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As the population of the United States has transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to an increasingly more urban one, our youth have become detached from a fundamental understanding of agriculture. Nonetheless, we benefit from the innovations and efficiencies of our food supply on a daily...

Today, USDA’s Economic Research Service released the report “Household Food Security in the United States 2009,” and reported that 17.4 million households had difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of resources, about the same as in 2008. In more than a third of those households, at least...

I was thrilled to stand in the Civic Center in Pelham, Ala., on October 29 th to celebrate the State of Alabama’s great accomplishment of 52 Alabama Public Schools meeting USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge. Alabama has received 39, more than half of HealthierUS School Challenge Gold Awards of...

Last week I attended a rollicking event on Chicago’s West Side. Healthy Schools Campaign’s Cooking Up Change event—a benefit and competition between students to create healthy and tasty school meals—was attended by over 600 enthusiastic high schoolers, community leaders, local government leaders and...

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! blog. In the ongoing fight against childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama started the Let’s Move! campaign to help children be more physically fit and conscious of the food they eat. To help promote this initiative, employees from USDA and other federal...

When Denise Hamilton and her husband retire from their careers as teachers at West Jessamine County High School in Nicholasville, Kentucky, they plan to move to their new farm in Garrard County and supplement their retirement income by growing pasture-raised beef and organic vegetables. “We just...

Recently, I had the privilege of visiting Northern Mississippi to recognize two schools for meeting USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC). I stopped at Pope Elementary/Junior High School in Pope, Miss. and met with and congratulated the cafeteria and other staff for achieving a Bronze Award. I...

The people of Winston County, Mississippi faced many of the same problems as other rural communities across the nation: declining population, rising prices, and family farmers in need of capital, business tools, and new markets for their products. But they were determined to overcome these...

The Farm Credit Council, the trade organization for the farmer-owned Farm Credit System, was recently awarded a grant by the Risk Management Agency to produce written and web-based material using case studies to explain how local food systems work in the real world of business and economics, called...

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at the Crossroads Farmers Market in Takoma Park, Md. The market’s motto is, “Bringing fresh, local, healthy food to individuals of all incomes and backgrounds,” something we consistently support at the USDA. Just last week Crossroads received a $50...