USDA Blog

Visit www.usda.gov/drought for the latest information regarding USDA’s Drought Disaster response and assistance. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, dated August 14, indicates that some drought-affected areas of the United States have begun to turn the corner with respect to the historic drought of...

Tonight, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join RURAL TV and RFD-TV live at the Iowa State Fair to discuss the U.S. Department of Agriculture's continuing efforts to assist farmers and ranchers impacted by drought. As part of continuing steps by the Obama Administration to assist livestock...

The annual Feds Feed Families food drive is a summer-long effort, but USDA employees in Missouri donate to the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri all year long. Eight years ago, Tara Griffin, a Missouri Farm Service Agency state office employee, took the initiative to organize USDA...

For Danny Daniels, tomatoes take first place. He loves growing them so much, they’re the bulk of the produce raised on his Meridian, Miss. farm. The retiree–turned–tomato guru started growing the fruit a few years ago. Tomatoes are finicky, and Daniels saw growing them successfully as a challenge.

As drought continues across America, President Obama and I continue doing all we can to help farmers and ranchers. Last week, at the President’s direction, I convened a meeting of the White House Rural Council to ensure we’re doing all we can – and we’ll meet again to discuss drought in the coming...

Cross posted from the White House CEQ blog: Across rural America, biomass like wood pellets and wood chips is helping communities diversify their energy sources, create jobs, and save money on utility bills. At the Forest Service, we are working to support biomass projects that help us manage...

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory recently opened a $1.7 million production facility for renewable, forest-based nanomaterials. This facility is the first of its kind in the United States and one that positions the laboratory as the country’s leading producer of these materials...

Today, the diversity of businesses found in our rural communities closely mirrors that of metropolitan areas; coming in all shapes and sizes, small and large; start-up and existing, entrepreneurial and franchised; corporations, companies and partnerships. Both rural and metropolitan, businesses...

Visit www.usda.gov/drought for the latest information regarding USDA’s Drought Disaster response and assistance. Historically hot, dry conditions covered many of the nation’s key agricultural regions during July. Preliminary data provided by the National Weather Service indicated that July rainfall...