Blog Archives

America is home to more than 100 million acres of urban and community forests. These are the forests that line our streets, shade our buildings and burst with color every spring and fall. Trees also clean our air and help prevent pollution and flooding. That's one of the reasons we like to call our urban trees 'the hardest working trees in America.'

Joseph and Jeremy Gonzales are doing something different with their Gonzales Land and Cattle operation in Lovington, N.M., and it’s hard not to notice. Farming is hard enough without adding extra challenges. So the Gonzales brothers are using 21^st-century technology to work smarter, not harder.

Dubbed America’s premier alpine whitewater river, the White Salmon River in south central Washington State was recently named as a top destination by the New York Times.

The White Salmon, used by kayakers and rafters all year round, winds nearly 45 miles from its headwaters on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest through steep, forested canyons into the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and the Columbia River.

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 profile.

Although Mark Hosier was told he’d never walk again, the Indiana farmer is running a 500-acre farm and 10-sow showpig business entirely on his own.  Injured in 2006 when a 2,000-pound hay bale rolled off his tractor on top of him and crushed two vertebrae, Hosier thought he wouldn’t be able to continue farming.  Today, he operates his tractor with the help of a mechanical lift; modifications to his facilities allow him to care for his hogs from a wheelchair.

Have you ever been on vacation, but just couldn’t get away from your work?  Me too.  It seems everywhere I look I see the footprint of USDA Rural Development and its ties to rural revitalization. Because I love my job and the good work USDA is doing, I am thrilled each and every time I see the results of this collaborative work to stimulate economies, modernize infrastructure, and enhance the quality of life in rural America.

Can you picture yourself running in a 5K race on a crisp winter morning at the top of a 10,678-foot, snow-covered peak in snowshoes? That's what approximately 150 adventurous people did when they competed in the 11th annual Sandia Snowshoe Race on Jan. 19, 2013.

The race is sponsored by the Friends of the Sandia Mountains, with proceeds supporting the preservation and maintenance of the trails and picnic areas on the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands' Sandia Ranger District in Tijeras, N.M.

The Sandia is a compact district of around 100,000 acres that includes the 37,200-acre Sandia Mountain Wilderness just east of Albuquerque. Because of its proximity to a metropolitan area, more than 1 million people visit the district each year. Visitors come for a variety of recreational activities – hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, rock climbing and horseback riding. In the winter, weather permitting, there’s cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

The thought of having to hand-carry a honey bucket, (a five gallon pail filled with human waste) out of your house and dump it to an outdoor common collection container in winter temperatures that drop to -55 °F, is an unpleasant scenario. For some residents in the community of Lower Kalskag, and other rural Alaskan communities, this is a reality.  They have no indoor plumbing, and no indoor hot or cold running water.

The community of Lower Kalskag, Alaska, is remotely located 350 miles west of Anchorage in a persistent poverty area. This small, predominantly Alaska Native community has a population of around 280 and roughly fifty percent of its homes still lack adequate sanitation systems. The lack of sanitation services is a dire health and safety issue faced daily by a number of rural Alaska residents.

A wetland restoration project completed by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Kentucky has attracted the fancy of a pair of endangered whooping cranes.

In early November, a pair of whooping cranes were discovered on a property in western Kentucky that was recently restoredwith NRCS’ help. The restoration to bottomland hardwood wetlands included tree planting and the creation of shallow water areas for migratory wildlife on nearly 900 acres of former cropland that was put into a conservation easement.

A mid-winter snow storm did not stop more than 200 participants from attending the 7^th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit and Trade Show held January 30^th in Des Moines.

During Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager’s presentation it was clear that everyone in attendance was extremely focused on helping identify ways the renewable fuels industry can continue to create economic opportunities in rural America. At the summit Mr. Tonsager also had the opportunity to hear Tom Buis with Growth Energy give a detailed overview of the ethanol industry and its many positive impacts throughout our country.

The prosperity of American agriculture provides us with a secure and abundant food supply here at home – and tremendous opportunity to export quality U.S. products across the globe.

Today, the American brand of agriculture is surging in popularity worldwide. Fiscal years 2009-2012 represent the strongest four years in history for agricultural trade, with U.S. agricultural product exports exceeding $478 billion over these four years.

2013 is off to a roaring start already – with agricultural exports on track to set a new record.

This week has brought especially good news for America’s beef producers. On Monday, the Government of Japan—which represents our fourth largest agricultural export market—announced an agreement to expand access for U.S. beef. We estimate that this new agreement will result in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits for the U.S. economy in the coming years.