USDA Blog

Fifty years after the creation of National Agriculture Day, America’s farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners find themselves on the front lines of climate change. They are uniquely positioned to deliver solutions by implementing climate-smart practices that conserve natural resources, build...

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)’s 2023 Engineer of the Year, Peter Clark is clear about the importance of what people like him do. Engineers “harness the math, harness the statistics … and apply science” to figure out how to solve a problem, such as building a dam to help capture and...

USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations is excited about the Department’s new investments through Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. We’re investing a total of $3.1 billion in 141 projects. More than 20 tribes and tribal groups across the nation are partnering in many of these projects.

Working in partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), farmers are using proven conservation practices to help improve water quality downstream. Our customers are stewards of our nation’s farmland, voluntarily stepping up to the plate to make an impact. They are improving...

It’s the time of year to do your fall garden cleanup. Rather than the tedious task of raking and bagging leaves and taking them to the landfill, the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves!

Climate change is causing greater environmental and economic challenges for U.S. agriculture. But did you know that soil health practices can help working farmlands become more resilient to climate extremes?

USDA just launched a new research and visualization tool that summarizes published scientific research on bird species-vegetation relationships in the Eastern and Boreal Forests of North America. The tool, Literature Gateway: A Systematic Map of Bird-Vegetation Relationships in Eastern and Boreal...

Local communities face many challenges when mitigating and adapting to climate change. Cities across the country are experiencing the effects of increased natural disasters, limited resources, sea-level rise, and other impacts. Municipalities and stakeholders have an opportunity to curb greenhouse...

This year marks the 133 rd anniversary of the dam breach that took the lives of more than 2,200 people and galvanized the nation to ensure such a tragic event could not happen again. On May 31, 1889, torrential rain and subsequent flooding caused the South Fork Dam to fail near Johnstown...

Did you know that worms can recycle your food scraps? Vermicomposting, or worm composting, turns food scraps into a beneficial soil amendment that can be used in home gardens, landscaping, turfgrass, farms and more. Over one-third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste. Composting...