Skip to main content
Skip to main content

USDA Blog


Showing: 1 - 10 of 291 Results
Applied Filters

Harvest Time Leads to Delicious Meal at Dallas Elementary School

December 29, 2010 Andrea McCauley, USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Southwest Region

On a cool mid November morning in Dallas, first graders at Stonewall Jackson Elementary rushed through their 20,000 square foot garden to harvest the vegetables they’ve been monitoring with anticipation. On this day, they were getting a chance to taste their bounty, along with prominent local Chef...

Food and Nutrition Initiatives

Time is Ticking! Final Days to Submit Your Favorite Recipe

December 22, 2010 Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton, FNCS

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! Blog: As schools across the country entered the holiday break, we sent out a friendly reminder that the Recipes for Healthy Kids Competition is coming to a close December 30 at 5:00 p.m. But it is not too late for teams across the country to get their winning...

Food and Nutrition Initiatives

Students Participate in Pajaro Project Planting Day

December 20, 2010 Jody Fagan, NRCS California

As many as 28 students from the Pajaro Valley High School recently planted wetland trees, shrubs and grasses as part of a Pajaro River Watershed project near Watsonville, California. For this project, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is working with the Resource Conservation District of...

Initiatives Conservation

Through Partnership Healthier, Beautiful Communities Grow

December 20, 2010 The People’s Garden Team

A partnership between USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative and Keep America Beautiful (KAB) was a natural fit. KAB, the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action network, has been engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their communities for over 50 years, through a...

Food and Nutrition Initiatives

Detroit’s Eastern Market: A Food Hub in a Food Desert

December 17, 2010 Debbie Tropp, Branch Chief, Farmers Market and Direct Market Research Branch, AMS

Look up Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, in USDA’s Food Environment Atlas and it is obvious that local residents have some significant challenges in accessing healthful food. An alarmingly high number of households that lack a car in Wayne County are located further than one mile from the...

Food and Nutrition Farming

St. Louis Chef Continues Lifelong Child Nutrition Efforts through Chefs Move to School

December 17, 2010 David Von Behren, Public Affairs Director, FNS, Mountain Plains Region

It was a pleasure to learn about Dr. D’Aun Carrell’s career-long commitment to children’s nutrition. Even more so to discover her involvement with Chefs Move to Schools, part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s www.LetsMove.gov campaign to help solve the problem of childhood obesity. The initiative was a...

Food and Nutrition Initiatives

Detroit’s Eastern Market: A Food Hub in a Food Desert

December 17, 2010 Debbie Tropp, Branch Chief, Farmers Market and Direct Market Research Branch, AMS

Look up Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, in USDA’s Food Environment Atlas and it is obvious that local residents have some significant challenges in accessing healthful food. An alarmingly high number of households that lack a car in Wayne County are located further than one mile from the...

Food and Nutrition Farming

The DREAM Act for Our Rural Communities and Our Nation

December 16, 2010 Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack

Cross-posted from the White House Blog where you can also find posts from other top Administration Officials on the importance of the DREAM Act. From 2000 to 2006, while I was Governor of Iowa, approximately 60 percent of the total population increase in the state was directly attributable to...

USDA Results Initiatives

Oklahoma Food Co-op: From Buying Club to Food Hub

December 16, 2010 Adam Diamond, Agricultural Marketing Specialist, AMS

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...

Food and Nutrition Farming

Oklahoma Food Co-Op: From Buying Club to Food Hub

December 16, 2010 Adam Diamond, Agricultural Marketing Specialist, AMS

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...

Health and Safety Food and Nutrition Farming