Tom Vilsack

We are proudly in the middle of the eleventh annual National Farmers Market Week as declared by USDA. This year, Secretary Vilsack marked this important milestone with an official Declaration acknowledging the role farmers markets play in stimulating local economies, strengthening communities and...

The Department of Agriculture is a big institution, with a $149 billion budget and 114,000 employees. When Secretary Vilsack asked me to spearhead the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, my first impulse wasn’t to create new programs and authorities, but rather to figure out how better to...

By Amy Maxwell, State Public Affairs Specialist, South Carolina Three People’s Gardens at USDA Service Centers within South Carolina’s Edisto Watershed are encouraging community involvement and are providing fresh produce to those in need.

Written by Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service The Secretary of Agriculture has officially declared August 1-7 2010 as National Farmers Market Week. National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to celebrate the thriving farmers markets in your community. It’s a time to...

Last week I joined Governor O’Malley and Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance for a cook-out at the Governor’s House in Annapolis, Maryland. What a blast! Along with 300 other guests, I sampled wonderful local foods prepared by 19 farmer-chef teams who were the winners in a state-wide...

Written by Beth Grabau, Public Affairs Specialist, Iowa State FSA The Woodbury and Monona Count Farm Service Agency Service Centers in Iowa welcomed an unexpected guest on Tuesday as Christie Vilsack — wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack — stopped by for a visit. “It was a real privilege to...

Where does your food come from and how does it get to your plate? For many Americans this is a question that is becoming more and more difficult to answer as they become further removed from the farm and less connected to agriculture. The hard work that goes into producing our nation’s food supply...

By David Cleaves, U.S. Forest Service Climate Change Advisor This update is one way we are trying to connect people inside and outside the Forest Service around the issues and the lessons we are learning in this changing climate. In implementing the Department’s new Strategic Plan (described in the...

By US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Yesterday, I had the opportunity to testify before the House Committee on Education and Labor on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. Every five years, Congress considers improvements to the Child Nutrition Act, which provides...

USDA Rural Development (RD), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff planted the first public “Peoples Garden” in New York State last week.