USDA Blog

For many farmers, the lessons of agriculture begin at a young age. This is true for Florence, Miss., farmer Kathy Stoltzfus, who says that her dad taught her what she knows when she was a child. She has fond memories of running barefoot through rice fields and the taste of freshly grown food.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is funding its partners, the four State Regional Trade Groups (STRGs), to host a series of nationwide seminars that inspire small and medium U.S. food and agricultural companies to become exporters.

In every state, people are connecting directly with their food each time they bite into a local apple, grill a local steak or create a salad with local ingredients. Local food is about the products that farmers and ranchers grow and raise. It’s about the businesses that bring food from farms to our...

Every day, the work of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conserve America’s lands and natural resources stretches across our nation. As President Obama and I work together to boost the rural economy and create jobs across America, it’s important to recognize the strength we draw as a nation from...

Joe Triglia, owner of Jubilee Flooring in Long Island, N.Y., has spent years working out a way to turn discarded wine barrels into wood flooring. Now, with help from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory , his vision is turning into a promising business venture.

Hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation, and the State of Michigan is making sure that nutrition assistance programs don’t either. I recently traveled to the west side of the state to see some of the inspiring work our partners are doing to make sure that no one in their community has to face hunger.

Earlier this week Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O’Brien and Congressman Bruce Braley met with nearly 30 northeast Iowa producers and residents to discuss the important role rural economic development provisions have in the upcoming discussions of the next farm, food and jobs bill...

It was lights, camera and action as a videographer for the National Rural Economic Developers Association (NREDA) and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) traveled across eastern South Dakota. Hosted by the Rural Electric Economic Development, Inc. (REED) Fund, video interviews...

As you may know, USDA recently issued its Expenditures on Children by Families, 2011 report, which analyzes the costs of raising a child born in 2011. USDA has been tracking the cost of raising a child annually since 1960. Expenses are examined by the age of the child, household income, budgetary...

Understanding a community’s food environment is key to understanding a community’s identity. But what can a “food environment” tell us? A community’s food environment is a technical term for assessing information about the who, what, where, and how of food availability in a given community: Who are...