Skip to main content

conservation

Happy Compromise Farm: Nourishing Their Community, Body and Soul

Happy Compromise Farm + Sanctuary grows nutritious food for their local community distributed through a “free farm stand.” Though surrounded by farms in the rural Southern Tier of New York, the area is a food desert with a 16% poverty rate, a condition that often leads to higher risk for chronic health conditions and limited healthcare.

Increasing Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Youth Engagement, Farmer Support, and Climate Adaptation on the Tohono O’odham Nation

A sustainable and just local food system for Native Americans is the goal of an Arizona nonprofit. The Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Ajo CSA), a Native American-governed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is working with the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona to preserve and revitalize traditional O’odham seeds, agriculture, and culture, including dryland farming. The center supports projects including the O’odham Farmer’s Market, business incubator programs, year-round and summer youth agricultural internship programs, and the annual Southwest Native Foodways Gathering.

Restoring Michigan’s Aquatic Ecosystems through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) worked with Michigan’s Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to remove blockages to natural water flow in streams and rivers through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). USDA invested over $18 million in federal grants and $30 million were raised in local matching funds to replace undersized culverts with timber bridges, the removal of old and failing dams, and the purchase of conservation easements to prevent urban development on farmland – particularly fruit farms.

National Agriculture Day: Fifty Years Later, Farmers Are Growing a Climate for Tomorrow

Fifty years after the creation of National Agriculture Day, America’s farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners find themselves on the front lines of climate change. They are uniquely positioned to deliver solutions by implementing climate-smart practices that conserve natural resources, build healthier soils, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon.

NRCS Engineer of the Year Monitors Potential Inundation Areas Below Watershed Dams in Kansas

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)’s 2023 Engineer of the Year, Peter Clark is clear about the importance of what people like him do. Engineers “harness the math, harness the statistics … and apply science” to figure out how to solve a problem, such as building a dam to help capture and slowly release runoff from rainfall events to reduce flooding impacts.

Voluntary Conservation Works to Improve Water Quality

Working in partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), farmers are using proven conservation practices to help improve water quality downstream. Our customers are stewards of our nation’s farmland, voluntarily stepping up to the plate to make an impact. They are improving the natural resources in their communities while at the same time boosting the health of their operations for the future.

This Fall, Leave the Leaves!

It’s the time of year to do your fall garden cleanup. Rather than the tedious task of raking and bagging leaves and taking them to the landfill, the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves!

Welcome to the People’s Garden

Abraham Lincoln described the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as “The People’s Department” and it’s fitting that our garden is named the People’s Garden. The garden was created by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on February 12, 2009 – Lincoln’s 200th birthday. The initiative was renewed in May 2022.