USDA Blog

USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, Today’s Strategies & Tomorrow’s Opportunities, will be held February 24-25, 2011, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver the Keynote Address. The Distinguished Plenary Panel will be moderated by...

The USDA’s Food Safety Discovery Zone (FSDZ) concluded its 2010 tour season on November 13, 2010 at the National Science Teachers Association Area Conference, in Baltimore, MD. “How can I get this to my school and how much does it cost?” was the main question asked by the 2,617 educators who visited...

Cross-posted from the FoodSafety.gov blog. The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline talked to about 350 people on Thanksgiving Day about thawing, preparing and storing turkey. Most people were right on track and just needed some reassuring about handling the big bird. Some people, however, called about...

One afternoon in the fall of 2003, 36 consumers and several volunteers gathered in the basement of an Oklahoma City church to sort and purchase products from twenty local producers. They generated $3,500 in sales, and the opening day of the Oklahoma Food Coop (OFC) was determined to have been a...

Another impeccable line-up of speakers, led by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, has been announced for the 2011 Agricultural Outlook Forum. Titled “Today’s Strategies & Tomorrow’s Opportunities,” the Forum will be held February 24-25, 2011, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va...

Cross-posted from FoodSafety.gov. It’s that time of year when the parties never seem to end. They’re great occasions for exchanging good will and gifts – but not the dangerous bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Here are some of the unwanted guests who may try to crash your party:

In the days of the Great Depression, the National Recovery Act had as part of its focus the development of rural America. The primary initiatives of that era were development of electrical and telephone systems throughout the nation.

More than 7,000 rural residents in a remote area of Arizona will soon be connected to the world at large thanks to Recovery Act support from USDA Rural Development.

We hope you enjoyed our countdown to the Thanksgiving holiday, and turkey roasting tips! Now that the holiday is behind us, it’s time to think about what to do with the copious amounts of leftovers taking up room in our refrigerators.

Several months ago, I was selected to participate in a meat processing project that took me from Great Falls, Montana to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. I went under the auspices of the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) – an organization supported by USAID – to offer advice on the methods...