Florida

Together with our colleagues at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, USDA’s Partnership Center has been working closely with pastors in Miami, Florida to expand opportunities to provide food to hungry people. On March 24, one of our partners, the Family and Children Faith Coalition in South Florida...

The African-American farmer is a rare breed in the United States, and their numbers have declined dramatically over the past few decades. This trend, particularly, is due to the fact that young people are not entering the field to replace an increasingly aging population. In Florida, the average...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: I had the distinct pleasure to join the White House Assistant Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiative Sam Kass, to participate in a unique Chefs Move to Schools event at Edgewater High School Auditorium, Orlando, Fla., in celebration of...

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. This year’s weather has presented some challenges for Florida’s citrus growers. In December, sub-freezing temperatures hit...

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! Blog: Morning Star School for special needs children in Orlando, Fla., is enjoying a culinary experience they’ll never forget thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “ Chefs Move to Schools” initiative and local Chef Jamie McFadden. To the student’s joy, McFadden...

I was recently able to participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony with community partners and Florida state and city officials at the Jackson Memorial Foundation Green Market in honor of the farmers market now accepting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) EBT cards and the Womens...

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. Exotic animals are a growing problem in Florida. From Burmese pythons to Nile monitors, these animals are invading...

Back in 1947, nearly one-third of the labor force worked on farms. In those days if you didn’t have a relative who worked on a farm, you knew someone who did. As time and technology progressed and jobs moved from farms to factories, generations began to lose their connection to agriculture and the...

By Richard A. Machek, Florida State Director, USDA Rural Development I recently returned from a groundbreaking ceremony that was 10 years in the making. Like many of Florida’s rural cities and towns, the City of Marianna has faced years of reduced revenues and a shrinking business district. Looking...

By Lisa Pino, Deputy Administrator of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program