USDA Blog

Oklahoma and Texas form one of the nation’s most abundant agricultural regions. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, these two states accounted for 8% of total U.S. agricultural sales. The market value of agricultural products from Texas came to $32.2 billion, 6% of U.S. agricultural sales...

When purchasing food, many consumers look for information on where the food came from and how it was produced. No antibiotics, cage-free, and grass-fed are a few marketing claims consumers find on protein-based food packaging. To provide assurance to customers of the validity of these and other...

Dr. Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, to take action to help his students

The seeds of digital transformation are taking root as application reviews for our agency’s first Digital Service (DS) Fellows cohort are in progress. By establishing a dedicated fellow team at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), we will be able to improve access to USDA resources and...

Yasmin Miranda-Mandujano is one of 14 students chosen for an internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) High School Equivalency Program/College Assistance Migrant Program (HEP/CAMP). Yasmin is a sophomore at Madera Community College in California, majoring in business administration.

Growing up in a diverse community in Manhattan, USDA Equity Commission’s Elizabeth Lower-Basch understood the importance of civil rights, unions, and equity at a young age. Inspired by her upbringing, Lower-Basch went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy and began her career with the U.S...

What do biologists look for in a healthy forest? A diversity in the ages and composition of trees and occasional breaks in canopy to allow sunlight to reach understory plants. Healthy forests, just like healthy human populations, are sustained by a diversity of ages. Each group has a role to play in...

A young girl looks fearfully at the large wooden canoe bobbing on the water. She steps into the canoe and it moves. She yelps, and is given a reassuring smile by her boat captain. She gets settled holding her paddle tightly, convinced with every movement that the canoe will capsize. The canoe takes...

Every January, Americans are bombarded with information about New Year’s resolutions. While many of us set our hopes high on January 1 st, our commitment to our lofty resolutions tends to dwindle over time. In fact, by June, less than half of us are still committed to accomplishing our New Year’s...

Frank Lake grew up learning traditional practices from the Karuk and Yurok Tribes. He developed an interest in science which led to his career choice as a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station. As a young man, he didn’t realize how unusual the...