USDA Blog

On a recent December day, Earl and Clarisse Snell, of Skipperville, Alabama, proudly showed off the summer squash and tomatoes they were still growing at the start of winter thanks to the seasonal high tunnel they built earlier in the year. Also called hoop houses, seasonal high tunnels look a lot...

Representatives of five rural Louisiana regions participated with USDA Rural Development, Southern Rural Development Center, Louisiana Economic Development, and the AgCenters at Louisiana State and Southern University as they launched the “Stronger Economies Together” (SET) Program. This meeting was...

Access to capital for farm and food businesses was the focus of a two-day workshop in December sponsored by the Vermont Farm Viability Program and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. The event was supported by the Vermont Agriculture Innovation Center which provides technical assistance to small...

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! Blog: Morning Star School for special needs children in Orlando, Fla., is enjoying a culinary experience they’ll never forget thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “ Chefs Move to Schools” initiative and local Chef Jamie McFadden. To the student’s joy, McFadden...

[Note: the following is an excerpt from an article that originally appeared in the November/December issue of Rural Cooperatives, a magazine published by USDA Rural Development] Puget Sound Meat Producers Cooperative has been operating for just over a year, with a roll of 60 voting members in nine...

Backyard poultry owners will find colorful chickens and turkeys, as well as ducks, parrots and some grand geese among a 12-month spread of domestic, wild and exotic birds in the 2011 Backyard Biosecurity calendar. They’ll also find a year’s worth of solid information to help them raise healthy birds...

Wow, the first emergency call out of the new fire station. As I pulled into the driveway of the new Heyburn, Idaho, Fire Station for the ribbon cutting, I was greeted with the red lights flashing on the fire truck as the fire crew rushed to their call. Initially, I thought about how much faster the...

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! Blog: Last June, First Lady Michelle Obama along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a call to action for chefs across the nation to join the battle against childhood obesity. The program, called Chefs Move to Schools, helps to partner chefs with local...

On December 16, I had the privilege of visiting McKinney, Texas to recognize Minshew Elementary School for achieving gold in the USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge. I presented the award to the school at an assembly with the students, the Mayor and the district superintendent. I also had the...

The time had come for a community to see what it has built when the Household Abuse Victims Emergency Network (HAVEN, Inc.) recently celebrated the grand opening of their new Domestic Abuse Shelter and Office Facility in the northern Wisconsin community of Merrill. The newly renovated building will...