USDA Blog

U.S. interest in dependable agricultural statistics can be traced back to the very foundation of our country. George Washington was the first U.S. President to realize the need for reliable answers to questions like: How much grain can the United States export? How much does farmland cost to buy or...

Rappellers are firefighters who are delivered to remote and inaccessible wildfires by means of dropping down a rope from helicopters hovering 250 feet high. Earlier this month over 50 veteran Forest Service rappellers throughout the West prepared for a new fire season with training and...

Walking through AGCO’s campus in Jackson, Minn., almost feels like walking through a small city. There are large buildings, busy people heading in different directions, vehicles humming up and down roads and the constant buzz of activity and production. If AGCO was its own city, it’d be growing...

On any given day during grazing season, Black Angus cattle amble across areas of the Oglala National Grassland in northwestern Nebraska. Yet they play a bigger role than just grazing for their daily meal. They help support the local economy, are the lifeline of a family business and have a role in a...

Great things continue to happen as America moves forward in developing an “all of the above” strategy to become more energy independent. For example, an agreement was signed between aviation industry leaders and Midwest stakeholders to develop and commercialize sustainable biofuels. USDA will act as...

Island Flowers by Liana opened their doors to American Samoa on May 7, 2008 — the week of Mother’s day — and business has been blooming every since. From humble beginnings selling cut flowers directly out of nurseries from their home in Maloata, this family run operation has become one of the...

Mississippi staff recently commemorated the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its work on behalf of agriculture, rural America and people throughout the country and world who benefit from the work of the agency. Mississippi agencies USDA Rural Development (RD), National...

A report being released by the U.S. Forest Service examines the impact of climate change on eight forest diseases and how these pathogens will ultimately affect Western forests. The report analyzed a range of future conditions from warmer and dryer to warmer and wetter. The first scenario, which is...

Nearly 150 years ago – on July 2, 1862, just two months after the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – President Lincoln signed another historic measure, the Morrill Act, which created the land grant university system. Over the years, land grant colleges and universities have had a...

Elsbeth and Siegfried Fuchs, immigrants from Prussia, known nowadays as Germany, bought a 138-acre farm in Waterloo, Wisconsin. It was here they started dairy farming in 1964 and the couple farmed together until Siegfried passed away in 2008.