USDA Blog

Late last week Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan attended the Working Lands Alliance’s Tenth Anniversary Conference at Yale University. While there, the Deputy Secretary announced that a total of $207,000 in funds from the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program (RBEG) will be provided...

Last Wednesday the weather was about as good as anyone has reason to expect for March in Michigan, which was a good thing as we had a lot of ground to cover and a lot of new projects to celebrate.

Tammye Treviño, USDA Rural Development Housing and Community Facilities Administrator sponsored Librarian Forum at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, earlier this month.

Most Americans reading this blog have probably heard of Talkeetna, Alaska. Not only is it the primary air access point for climbers planning to scale Mount McKinley (Denali) but it is also a tourist stop on the Alaska Railroad, especially in the summer. Talkeetna is unincorporated, but hundreds of...

Now, for an update on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding Raleigh County (West Virginia) Public Library in Beckley was awarded through the Rural Development Community Facilities program to obtain a new bookmobile. I had yet another opportunity to interview Gary Knapp...

Barbara Beard-Hinton, Assistant to the State Director for Rural Development in North Carolina, Mel Ellis, Director, Single Family Housing and Rich Davis, Acting Deputy Administrator , Single Family Housing sponsored a Self Help Housing Listening Forum at the McKimmon Conference Center at North...

By taking just 10 minutes to answer just 10 questions, farmers and rural residents can help ensure a bright future for their local communities. The 2010 Census is now on its way to every household in the United States – and the results will have a major impact on rural America.

Stormy, cold, unpleasant weather did not hinder more than 125 people from attending the Job and Economic Growth Forum in Montgomery, Alabama last month hosted by USDA Rural Development and the USDA Farm Service Agency, as a follow-up to the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth that President Obama...

Judith Canales, Administrator of USDA Rural Development Business Programs, Curt Wiley, Chief of Staff, and Pandor Hadjy, Deputy Administrator, visited Atlanta recently to meet with State Directors, Business Program Directors, and Business loan specialists from 15 states and two territories in an...

José Otero-García, USDA Rural Development State Director, and Tammy Treviño, USDA Rural Development Rural Housing Administrator sponsored a Self-Help Housing Forum at the Sacred Heart University in San Juan and was web connected with the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus and with the...