USDA Blog

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with Land’s Sake, a non-profit organization in Weston, Mass., to improve soil health and to install an irrigation system and a high tunnel on their working organic farm. The Land’s Sake farm has been in operation since 1980, when the...

True or false? Since 1985, the amount of rice available for Americans to eat has nearly doubled, from 11.6 to 21.2 pounds per person in 2010. In 2010, pineapples were America’s favorite canned fruit, and tomatoes were our favorite canned vegetable. U.S. milk availability, which peaked at 44.7...

Managing wildland fire is pretty much the same anywhere in the world. You need to think carefully about when and where to apply it and how to starve the fire of fuel in places you don’t want it. There are several ways to do it—but you need to know how. As a U.S. Forest Service fire applications...

The Farm Service Agency would like to remind livestock producers affected by natural disasters such as Hurricane Isaac to keep thorough records of their livestock and feed losses, including additional expenses for such things as feed purchases because of lost supplies. In addition to Isaac, there...

Young toddlers and children crowded the tents, shuffling and giggling, as they waited for their parents to purchase produce for the family. The Arlington Farmers’ Market was filled with customers who participate in the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) and farmers who were excited to cater...

What is summer in New York without a visit to the Empire Farm Days? For USDA New York employees, it is an annual tradition. This year we raved about the department’s 150 th Anniversary, talked about all the great things we are doing for New York and (maybe) our team of volunteers had one too many...

Deep inside the San Rafael Wilderness, employees from the Los Padres National Forest are working to inventory centuries-old Chumash sacred sites impacted by devastating wildfires. Despite closure orders that restrict public access in America’s first congressionally designated wilderness, forest...

The Economic Research Service (ERS) has, since the late 1970s, reported annually on food security in a number of developing countries. A key indicator is the number of food-insecure people (those who each consume less than a nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day). In the latest report, we...

Ground was broken on the new 43,000 square-foot North Valley Health Center on July 26. It will be located next to the Good Samaritan Nursing Home and will feature a larger physical therapy department, full handicap accessibility and covered entrances, among other enhancements.Community members came...