USDA Blog

A historic gathering of former Secretaries of Agriculture will commemorate USDA’s celebration of the Department’s 150th anniversary and founding in 1862. On February 23 at the 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will moderate a plenary panel of eight former Secretaries...

Travis Forgues is an organic dairy farmer in the town of Alburgh in northwest Vermont, almost at the Canadian border and surrounded on three sides by Lake Champlain. Like many of the other dairy farmers in northern Vermont, Travis is a realist. He went to college. He tried city life. But he was born...

USDA’s 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum on Feb. 24 will present five choices for outstanding speakers at the Friday luncheons. Donnie Smith, President and CEO of Tyson Foods, Inc. will address “Perspectives on U.S. Meat and Poultry Production;” Thomas Dorr, President and CEO , U.S. Grains Council...

Tiffany Arthur knows peanuts. Her command of the subject area not only allowed her to develop a new methodology to address issues in the peanut industry, but her ability to provide insight to Congressional leaders, USDA officials and market participants earned her the Economist of the Year award by...

Over 13 billion pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables cross the U.S.-Mexican border each year. Having accurate tracking of the food being imported across our southern border is important for a variety of reasons—including the ability to accurately assess the market price of incoming goods and the...

On February 12, President Lincoln’s birthday, let’s take a moment to appreciate the many impressive accomplishments that our Nation's 16th President achieved during his four years in office. Many of those accomplishments have a direct tie-in to the success of American agriculture. Lincoln’s birthday...

USDA’s 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, Feb. 23-24, will present 25 breakout sessions, including Agricultural Financial Markets and Investment focusing on patterns of financial investment in U.S. agricultural assets, changes in the types of lenders serving the agriculture sector, and the economics...

In 2009 when Tim Montz first traveled to Shanghai, China, representing the Texas pecan industry, Montz had to explain what pecans were. Two years later, promoting pecans to China and other countries is “business as usual” for the father-and-son team of Tim and Jake Montz of the Montz Pecan Company.

USDA’s 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, Feb. 23-24, will commemorate the 150th anniversary of USDA’s founding in 1862. Secretary Tom Vilsack will moderate a panel of former Secretaries of Agriculture ─ Ed Schafer, Senator Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Dan Glickman, Mike Espy, Clayton Yeutter, John...

There is good news! Earlier this week Ambassador Ertharin Cousin was appointed as Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. The WFP, based in Rome, is the world’s largest humanitarian agency. Its objective is to provide food aid to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people...