2010

Panels of economic experts, elected officials, community leaders and state agencies presented information in conjunction with Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) for a jointly hosted USDA Forum on Jobs & Economic Growth on January 21. The forum was held in Albany, a community with a 14 percent unemployment rate, well above the national rate.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus at the Pentagon this morning to sign a key Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to encourage the development of advanced biofuels and other renewable energy systems.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sponsored a Presidential Roundtable Forum on job creation for South Carolina at Clemson Research and Education Center in Columbia today, bringing together about 60 community leaders to brainstorm solutions to high unemployment numbers and the impact on rural areas.

Don’t cut education and don’t cut technology! That was one of the main messages coming out of a lively discussion at a Jobs Forum in Boulder City, Nevada on January 14. The forum was sponsored by the Nevada offices of USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency.

“They want our Idaho onions” commented panelist Margie Watson, referencing exporting onions to Dubai for the blooming colossal onion for a steakhouse in Dubai, “but the paperwork is staggering” further discussing the challenges if the load of produce has to stop anywhere before it gets to its destination.

Rural Development and Farm Service Agency staff in Arkansas joined forces to conduct two Jobs Forums across the State.  These Forums were a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama.

With unemployment rates above ten percent across the region, families and businesses in West Tennessee are especially hard hit by the economic downturn. Last Thursday, business and other community leaders met federal, state and local economic development officials at the University of Tennessee Extension Experiment Station in Jackson to discuss what can be done to speed recovery and create long-term economic stability across the state.

The USDA, the National Football League and the National Dairy Council (NDC) teamed up today for a event in New York City to promote their joint Fuel Up to Play 60 child nutrition campaign.

The first of four jobs forums in Alaska, sponsored by the USDA Farm Service Agency and Rural Development attracted an audience of about 80 on Thursday.  Participants turned out in Fairbanks to testify about job creation, braving temperatures of -30.

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is applying the final touches on the Be Food Safe exhibit (booth #1704) for the NBC4 Health and Fitness Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16 – 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The event is free to the public.