USDA Blog

Alaska’s Southeast Island School District operates four bioenergy-heated greenhouses in Thorne Bay, Kasaan, Naukati Bay, and Coffman Cove. Each greenhouse provides fresh produce to the school cafeteria and surrounding communities, jobs for district students, and an opportunity for teachers to bring...

What if there was an endless fuel source that came from widely available natural waste products? And what if converting these products to energy supported tens of thousands of rural jobs? Wood can be just that fuel. In many places, it already is.

Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent the following message to all USDA employees: I want to take this opportunity on my final day at USDA to express my profound gratitude to the people who work at USDA. Every day, nearly 90,000 people leave their families and the comfort of their home to do...

Ethanol, primarily derived from corn, supplies about 10 percent of US motor fuel needs. A new study from ICF which was released today, titled “ A Life-Cycle Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Based Ethanol,” finds that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with corn-based ethanol...

According to recent data on local food marketing practices, 167,000 U.S. farms locally produced and sold food through direct marketing practices, resulting in $8.7 billion in revenue. Pennsylvania led the U.S. in the number of farms selling directly to consumers, with more than 6,000 operations...

If there is one word that best embodies agriculture, it is entrepreneurship. Over the course of my time at USDA, I’ve had the chance to meet with farmers, ranchers and food business of all sizes and in all parts of the country. The faces of these entrepreneurs and their innovative strategies and...