USDA Blog

As the team at Legend Seeds of De Smet, South Dakota, gears up for spring and the 2012 growing season, they do so from a newly-constructed, state-of-the-art facility, located just east of their former space on Highway 14. The new office, seed lab and expanded warehouse space were designed to better...

Two years ago last week, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act – the law that gives hard working, middle-class families the health security they deserve. For too long, rural Americans have been getting the short end of the health care stick, with limited options, fewer doctors and nurses...

Calling all local officials and entrepreneurs! Imagine high-tech, well paying jobs coming to rural America. It’s not impossible and in fact it’s already happening. A recent webinar entitled “An American Economy Built to Last: Advanced Manufacturing in Rural America” and hosted by USDA’s Rural...

The USDA Food Safety Discovery Zone began its spring 2012 tour this past Saturday at Baltimore’s B’More Healthy Expo. Staffed by five food safety experts, the Discovery Zone was arguably one of the top attractions at the expo, giving interactive tours and food safety prizes to at least 5,000...

In today’s housing market downturn, New Jersey and Arizona are fortunate to have been selected as two of the 19 states to participate in the USDA Guaranteed Single Family Housing Refinance Pilot Program. In New Jersey, many homeowners are struggling to make ends meet especially with high interest...

The Buckeye Recreation Area on the Manti-La Sal National Forest in southwestern Colorado is a jewel in a spectacular setting. Ponderosa forests, a sparkling blue reservoir and towering peaks surround it. Until 2010, it consisted of dilapidated facilities and barren shorelines with compacted soils...

Miscanthus giganteus was a tall, bothersome grass a few years back, a good privacy plant, but to some, just a weed. It could grow about anywhere, reaching heights of 12-15 feet, and do it perennially for 20 years or more. Some say Miscanthus giganteus had a bad reputation, but it doesn’t bother...

When on duty, Major General Eddy M. Spurgin is the commanding general for the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard, but when stateside, he serves as the district conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Big Spring, Texas.

As the head of USDA’s public health agency, I am responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe for American families. I approach this role not only as a food safety expert and a physician, but also as a mother. And I want to address the...

This is the third installment of the Organic 101 series that explores different aspects of the USDA organic regulations. Amidst nutrition facts, ingredients lists, and dietary claims on food packages, “organic” might appear as one more piece of information to decipher when shopping for foods. So...