Texas

Working alongside USDA agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is second nature for the Texas Small Farmers and Ranchers Community Based Organization. Founded in 1998, the organization is dedicated to assisting limited resource agricultural producers in parts of Texas with...

As summer time begins, I think of children playing with their friends and having a great time as they enjoy their vacation from school. I am also very aware that some children may go hungry during the summer months. Fortunately for children in the Rio Grande Valley on June 1, Catholic Charities...

The USDA’s Food Safety Discovery Zone has finished its spring 2012 tour, taking hands-on food safety lessons across the Southeast. Stopping in the smallest towns and big cities like Dallas, we were able to educate over 175,000 people on preventing foodborne illness. Real food safety experts who work...

Dallas is home to a number of regional offices of federal agencies where we are all busy working to accomplish our various missions. Sometimes we get the opportunity to reach across departmental lines and work with our peers in other agencies. Recently, some of us walked right out of our office...

I first heard about Earth Team, the volunteer workforce of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) from Eric Banks, the Kansas State Conservationist. Our families go to the same church, and he spoke with my mother about the Earth Team program, recommending I look into getting...

The Forest Service recently unveiled a product that helps natural resource managers rapidly detect, identify and respond to unexpected changes in the nation's forests by using web-based tools. The satellite-based monitoring and assessment tool aptly called ForWarn, recognizes and tracks potential...

When on duty, Major General Eddy M. Spurgin is the commanding general for the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard, but when stateside, he serves as the district conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Big Spring, Texas.

Did you know that Georgetown is the Red Poppy Capital of Texas? I was surprised to find out that the city is known for the red poppy wildflowers that bloom throughout the city each spring. They hold the Red Poppy Festival each year in April and attract approximately 30,000 visitors.

The ranks of the people who fought in, and personally remember World War II, the people journalist Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” are rapidly thinning. My mother, who heard the announcement over a Zenith radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked, is now in her 90’s. My father, who...

Over 13 billion pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables cross the U.S.-Mexican border each year. Having accurate tracking of the food being imported across our southern border is important for a variety of reasons—including the ability to accurately assess the market price of incoming goods and the...