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Brandon, South Dakota, with a population of about 9,000, has seen significant growth in the last decade, including the area of senior care.  There are two assisted living communities in Brandon, but there has never been a nursing home.  This has put strain on both the patients and their families.

Bethany Lutheran Home for the Aged, LLC operates a nursing home in Sioux Falls, a neighboring community, and the Bethany Meadows independent and assisted living facility in Brandon.  Bethany, which is owned by six area churches, proposed building a nursing home addition on its Bethany Meadows campus in Brandon.  Because the nursing home industry is regulated, financing can be hard to come by, and financing for new construction needs to be at the lowest possible interest rate.

No one should live in this world for himself alone, but to do good for those who come after him.

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly seven years since the lives of the citizens of New Orleans and surrounding areas of the Gulf Coast were changed forever in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This epic storm demanded an immediate and unprecedented response. I was proud to be part of USDA’s team that quickly mobilized to provide disaster food assistance.

Most Americans’ diets fall short of Federal recommendations, especially when it comes to whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and fruits and vegetables. Some nutrition researchers and food writers blame cost, saying fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods are more expensive than less healthy ones.  And on a per calorie basis, that’s true.  Calorie-sparse fruits and vegetables cost more than a donut, and skim milk costs more than whole.  But is price per calorie the only way to think about a food’s cost?

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, it is most appropriate to recognize the important role women play in shaping the eating patterns of their family members and especially, their children.  So today, we are launching an updated web site with new messages, tools, and resources to help nutrition educators reach one of the most critically important target groups—moms.  FNS administers 15 nutrition assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infants and Children Program that help individuals and families meet their nutrition needs.  Since many participants in these programs are women and children, moms are a high priority for nutrition education because they can make a big impact of the eating habits of their families.

The new resources include 13 audience-tested core nutrition messages, tips for making healthier choices, ideas for tasty meals and snacks that include whole grains, milk, fruits and vegetables, and other easy to use ways to help consumers to understand and put MyPlate recommendations into practice.  Testing showed that these materials resonate with moms, provide realistic ways to engage their children, and offer appealing tips to incorporate whole grains, fat-free and low-fat milk, and fruits and vegetables into family meals and snacks.

In April of all months, “audit” is the last word most Americans want to hear but last month the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was cheering because it passed a very meaningful audit by the Office of the Inspector General. According to the OIG, FSIS is appropriately managing meat and poultry slaughter establishments’ appeals of humane handling enforcement actions.

In December 2010, USDA’s Office of Food Safety proactively asked the OIG to determine whether FSIS addressed these types of appeals in a consistent, timely, and accurate manner. The OIG audit was extensive, covering humane handling appeals filed by the industry over a four-year period from January 2007 to December 2010. Not only did OIG publish positive findings; this is the second time in more than eight years that the OIG has published a final report for FSIS without any formal recommendations.

Over the coming weeks, the landscape in Oklahoma will change dramatically as state-of-the-art combines comb meticulously through fields of golden wheat, allowing Oklahoma farmers to deliver an estimated 150 million bushels to their local grain elevators. The varieties harvested were exhaustively developed to maximize yield and minimize susceptibility to pests, while improving milling and baking qualities.

Such innovation allows today’s farmer to feed over 150 people, each farmer producing five times as much as our grandparents, and doing it with less land, water, energy, and fewer emissions. Agriculture has advanced significantly over the 150-year history of the department charged with its support.

When most people think about football they’re not likely imagining urban forests—or planting trees for that matter. But that’s exactly what the U.S. Forest Service and Green Bay Packers through their First Downs for Trees program, wants you to think: Plant trees and lots of them.

In fact, last year through the program’s successful initiatives, more than 400 trees were planted in 22 communities. This year the program, which includes the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forestry Division, is expanding with the planting of more than 850 trees in 26 communities.

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 the USDA's rich science and research portfolio.

Many teachers use creative methods to keep their students engaged in the curriculum they are teaching. Some methods work far better than others. For one group in Hawaii, teachers are using gardening to boost their science, technology and math classes, while placing an emphasis on Hawaii’s need for more experiential science learning related to agriculture and sustainability.

In early May, USDA agency directors appeared before the Pennsylvania Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. The Committee, chaired by Pennsylvania Senator Elder Vogel, Jr., heard agency heads discuss various USDA programs. Senator Vogel recently introduced a resolution honoring the USDA on its 150^th Anniversary.

Bill Wehry, State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency, discussed the Conservation, Price Support, Disaster and Farm Loan Programs available through his agency. Denise Coleman, State Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, discussed the Working Lands for Wildlife and Water Quality Initiative, while Thomas Williams, State Director, Rural Development, discussed the various Energy and Disaster Aid Programs, Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program, and Value Added and Community Facilities Programs.