USDA Blog

If you follow the #PeoplesGarden on social media, you’ve seen informative videos by Jorge Penso, the lead gardener at the national headquarters People’s Garden in Washington, D.C.

When Linda Leaks organized tenants in low-income District of Columbia neighborhoods to fight eviction, she helped them gain more than home ownership. In combatting gentrification and the community displacement of the ‘80s and ‘90s, she empowered people to recognize the collective power of the...

This year, we celebrated Smokey Bear’s 75 th birthday as a national fire prevention icon. Many know Smokey’s message: “Only YOU can prevent wildfires,” but fewer people may know that Smokey was a real American black bear rescued, in the spring of 1950, from a raging wildfire in New Mexico.

Although engineered wood — such as plywood or particle board — is great for a range of building and manufacturing uses, it has its limitations, especially in outdoor applications. One of the biggest limitations is not the wood, but the adhesive used to glue the wood veneers or particles together...

Louisiana’s diverse agriculture does in fact include crawfish. While the Census of Agriculture doesn’t count every crawfish harvested, it does capture the value of sales from commercial producers.

The 2017 Census of Agriculture showed farming in Alaska is thriving and growing across many different sectors. Alaska saw increases in the number of farms with cut flowers, hogs, layers, vegetables, bees and honey, bedding plants, food crops grown under cover and more.

In early December, I had the privilege of announcing a USDA Rural Development ReConnect Pilot Program investment of more than $9.5 million to Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Inc. dba Valley FiberCom in Flandreau, South Dakota. This investment will help Valley deploy high-speed...

Hard to believe 2019 is almost over. With New Year's Eve fast approaching, it's that time of year when many of us take a moment to reflect on all the things we accomplished during the year.

Wisconsin (PDF, 941 KB) is known as America’s Dairyland; however, the 2017 Census of Agriculture data show us that Wisconsin has a diverse agricultural industry. It’s no surprise Wisconsin ranks number one in cheese production, but did you know it also ranks number one in corn for silage, cranberry...

I heard a story once about “horny toads” from my mother. How she used to catch so many they filled a shoebox. And my grandfather told me about the Lobo’s howl. Both of these animals are rare or endangered now and I have not found one myself. I hope one day to tell my own children about the animals I...