2011

Hi, I’m Dr. Keith Wiggins, the Director of Veterinary Regulatory Support for USDA APHIS’s Plant Protection and Quarantine program. I’m the leader of an elite, diverse team of 21 veterinarians who safeguard America from animal diseases by regulating animal products, by-products, and regulated garbage.  I’ve been with APHIS since 2005.

My team was recently awarded a Deputy Administrator’s Safeguarding Award for the informational documents and “No Free Ride” video we created to educate the public on how to handle regulated garbage.  Our job can be pretty intense when you think about how a wrong decision could potentially let in a disease that could potentially cost billions of dollars and affect people’s lives.  But we work hard to ensure the US stays free of potentially devastating animal diseases.

Approximately 200 people joined employees of the Green Mountain National Forest at the Fall Foliage Festival to celebrate the centennial of the Weeks Act in Warren, Vt. Oct. 2.

Outside of farm country, many people don’t realize the importance of American agriculture to our overall economy. One in 12 American jobs is connected to agriculture, in all sorts of industries from picking and processing, to packing and shipping, to shelving at your local market. And despite hardships and setbacks this year due to extreme weather, America’s farm economy remains one of the brightest spots in our nation’s economy.

USDA Rural Development State Director Virginia Manuel and staff recently organized an important visit to Maine for a high-level worldwide organization known as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The group, headquartered in Paris, France, established formal links with USDA Rural Development in Washington, DC over a year ago to review how renewable energy projects are supporting rural economic development in the United States. The six OECD officials on this mission represent the countries of Italy, Germany, Norway, Scotland, and the United States.

USDA Rural Development has invested $16.05 million in renewable energy projects in Maine over the last several years, including funding for the Fox Island Wind turbines on Vinalhaven.

Cross posted from the White House blog

For generations, our nation’s leaders have invested in the infrastructure that made our nation a superpower. That is why President Obama proposed investments in infrastructure in the American Jobs Act to create construction jobs today rebuilding America’s roadways, railways, transit systems, schools and airports.  And examples of these sorts of projects are taking place across the county.

For the folks in Beaufort County, South Carolina, their vision was to build an educational hub that held both cultural and historical meaning for their community on St. Helena Island.   Tomorrow, their vision becomes a reality with the groundbreaking for the St. Helena Library.

USDA employees raised about 40 semi-trailers worth of food nationwide during the 3^rd annual Feds Feed Families Food Drive! Put another way, 40 semi-trailers is equivalent to an astonishing 1,791,393 pounds of food. This number shattered USDA’s already ambitious goal of raising 500,000 pounds of food this summer. Accomplishing this goal is a testament to the dedication of USDA employees around the country to feed our neighbors. Whether that is through the department’s 15 different nutrition assistance programs that touch the lives of one in four Americans, or from their own generosity, USDA employees are making a big difference during a time of need.

Just before Tropical Storm Irene hit Massachusetts, employees of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), including me, were informed of the storm’s potential impact on a dam rehabilitation project that was underway in Westborough, Mass., a suburban community west of Boston.

Fresh and healthy foods are the focus again as we celebrate National School Lunch Week.  The theme of this year’s celebration is “School Lunch – Let’s Grow Healthy,” and schools across the country are touting the many ways they are introducing fresh fruits and vegetables and healthier choices on their menus.

One hour of hiking through rock towers and outcroppings daubed with wildflowers bring you to a stone staircase leading up to the deck of the Kelly Butte Lookout perched at 5,379 feet.

When President Obama honored 94 researchers on Sept. 26 as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, chances are there was only one former pet-shop-manager-turned-zookeeper-turned-scientist in the bunch: Jonathan Lundgren.

Lundgren works at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory at Brookings, S.D., and he's also the ARS Early Career Scientist of 2010.  He calls himself a "predator ecologist," but he's also known within ARS as "the bug detective."