USDA Blog

The Maple Guys, a two-family agricultural business in New Hampshire, was recently awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The Maple Guys produces and sells maple syrup and other maple products, as well as the equipment needed to make them.

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website: Colby Creek Stables, a horse stable facility located near Ithaca, Nebraska in Saunders County, offers a number of amenities for horses and riders, including a large indoor arena, heated barn aisles, and ventilated horse stalls.

The line of cars stretched out of the parking lot and onto the street at the Glencoe Co-op Association on a recent warm afternoon in August. With financing from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), the co-op recently installed the first flex fuel pump in McLeod County, and several...

Tucked away in the hillsides of Somerset County, Pennwood Farms is seeing great results from its new methane digester. The 600-cow dairy farm is owned by four brothers who installed the digester in April of this year with the help of a $264,450 USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) loan, a...

Last week, Senator Debbie Stabenow and I spent the day at the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway where we were excited to learn about a new way American Farmers are leading the charge on innovation. There, we had the opportunity to tour the NASCAR Sprint Cup Garage to view engines...

Judy Canales, Administrator for Rural Development Business and Cooperative Service, joined Missouri Governor Jay Nixon for an evening reception and visited with many of Missouri’s agriculture and rural elite to celebrate Missouri agriculture. The following morning Administrator Canales, Governor...

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website: When the gasoline additive MTBE was banned in 2006 and ethanol was its only practical replacement, Eric as a corn farmer, became very interested in joining with other farmers to build a corn ethanol plant.

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website:

USDA recently named additional states that will participate in the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, designed to expand the availability of non-food crops to be used for liquid biofuels.

In August 2009, a total of $11.4 million in U.S. Forest Service Recovery Act funds were made available to the State of Maine for grants to help rural, economically depressed counties support the conversion of heating systems to wood/dual-fuel heating systems for an estimated 15 public buildings.