USDA Blog

I’m Dr. John Clifford, Chief Veterinary Officer for the USDA and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services. Over nearly the last 26 years I’ve had the pleasure of holding numerous positions within the agency. Here’s my story on how I got to...

The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center located on the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is a site to see for many tourists. This recently renovated Center is a popular cruise ship destination giving a boost to the local economy. Tourism spending in the Juneau, Alaska area is expected to...

The general public has a fresh opportunity to learn how water grows an economy through a recently launched communications campaign in Texas’ High Plains region.

USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist’s Climate Change Program Office has released the “U.S. Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory: 1990-2008” report. This report provides detailed estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration from the management of livestock, croplands...

As the sun rose on the beginning of a normal workday last fall for Rural Development Area Specialist, Vanessa Ingles, little did she know that one of her recent housing repair recipients had some special gifts awaiting her. Mrs. Roxie Whorley and her granddaughter Roxanna Mize who live in the...

The Internet is running out of it's 4.3 billion Internet addresses! No fear, for IPv6 is here! IPv6 is a new version of internet addressing that will replace the current IPv4 version. The new IPv6 format will allow for 340 undecillion addresses compared to 4.3 billion addresses under IPv4. The last...

Baseball fans thrill at the thought of hearing a bat crack. But seeing an actual bat shatter is not one of those thrills. That’s because this seemingly harmless wood breaking can be dangerous for the players and fans and is the reason that the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Lab has worked for...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: Once again this year, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell is encouraging kids and their families to reconnect with nature and have fun by participating in the 4 th annual National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day), on Saturday, June 11. This FREE event is designed...

Mississippians know the strength of longleaf pines. These native trees braved Hurricane Katrina 48 percent better than their loblolly cousins. Even so, the ancient longleaf pine forests of the South are a threatened ecosystem.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: Today marks day two in the first ever National Summer Food Service Program Week, a weeklong awareness campaign to promote USDA’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and other programs nationwide to feed low income kids. Lots of things are happening around the...