USDA Blog

From a very humble start, National Invasive Species Awareness Week’s Kids’ Day has bloomed into an event featuring an invasive species magician, a 13-year old ‘invasive species hunter’ from Texas, and even Woodsy Owl from the Forest Service. The event, sponsored by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health...

Twenty-four university students will attend USDA’s 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum Feb. 23-24. The students are the recipients of corporate and USDA sponsorship aimed at promoting the education of the next generation of agriculturalists. The Forum titled, “Moving Agriculture Forward,” is USDA’s...

Imagine living so far away from everyday resources the only way in or out for hundreds of miles is by air. Most Americans take for granted how easy it is to jump in our cars and go to the store for whatever we want or need. Not so in rural Alaska. Gaining a simple, painless way to connect to food...

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests in Georgia receive 2.2 million visitors each year, and their primary activity is use of 850 miles of designated system trails. But it’s not only hikers that take advantage of the recreation opportunities which these trails provide. Cyclists, hunters, anglers...

Last week was a momentous one for U.S.-China agricultural relations. In addition to the productive meetings that took place in Washington and Des Moines, I was honored to witness the signing of an agreement between the U.S. soybean industry and Chinese buyers who agreed to purchase more than 8.6...

A historic gathering of former Secretaries of Agriculture will commemorate USDA’s celebration of the Department’s 150th anniversary and founding in 1862. On February 23 at the 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will moderate a plenary panel of eight former Secretaries...

Travis Forgues is an organic dairy farmer in the town of Alburgh in northwest Vermont, almost at the Canadian border and surrounded on three sides by Lake Champlain. Like many of the other dairy farmers in northern Vermont, Travis is a realist. He went to college. He tried city life. But he was born...

Whether you are an avid football fan who can’t wait until kickoff or you’re part of the 40 percent going to a Super Bowl party just for the food, there’s a good chance you will be as close to chicken wings as the television on Sunday. In fact, the National Chicken Council estimates that Americans...

For Texas rancher Dallas Ford and other Gulf Coast landowners, the Gulf of Mexico Initiative means an opportunity to make a positive difference not only on their lands, but also in the inland waters that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico Initiative (GoMI) is a new program of USDA’s...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA's rich science and research portfolio. With spring not that far away, the garden catalogues are starting to fly through the mail, but the “must read” of the...