food and nutrition

How did USDA employees raise over 1.7 million pounds of food this summer for Feds Feed Families? The stories below provide a cross-country flavor of the many examples of generosity and creativity demonstrated at USDA field office’s food drives around the country.

On the West Coast, two field offices in California worked with producers to gather thousands of pounds of local produce for food banks. The Oroville Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Center partnered with Pacific Coast Producers to donate an astonishing 4,367 pounds of canned fruits to North State Food Bank.  The Dixon Service Center partnered with Robben Farms to collect 2,513 pounds of bagged, dry canario beans for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties.

During tough times families can find it increasingly difficult to prepare cost-friendly meals. The SNAP-Ed Connection provides tools and resources to health educators that help dispel low income families make healthy eating an attainable goal. One of those tools is the recipe finder, an online tool that allows you to quickly locate pre-analyzed and budget-friendly recipes that may support your nutrition education goals or lesson plans. Over 600 healthy recipes are right at your fingertips!

The Request for Application for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) is now available, and applications are due by November 22, 2011.  Projects will be awarded in 2012 and performed between October 2012 and September 2013.  Approximately $19 million is expected to be available.

The program is now entering its fourth year, and has already funded over a hundred projects and provided training, education, outreach, and technical assistance to more than 5,000 beginning farmers or ranchers.   Each year there are many more applicants than awards, so if you are interested in applying be sure to read all of the application criteria carefully and submit a proposal that addresses all of the requirements.  Examples of past successful applications can be found here, and a full list of current projects can be found here.

We know that a healthy nation starts with healthy people.  A good diet helps kids stay active and focused at school.  And staying healthy can increase your productivity on the job.

But sometimes families who want to make healthier eating choices are confused by conflicting messages, or don't have time to do the research.

That’s why, earlier this year, I launched a new, easy to understand food icon, called MyPlate.  It’s a clear and simple visual showing what a healthy meal looks like on your plate.

How worried should Charlie Brown be? Is there any truth to what some are calling the Great Pumpkin Shortage?

After Hurricane Irene pummeled and soaked the Northeast, the media began reporting that damage to the pumpkin crop portended a general shortage of pumpkins for the Halloween season and beyond. Heavy rains in the spring caused some farmers to plant later than usual, and some areas experienced hot, dry weather during the summer months, further fueling concerns about this year’s harvest.

This week, USDA was recognized at the 3^rd Annual Feds Feed Families Closing Ceremony at the Pentagon.  Employees around the country started over 2,000 food drives that led the department to contribute the most pounds per employee of any federal department or agency: almost 15 pounds per employee for a total of 1,791,393 pounds of food!  USDA was also recognized for bringing in the most donations in the large division category and for donating the most pounds of food during the month of August.  Thanks especially to our People’s Gardens around the country and employees’ innovative gleaning efforts, USDA recorded 1,397,475 pounds of food for the final month of the food drive.

Employees from every mission area and state participated and helped the department exceed the initial call to raise 500,000 pounds of food.  Nearly 100 USDA employees were included on the Office of Personnel Management’s  (OPM) Hall of Fame for making one-time donations of 250 pounds or more.  And many more employees joined together to fill the shelves of food banks and pantries.  This further demonstrates our employees’ dedication to caring and sharing in the communities they serve.

USDA employees raised about 40 semi-trailers worth of food nationwide during the 3^rd annual Feds Feed Families Food Drive! Put another way, 40 semi-trailers is equivalent to an astonishing 1,791,393 pounds of food. This number shattered USDA’s already ambitious goal of raising 500,000 pounds of food this summer. Accomplishing this goal is a testament to the dedication of USDA employees around the country to feed our neighbors. Whether that is through the department’s 15 different nutrition assistance programs that touch the lives of one in four Americans, or from their own generosity, USDA employees are making a big difference during a time of need.

The United States proudly touts a long history of grain production and is the top exporter of grain in the world. Half of our wheat, almost 40 percent of soybeans and almost a fifth of our corn are exported.  That’s why for over a decade the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has been tracking and gathering datasets for grain transportation, including prices, deliveries, movements, sales and freight rates, and now, for the first time, we’ve released our historic data in an excel  format.

As summer has faded into fall, this is another season when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet.  USDA programs already make a big difference in the lives of many Americans: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps over 45 million Americans put nutritious food on the table.  This summer, USDA employees went even further and helped fill the shelves of food banks and pantries around the country through the 3^rd Annual Feds Feed Families Food Drive. With generosity in their hearts and the mission of fighting hunger, USDA employees joined together nationwide and raised an impressive 1,791,393 pounds of food for donation!  That number breaks down further to a donation of about 15 pounds per employee.  Thank you to all USDA employees and partners who contributed to this remarkable donation. Your efforts reinforce the Department’s efforts to help people every day, every way.

Every child deserves to have the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. That’s reason enough to recognize the nutritional accomplishments of our school meals programs during National School Lunch Week, Oct. 10-14. But there is more to celebrate…