August 2011

Cross posted from the White House Rural Champions of Change website:

When the gasoline additive MTBE was banned in 2006 and ethanol was its only practical replacement, Eric as a corn farmer, became very interested in joining with other farmers to build a corn ethanol plant.

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 the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Do you know who grew your food?  Farmer’s markets, eating locally and even the USDA’s “Know your Farmer, Know your Food” campaign are all examples people wanting to know where their food comes from.  But while the public’s interest in agriculture is rising, the age of the average American farmer is also on the rise. This is big concern for USDA and industry leadership - we wonder who will be growing your food in the future.

How do you garner valuable feedback from key partners and stakeholders from around your state?

Just ask and let them speak, which is what USDA Rural Development leadership did in Washington State when they convened a stakeholder outreach meeting in Olympia on July 29 to discuss Rural Development priorities for President Obama’s 2013 budget and 2012 Farm Bill.

“The importance of this Regulatory Reform Stakeholder outreach meeting cannot be understated,” said Mario Villanueva, USDA Rural Development Washington State Director. “We had a tremendous response and interest in this convening with about 70 stakeholders attending the interactive meeting.”

This week Wisconsin kicked off an annual tradition, the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, WI.  As a part of the Opening Day activities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hosted a White House Rural Council Forum with businesses and community leaders, farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers from across the State.

“I’m wearing this pin because it has a heart in the palm of a hand. You see that heart? I want people who eat my food to know that love went into the preparation of this meal,” said Rosetta Davis, AMS/Civil Rights Program, as she served USDA employees her delicious, homemade collard greens. Ms. Davis was one of 35 employees who volunteered as chefs at Flavors of USDA: Feds Cook to Feed Families. The tasting event welcomed more than 450 employees to plates of homemade food while encouraging donations to the Feds Feed Families campaign. And the food must have been good—the event raised more than 2,500 pounds of donated food.

Here at FNS, we are working hard to increase breastfeeding rates through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. One of the ways we’re doing this is by using peer counselors who can provide more effective support to other breastfeeding mothers.

In July, I attended the “Breastfeeding Peer Counseling” course, which was hosted by the Food and Nutrition Service’s Southwest Regional Office and a nonprofit organization called Every Mother Inc. This organization provides counseling, lactation training and resources, and it was great to have them on hand for the training.  We also drew on the expertise of the national WIC staff, which directs the WIC program in serving over 9 million women, infants and children each month.

Little did the Wilbur family know when they first settled on a farm in the Sacramento Valley in 1869 that they were laying the foundation for what would become one of California’s premier prune and walnut producers.

In the U.S., Hispanic households experience hunger at rates that are higher than the national average. According to USDA research, one out of every four Hispanic households in the U.S. is food insecure, compared with a national average of 15 percent. Hispanics also participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly the Food Stamp Program) at rates that are lower than the national average.

To call attention to this need to better reach the Latino population with access to nutrition assistance programs, USDA leadership participated in the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) annual conference in Washington DC from July 23-25. President Obama also gave a keynote speech at the conference, which had about 2,000 attendees.

During National Farmers Market Week, we celebrate farmers markets across the country, their popularity and their growth.  But there wouldn’t be any farmers markets without farmers. Just as farmers markets help consumers know their farmer and know their food, they also help producers know their customers and know their business.  I’d like to share with you one Virginia farmer’s account of how a farmers market helped him:

The first South Dakota ‘MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success’ business conference, held in Huron, South Dakota,  late last month drew over 200 participants from across the state for two days of networking and business training. The event focused on energizing small businesses and rural communities.

The conference featured strong, hands-on learning opportunities for potential and existing business owners including on and off farm/ranch, store front or home based, women and Native American owned businesses; community leaders; and youth interested in entrepreneurship. A large group of exhibitors served as resources for participants, enabling them to learn about business solutions products, website design, financing and other business services.