Blog Archives

Mississippi staff recently commemorated the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its work on behalf of agriculture, rural America and people throughout the country and world who benefit from the work of the agency. Mississippi agencies USDA Rural Development (RD), National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Forest Service celebrated on May 15. In addition to an event at the RD state office, all the agencies area offices across the state hosted events. The event included watching the national observance from USDA headquarters in Washington, a slideshow presentation detailing history about all the agencies, agency information on display, and comments from agency heads and staff.

When President Abraham Lincoln founded the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862, he called it "the People's Department," a sentiment that still rings true today as the Department's diverse portfolio boasts strong support for American agriculture and local and regional food systems, as well as critical nutrition assistance, food safety, conservation, rural development, and research programs, among many other programs and initiatives. “USDA still continues as ‘the People’s Department’ by  investing in rural America and the rural communities that millions call home and investing in community facilities and helping to ensure communities have access to critical infrastructure. Additionally through grant and loan programs for rural businesses, USDA helps to drive job growth in rural America and build thriving economies for the long term,” said Trina George, Mississippi State Director USDA Rural Development.

The USDA Forest Service, along with our Federal, state and local partners operate the largest wildland fire management program in the world. To help manage these wildland fires the partners have created interagency incident management teams. These teams have responded to many incidents including major fires, insect infestations, the shuttle recovery and hurricanes. These incidents have tested the management skills and abilities of the agency and its partners.

On September 11, 2001, within hours of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, interagency incident management teams were dispatched to New York City and Arlington, VA. I served as an Incident Commander of the California Incident Management Team that responded to the Pentagon.

More and more folks live fulfilling lives well into their senior years but it’s especially noteworthy when an octogenarian is still working on environmental conservation issues like Florence LaRiviere. This year the Environmental Law Institute honored LaRiviere with its 2012 National Wetlands Award for “Wetland Community Leader” and asked U.S. Forest Service scientist and Associate Deputy Chief for Research and Development, Dr. Deanna J. Stouder, to present the award.

Last week, USDA’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships led a webinar to share with local faith and community leaders opportunities to partner with USDA to help those in need in their communities.  This webinar was the first in a series entitled, Together We Can.  The series aims to equip organizations with introductory knowledge, best practices, and contact information to help community-based organizations understand and access USDA programs.

Must have a desire to help farmers reach new markets and to help businesses bring healthier options to local communities.  Experience & qualifications should include some knowledge of local and direct marketing methods.  Must be willing to devote 50-60 hours during the month of July to help score project proposals.  See below for more detail.

The Farmers Market Promotion Program is a competitive grant process designed to help expand opportunities for farmers and bring healthy foods into more communities.  The grants are administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), and aim to help farmers throughout the country.  About $10 million is available this year to support direct-marketing projects like farmers markets, community supported agriculture, roadside stands and agritourism.

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.

To many of locals in western North Carolina, they’re called wild leeks.  Some call them ransoms and still others call them wood garlic because of their pungent smell. Nevertheless, ecologists simply call them ramps. This native plant has been useful to humans since inhabiting the eastern regions of the U.S. and Canada.  Still today, locals harvest ramps for food, medicinal preparations, and to sell at markets and spring festivals.

The City of Quinter, Kansas, had a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire station earlier this month.  All of the city’s fire equipment will soon be under one roof, which will help improve the fire station’s efficiencies when crews respond to emergencies in its 400 square mile service area.  The new station is being built with funding support from USDA and a local electric cooperative.

According to City of Quinter Administrator, Ericka Gillespie, the city of less than 1,000 needed a new fire station because the old facility was not meeting the needs of the community.  A larger space was needed for training, storage, and additional fire protection equipment and trucks.  The larger fire station will also improve the department's fire rating, resulting in lower insurance costs.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Legacies of USDA, the Morrill Act and the Homestead Act were commemorated on May 20 at the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska.  More than 225 people attended a special panel presentation in the Education Center, moderated by Dr. Kenneth Winkle, Lincoln Scholar and Professor of History at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, who introduced the work of President Lincoln.

Panelists were, for USDA:  U.S. Senator Mike Johanns, former Secretary of Agriculture; the Morrill Act:  Dr. John Owens, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, University of Nebraska Lincoln; and the Homestead Act:  Mark Engler, Superintendent, Homestead National Monument of America.   A dialogue with the audience took place after the presentations.

This is Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week.  Before the Memorial Day holiday and summer travel season begin, we take this time to remind everyone to be careful not to spread the EAB unintentionally.

EAB is one of many “Hungry Pests” that can cause significant damage to our country’s natural resources.  Since first being identified in 2002, EAB is responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in 15 states in the Midwest and Northeast.

During an early April annual volunteer awards ceremony held in Clovis, Calif., the Sierra National Forest recognized the dedication, commitment and accomplishments of more than 400 individuals and groups that provided services valued at more than $770,000 to the forest in 2011.

“Our volunteers contributed over 35,000 hours of their personal time.  Their contributions are essential to our mission of ensuring forest health,” said Scott G. Armentrout, Forest Supervisor for the Sierra National Forest. “Their great ideas, hard work and inspiration toward ‘caring for the land and serving people’ helps to ensure our success.”