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Pennsylvania


Rental Assistance Provides Options for Individuals and Families in Rural America To Find a Place to Call Home

June 23, 2022 Emily Cannon, USDA Rural Development Public Affairs Specialist

There’s an old saying that goes, “Home is where you hang your hat.” For many Americans, home is much more than a structure with four walls and a roof. It’s where they showcase family photos in the hall or on the mantle, cook holiday meals, and rest after a long day. Home provides a place of comfort...

Rural

During COVID-19, Central PA is Fighting Hunger One Bus at a Time

August 24, 2020 Curt Coccodrilli, USDA Rural Development Pennsylvania State Director

In 2018, Mel Curtis, Branch Director of the Moshannon Valley YMCA of Centre County and Pauline Rabb, CEO with Cen-Clear Child Services, joined forces to retrofit a 72-passenger bus with a kitchen and appliances and dubbed it The Travelin’ Table Mobile Feeding Bus. The initiative was created to serve...

Coronavirus Rural

Stats to Spice Up Your Pumpkin Knowledge

October 22, 2019 Gregory Astill, Economic Research Service

As you are enjoying fall pumpkin treats, consider that every U.S. state produces pumpkins. However, the top five pumpkin producing states between 2016 and 2018 – Illinois, Texas, California, Indiana, and Pennsylvania – harvested about 40 percent of U.S. pumpkin acres, according to the 2017 Census of...

Research and Science

RMA Administrator Meets with Farmers, Ag Groups in Harrisburg

September 06, 2018 Sean Patrick, USDA Risk Management Agency

USDA’s Administrator of the Risk Management Agency, which oversees Federal crop insurance, was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, attending a conference hosted by the state’s Department of Agriculture.

Farming

Farm Community Effort Leads to Improved Drinking Water for Thousands

March 16, 2018 Amelia Dorch and Chad Douglas, NRCS

All communities depend on clean water and that supply of clean water depends on the actions of members in the community and outside of it. The small city of Kutztown lies within the Saucony Creek watershed in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The watershed is mostly agricultural, dotted with small family...

Conservation

Good Forest Management Yields Wildlife Oasis

February 08, 2018 Justin Fritscher, Natural Resources Conservation Service

For Mike and Laura Jackson, many mornings begin with hot tea and birds. This particular morning, they spotted a mourning dove, a pileated woodpecker and many others. And the retired science teachers in Bedford County, Pennsylvania jot down the types and numbers of birds they see each day.

Conservation

NIFA Programs Helping to Combat America’s Growing Diabetes Crisis

November 14, 2017 Hope Marshall, National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Diabetes is the 7 th leading cause of death in the United States, yet many are not aware that they have the deadly disease—or that it may be stalking them.

Research and Science

Flushed Away...Probing For Antibiotic Presence in Our Food Supply

February 17, 2017 Dennis O'Brien, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service

It’s a question with major public-health implications: Could antibiotics and other widely used medications get into our food supply when they are flushed into our sewers? To try to answer that question, researchers from USDA and Penn State University (PSU) assessed whether some commonly used...

Research and Science

Bringing it Home at the End of the Year

January 12, 2017 Hubert Hamer, Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics Service

According to recent data on local food marketing practices, 167,000 U.S. farms locally produced and sold food through direct marketing practices, resulting in $8.7 billion in revenue. Pennsylvania led the U.S. in the number of farms selling directly to consumers, with more than 6,000 operations...

USDA Results Food and Nutrition

Resolve to Build Healthy Soils on Rented Land

January 03, 2017 Melissa Erdman, NRCS District Conservationist

Do you rent out your land for agriculture? If you do, don’t forget about your farm when you’re making your New Year’s resolutions. Here are five questions from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that you need to ask the folks who rent your land: Do you build organic matter in the...

Conservation
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