Economic Growth

As President Obama challenges Americans to win the future, we at USDA are implementing ways to do so by helping tribal communities across the country out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our global competition. Starting in rural America, but more specifically within tribal communities, we see an...

Each year our agency, USDA’s Economic Research Service, produces a six-page brochure packed with information on social and economic conditions in rural areas of the nation. This information is particularly useful for agencies that develop policies and programs to assist rural areas. We recently...

Cross-posted from the White House Blog Yesterday I was pleased to receive the encouraging news from two USDA reports that illustrate the strength of the recovery in our agricultural economy. The 2010 Farm Income Forecast and Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade show a positive picture for 2010, and...

The Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) held an intensive two-day economic development conference in Ohio on Aug. 24-25 targeting educational outreach to the state’s small, rural community leaders. With more than 300 participants from Ohio and neighboring states on hand, and an impressive line...

Last Sunday, CBS News featured USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan and discussed how farmers markets are part of a fundamental shift in the way people access their food and interact with their community. And, as the story notes, “… [f]armers markets and other forms of selling straight to customers are...

Earlier this week, USDA Rural Development staff joined the Kansas Department of Transportation and the City of Parsons, to celebrate the official opening of Giefer Drive and Tolen Creek Industrial Park as well as the completion of the US 59 Recovery Act Highway Project.

Meat and poultry products are important commodities within many local and regional food systems. The production of these products for local and regional markets is of course dependent on the availability of facilities that slaughter and process livestock and poultry. Media stories have recently...

Cross-Posted from the Know Your Farmer Know Your Food Blog Meat and poultry products are important commodities within many local and regional food systems. The production of these products for local and regional markets is of course dependent on the availability of facilities that slaughter and...

Written by Anita Rios Moore, Vermont USDA Public Information Coordinator USDA Rural Development State Director, Molly Lambert, joined by representatives from the Vermont Congressional delegation presented seven Northeast Kingdom organizations with Certificates of Partnership recently during a grant...

While the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is rich in cultural pride, identity and history, its remote location in the rugged terrain of Southeast Oklahoma has severely limited the tribe’s economic development efforts. But a Broadband Initiative Program grant, made available by the American Recovery and...