USDA Blog

Oklahoma and Texas form one of the nation’s most abundant agricultural regions. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, these two states accounted for 8% of total U.S. agricultural sales. The market value of agricultural products from Texas came to $32.2 billion, 6% of U.S. agricultural sales...

The seeds of digital transformation are taking root as application reviews for our agency’s first Digital Service (DS) Fellows cohort are in progress. By establishing a dedicated fellow team at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), we will be able to improve access to USDA resources and...

Dr. Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, to take action to help his students

When purchasing food, many consumers look for information on where the food came from and how it was produced. No antibiotics, cage-free, and grass-fed are a few marketing claims consumers find on protein-based food packaging. To provide assurance to customers of the validity of these and other...

Yasmin Miranda-Mandujano is one of 14 students chosen for an internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) High School Equivalency Program/College Assistance Migrant Program (HEP/CAMP). Yasmin is a sophomore at Madera Community College in California, majoring in business administration.

Growing up in a diverse community in Manhattan, USDA Equity Commission’s Elizabeth Lower-Basch understood the importance of civil rights, unions, and equity at a young age. Inspired by her upbringing, Lower-Basch went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy and began her career with the U.S...

Pam Gasper, of Chaseburg, Wisconsin, has been a bee keeper for the past three years. She recently restored 2 acres on her property to include natural habitat for bees through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). A dry summer and harsh...

For hundreds of years, agriculture has fostered a community of “makers” – people who have engineered the tools that ensure a steady, abundant supply of food and fiber under a wide variety of conditions. From the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, Mason jars in 1858, the gasoline tractor in 1892...

USDA’s Food Waste Challenge is underway and federal marketing orders for fruits and vegetables continue to help out in the food donation effort. Under these industry self-help programs that are overseen by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), groups decide minimum quality standards that benefit...

USDA is committed to protecting streams, rivers and lakes through agricultural conservation, and has a long history of working with partners to implement the practices and policies needed to meet water quality goals. One of these policies, water quality trading, can help communities develop...