USDA Blog

Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager spent a busy week recently traveling throughout the heartland as a part of President Obama’s Rural Tour. Under Secretary Tonsager attended a Rural Tour event in Iowa with President Obama and Secretary Vilsack, and then continued to South Dakota...

A stop during my recent visit to Ohio was the historic North Market located in downtown Columbus. The North Market successfully addresses the needs of small and local businesses for retail space, and provides local, healthy and sustainably grown and processed food for consumers. Over one million...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) in Beijing has been working closely with Chinese retailer Beijing Hualian Group High End Markets (BHG) for several years, building a strong partnership. The Beijing ATO is staffed by Foreign Service Officers from USDA’s...

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...

In conjunction with National Bike Month, the National Forests in Florida celebrated the renovation of the Munson Hills Off-Road Bicycle Trail on the Apalachicola National Forest. The project was funded by the Recovery Act. The ribbon-cutting event in Bristol, Fla., was attended by an enthusiastic...

Last week we were honored to host USDA’s 3 rd annual Iftar commemorating the month of Ramadan and the contributions of USDA’s Muslim employees. More than 200 attendees, including USDA employees, Muslim community members, and representatives from faith-based and secular non-profit organizations...

In a scene that’s a telltale sign of summer across the southern United States, farmers’ markets and grocery stores are now proudly declaring that they are stocked with ripe, delicious, American-grown peaches. Thanks in part to a Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) grant from USDA’s...

Cowboys are known for being good story tellers, and Roy and Steve Breuklander are no exceptions. Roy might tell you how his grandparents homesteaded in Cherry County back in the 1880s. Roy’s son, Steve, might share how his family started one of the first canoe outfitters in Niobrara Valley.

Last week as I walked around the Iowa State Fair, I was reminded about the power of philanthropy. The Iowa State Fair’s Blue Ribbon Foundation has raised more than $80 million since its inception in 1993 and helped make numerous facilities improvements all around the fairgrounds including: a new...

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...