USDA Blog

Earlier this year, we experienced this country’s largest outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, affecting more than 200 commercial and backyard poultry flocks. While there have been no new cases since mid-June, we ask that all poultry owners stay alert and be vigilant. This virus can be...

U.S. airline carriers collectively used more than 16 billion gallons of jet fuel in 2014. Given growing concerns over energy independence and the environment, commercial airlines are looking for secure and reliable alternative jet fuels that reduce global emissions. To address this problem...

New greeters welcome visitors to the USDA-APHIS National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) in Fort Collins, Colorado. They are big, hairy, and far from shy. Twelve bison are housed on Colorado State University (CSU) land adjacent to NWRC’s front gate. These bison are part of a collaborative...

October is National Cooperative Month, and we’re highlighting several projects throughout the month that have been supported through USDA Rural Development’s Cooperative Services. This Co-op Month blog courtesy of Deborah Craig, co-op development specialist with the Northwest Cooperative Development...

Looking for a way to stretch your food dollars? Would an extra $30 per month for each person in your household help? That’s about $370 per person per year, or almost $1,500 for a family of four. That’s the amount of money USDA estimates the average American spends on food that’s not eaten. It is the...

The Team Nutrition Training Grants are awarded as part of USDA's Team Nutrition initiative, which provides resources, training, and nutrition education lessons for schools and child care providers. And this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Team Nutrition initiative. Wisconsin Team Nutrition...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Today is World Statistics Day and countries all around the world are celebrating the impact accurate statistics have on...

Forests become a veritable garden in the fall, presenting a riot of color in national forests as well as on the streets where we live. But what exactly is going on in those leaves? How – and why – do leaves change color, and why is there so much variety? It boils down to chemistry.

To update you on a story featured previously, I was honored to cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s Mt. Pleasant Native Farmers Market. We broke ground on this project in June, and it is great to see the pavilion completed in time to share this summer’s produce...

Longleaf pine forests once dominated the Southeast. But over the past two centuries, many of these forests have disappeared along with the wildlife that called them home. Recent efforts to enhance longleaf forests on private lands are helping the ecosystem rebound as well as wildlife like the gopher...