USDA Blog

For most children, summertime means school vacation, family trips and beach days, but for many, it also means losing the two free or reduced-price meals provided at school.

Every day, the Department of Agriculture is hard at work to strengthen the rural economy and grow our rural communities. Right now we continue to focus on responding to the drought that’s impacting much of our nation. My thoughts remain with those who are affected, and President Obama and I will...

A building that will stand against natural disaster for the safety of the Corn Creek District, Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, is being partially funded through a grant from USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities Economic Impact Initiative (EII). While providing a safe haven for the...

Gopher tortoises are fairly elusive creatures. Usually the only sign you see of them is their burrows or ravaged foliage. But recently a Mobile, Ala., tortoise allowed Marshall Colburn, a Soil Conservation Technician with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a rare, up-close-and...

You may start out wanting to talk to Leila Pinchot about a U.S. Forest Service icon, but the great granddaughter of Gifford Pinchot has much more to say about the future of another legend, the American chestnut. One of the seminal figures in world conservation, Gifford Pinchot founded and served as...

This year, more than 80 volunteers worked together to plant 20 trees, 117 native and edible understory plants, and more than 600 butterfly garden plants as part of the Cesar Chavez Community Garden Day celebration at the Edible Forest garden on the Richmond Greenway, a 2.8-mile trail in Contra Costa...

As a writer and editor for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Washington, D.C. who relies on a bicycle to get around, I don’t get to four-wheel it very often. But I recently had the opportunity to ride a four-wheeler while visiting a North Carolina farm.

The drought of 2012 is the most serious to impact U.S. agriculture since 1988. The illustrations below help to show the resiliency of the U.S. agriculture sector and how it is better positioned today to endure this natural disaster. For more information on USDA disaster and drought assistance, visit...

It goes without saying that broadband-high speed internet has changed the way we live our lives. And it should . . . this is the digital age. For many it is hard to imagine how you would get by without it. With access to the internet, one can easily sell a car, find and apply for a job, read the...