USDA Blog

Food Banks across the country help millions of families in need keep their kitchen cabinets from going empty. Much of the food given out comes from donations; however USDA’s Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, helps food banks stretch their donations by making USDA commodity foods...

On April 27, I was honored to accompany President Shelley of the Navajo Nation for the National Veterinary Stockpile (NVS) exercise held in Window Rock. The NVS exercise provides countermeasures – supplies, equipment, medicine, vaccines and response support services – that states and Tribes need to...

The deadline for the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) and the Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE), is quickly approaching. Producers who have not signed up for either program have until June 1 to do so. “Producers must be aware of these deadlines and take action,” USDA Farm Service...

Innovation was the buzz word during the 2011 USDA Science and Technology Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) Board Meeting. The PVPO, part of the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Science and Technology Program, gives legal intellectual property rights, similar to patents, to breeders of new...

Last week, I traveled to Canada - the second-largest market for U.S. agricultural products. Wanting to see our companies promoting U.S. export sales, I attended SIAL Canada, an international trade show in Toronto, which welcomed more than 530 exhibitors and 12,000 food and agricultural business...

USDA and Lutheran SeniorLife recently celebrated the dedication and open house of RoseCrest Assisted Living Facility. USDA Rural Development provided a $3 Million Community Facilities loan for the construction of the new state-of-the-art facility designed specifically for older adults with Alzheimer...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: Located in the one of the most fertile agricultural valleys on Earth is the town of Manteca, Calif. Surrounded by groves of almonds, cherries, olives and a host of other crops for as far as the eye can see, a group of students sought inspiration for First Lady...

A study by researchers at the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory shows that the lowest rates of deforestation and forest carbon emissions occur in global regions with the highest rates of forest product output. Counter intuitively global regions with the highest rates of deforestation...

In less than a year, residents in the city of Hawesville and Hancock County, Kentucky., will have a brand new library that will be twice as large as the existing one. The new 10,000 square foot facility will provide additional space for computers with Internet access, public meeting rooms and...

What better way to celebrate Earth Day last month than to recognize projects that are environmentally friendly and to educate our elementary school youths. That's exactly what we did in northwest Missouri. The Missouri Rural Development (RD) staff partnered with the Senior Citizens Nursing Home...