Skip to main content
Skip to main content

USDA Blog


Showing: 1 - 10 of 13 Results
Applied Filters

A Tribal College Student’s Path to Leadership

November 30, 2021 Sally Gifford, USDA Office of Communications

Little Priest was the last war chief of the Winnebago Tribe, and the namesake of Little Priest College, one of 35 tribal colleges and universities with land-grant status. Freshman Trey Blackhawk, an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, is pursuing a degree there in Environmental...

Equity Initiatives

Microlearning to Yield Big Results for Organic Stakeholders

October 07, 2021 Alexis McInerney, Program Analyst, AMS National Organic Program

Before coming to the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), Laura Gallagher worked on farms and with community gardening organizations in the Midwest and Northeast providing training and education. Now Laura helps NOP manage the Organic Integrity Learning Center (OILC) and the Human Capital Capacity...

Farming Initiatives

A Historical Visit, A Personal Career Highlight, and A Profound Memory: Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic visit to Hanoi, Vietnam

October 06, 2021 APHIS Foreign Service Officer Joseph “Joe” Vukovich

When the embassy is buzzing with the excitement for an event, it’s easy to feel proud of the important contributions our agency is making towards creating a better world. I experienced these feelings of pride and patriotism when I assisted during Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Hanoi, Vietnam...

Initiatives

Thrifty Food Plan Re-evaluation Puts Nutrition in Reach for SNAP Participants

August 30, 2021 Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary, Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services

More than 42 million of our neighbors rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed their families. USDA recently re-evaluated the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), used to set SNAP benefits, which increased the purchasing power of the plan by 21% for the first time since it was...

Coronavirus Equity Food and Nutrition

USDA Reboots Risk Management Education for Underserved Producers

August 02, 2021 Richard Flournoy, Acting Administrator, Risk Management Agency

USDA is committed to improving equity and access to its programs, including Federal crop insurance. This year, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), which oversees the national Federal crop insurance program, will invest nearly $1 million in risk management education projects with trusted partners.

Equity Farming Initiatives

AMS Resources Support Farmers Markets

July 29, 2021 Christina Conell, Deputy Director, Marketing Services Division, Transportation and Marketing Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA

The Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) mission is to create domestic and international marketing opportunities for U.S. producers of food, fiber, and specialty crops. To accomplish this mission, AMS supports farmers markets in four ways.

Coronavirus Farming Initiatives

USDA Celebrates National Farmers Market Week

July 29, 2021 Betsy Rakola, Associate Deputy Administrator, Transportation and Marketing Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA

The Secretary proclaimed the first week of August as National Farmers Market Week (PDF, 146 KB) as a way to champion the direct-to-consumer producers, market managers, and customers that make their communities come alive during market days.

Farming Initiatives

USDA and FEMA Collaborate in Oregon to Vaccinate America

May 25, 2021 Michael Stepien, Public Affairs Specialist, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

The Oregon Convention Center (OCC) was not open for usual business, but served a critical function to Oregon residents – one of the largest vaccine sites in the country. Over the past two months, the USDA assisted in providing over 320,000 vaccines in Portland by partnering with FEMA to vaccinate...

Initiatives Coronavirus

As Big as Texas: Youth Opportunities in Agriculture

May 14, 2021 Sally Gifford, Communications Coordinator

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you say agriculture? If it’s a farm, then you’re right, but there’s so much more to agriculture these days. This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) co-hosted a virtual Youth Summit with Prairie View A&M University to let Texas K-12 students...

Initiatives

Celebrating 1 Million COVID Vaccines Administered by USDA

April 09, 2021 Gregory Parham, D.V.M., Interim Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and Sara Bleich, PhD, Senior Advisor, COVID-19, Office of the Secretary

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reached the milestone of administering one million COVID-19 vaccines throughout the country. This occasion comes on the heels of the Biden-Harris Administration’s announcement that nearly 150 million people in the United States have been...

Coronavirus Health and Safety