USDA Blog

Each day U.S. farmers and ranchers make thousands of management decisions, ranging from when and what to plant to weighing options for conserving their operation’s natural resources. They depend on an array of experts, research and data to inform these decisions. One of their sources is the Natural...

If you follow the #PeoplesGarden on social media, you’ve seen informative videos by Jorge Penso, the lead gardener at the national headquarters People’s Garden in Washington, D.C.

Happy Compromise Farm + Sanctuary grows nutritious food for their local community distributed through a “free farm stand.” Though surrounded by farms in the rural Southern Tier of New York, the area is a food desert with a 16% poverty rate, a condition that often leads to higher risk for chronic...

Alcorn State University graduate Christopher Epps learned firsthand how a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investment in a student’s educational career can have a lifetime impact.

One week on the job can take organic inspectors from a field crop farm to a dairy pasture or food production facility. Inspectors audit organic farms, ranches, and businesses to verify that they follow the USDA organic standards. Travel and flexibility are inherent to inspection work, and many...

California native Floyd D. Harris III knows that perseverance and hard work pay off. A recent graduate of Southern University, an 1890 land-grant university in Louisiana, Harris applied several times to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/ 1890 National Scholars Program.

Consumers around the globe often recognize the USDA organic seal but may want to learn more about the practices the organic standards include. During an Introduction to Organic Farming and Gardening Course offered by USDA Human Capital Initiative partner Florida Organic Growers (FOG), Dr. Juan C...

The last few years have seen the U.S. dairy industry weather some storms, including an unprecedented global pandemic and the related supply chain disruptions, which forced producers to dump millions of gallons of milk that no longer had a market. Through it all, USDA continues to support the...

Every year, thousands of farmers, ranchers, and businesses grow and produce organic products – and all these operations are audited by qualified organic inspectors. Organic inspectors visit fields, pastures, or processing plants to conduct annual reviews where they meet with farmers and processors...

A sustainable and just local food system for Native Americans is the goal of an Arizona nonprofit. The Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Ajo CSA), a Native American-governed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is working with the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona to preserve and revitalize...