrestrial climates combined with decreased stream flows has raised concerns about possible increases in stream temperatures in the Pacific continental United States. Loss of cold, clean water in the region has major implications for human use and for sensitive coldwater fishes, such as salmon and trout. In a joint project, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research (PNW) Station, and Oregon State University (OSU) researchers assessed the climate effects on cold water in low and high human-influenced sites using long-term stream temperature data from the USGS and the Forest Service.

Spring is in the air and it’s time to gear up for the outdoor market season. People are looking for fresh fruits, veggies and other goodies from their local farmers markets, and with a couple clicks of the mouse, the USDA National Farmers Market Directory makes the search easy.

Recently, I was afforded the opportunity to travel with Jared Hicks, USDA Rural Development’s Business and Cooperative Specialist, to attend the grand opening of a new 19,500 square-foot grocery store in Winnsboro, Louisiana.  It was an exciting and happy day for the community residents on the south side of Winnsboro and surrounding towns. Local residents, Chamber of Commerce representatives, and community leaders all were out to celebrate the impressive day-long opening of Ford Food Center. Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) a retailer-owned cooperative and one of the largest wholesale grocery distributors in the United States had staff on-hand to provide assistance for this occasion.

The definition of “being in the office” or “being on the clock” is changing.   Most organizations—government or private—have a multi-generational workforce that may or may not be in the same location. Our team alone has four generations with varying comfort levels in using different technologies. Through our virtual internship program, we have strengthened our ability to work seamlessly regardless of physical location.