FFAS

Last week, I was honored to travel home to Delaware to address the importance of the President’s National Export Initiative (NEI). As a proud former agriculture secretary for this great state, I know well that for thousands of Delawareans, agriculture is not only a livelihood, but also a way of life...

In the two years that President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack have been in office, those involved in production agriculture have participated in driving a sustained economic recovery. That’s the message I delivered earlier this week to farmers, extension staff, local business leaders and...

One of the most interesting aspects of my job is meeting interesting people from all parts of the world. Last week I only had to travel as far as Kansas City to meet nearly two dozen African ministers of trade, commerce, and agriculture for a visit to the Kansas City Board of Trade as part of the...

Last week I was in Kansas City to participate in the 9 th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum. AGOA seeks to strengthen the trade relationship between the United States and Africa by reducing tariffs on thousands of African products and providing technical assistance to boost African...

By James Miller, Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Earlier today I announced, on behalf of Secretary Tom Vilsack, an opportunity for landowners to enroll environmentally sensitive land into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP is administered by the USDA Farm Service...

I recently returned from Nairobi, where I got a firsthand look at USDA's food aid programs. Due to volcanic ash in Europe, my arrival was delayed by 36 hours. I tried to outmaneuver the cloud by taking the scenic route -- Washington to Boston to Amsterdam to Paris to Nairobi. While I enjoyed my...

Submitted by Kathy Beisner, Delaware USDA Rural Development Public Information Coordinator