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The massive snow storm that covered half of the United States, producing two feet of snow in some parts of the Midwest and bringing a wintery mix of ice and snow in the Northeastern parts of the nation, could  also cause serious harm to livestock.

With some pasture and forage areas destroyed with the remnants of what has been labeled “Snowmageddon,” many producers also are losing their animals to cold and hypothermia, and are seeking ways to help recuperate their losses.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) Nutrition Services Director, Rodney Taylor, knows the face of hunger in his community.  On a daily basis, Rodney’s team serve lunch to about 34,000 RUSD kids, 61 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced price meals.  While the RUSD staff offer these students a fresh, healthy, nutritious meal during the school year, where do students eat during the summer?  In previous years, many students ate lunch at summer school.  However, steep budget cuts in 2008 and 2009 forced many school districts, including RUSD, to drastically reduce their summer school sites to only three schools, leaving about 25,000 kids without a place to eat.  Without the summer school program, where would those kids eat?  That is where the RUSD's summer barbeques come in.

It’s not every day that a civil servant gets to feel like a rock star.

But at the 2011 National Pheasant Fest in Omaha, Nebraska this past weekend, employees of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) were a bit like celebrities to thousands of hunters and land managers who love pheasants. Pheasant Fest is a trade show that focuses on wildlife conservation, upland game bird hunting and wildlife habitat management and restoration.

Recently I had the honor to participate in the 2011 American Sheep Industry Conference.

It made me feel proud to participate as a representative of USDA, as a public servant; talking, listening and learning from sheep and goat producers as well as other stakeholders in the food, livestock and agricultural sectors.

Kingbrook Rural Water System, Inc. in Arlington, South Dakota, (KBRW) is spread over a service area of nearly 3,000 square miles, larger than some states.  The distances involved create opportunity for failures of equipment or facilities due to natural or man-made causes. Any calamity can cause ripple effects on the Kingbrook system that would adversely affect water service for hours, days, or weeks.

KBRW operates an eleven-county water system which includes three water treatment plants, distribution pipeline, and pumping stations to distribute water to over 4,000 customers.  The operation requires significant capital investment as individual system components require replacement.

Snow, sleet, ice, and wind can wreak havoc on our every day lives. Winter!  It's a fact of modern life: sometimes the power goes out.

If your power goes out, knowing how to keep food safe can help minimize the loss of food and reduce the risk of foodborne illness.

On Monday, January 31, I had the honor of launching the U.S. Agribusiness Trade and Investment Mission to Peru and Ecuador in a room full of U.S., Peruvian, and Ecuadorian business leaders, government officials, and news reporters.

USDA has launched a resource to assist in expanding access to healthy food and eliminating food deserts: www.usda.gov/fooddeserts. As outlined by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative, three Federal Departments – Agriculture, Treasury, and Health and Human Services – are working together for the first time to combat food desert issues.  The webpage provides information on available grant programs that support the development of sustainable strategies aiming to increase access to healthy, affordable foods.

In “The Role of Nutrition Programs in Agriculture: From Tractor to Table,” USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has organized a session at this years Agricultural Outlook Forum addressing how the increase in consumer participation in the nutrition assistance programs has expanded FNS’ role not only among families but also in the marketplace.  This session will explore the existing and new opportunities that now exist for food distributors, manufactures, retailers, and consumers.  Speakers include: Cathleen Enright, Vice President Federal Government Affairs, Western Growers Association;  Scott Faber, Vice President, Federal Affairs, Grocery Manufacturers Association; Jim Weill, President, Food Research and Action Center.  Julie Paradis, Administrator, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, will moderate the session.

Each year, APHIS protects millions of animals nationwide that are covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).  The Act, and accompanying regulations developed by APHIS, set Federal standards of care for animals that are bred at the wholesale level, used in research, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public.  Under the law, APHIS has the authority and obligation to confiscate any AWA-regulated animal that is in a condition of unrelieved suffering.