Blog

The busiest time of the year for USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline is the week before Thanksgiving. Calls, chats and emails are answered by food safety specialists who even work on Thanksgiving Day to ensure your meal is safe.

It’s finally November. To beat the crowds, you rush to your grocery store to buy a turkey. If this is your first time, you’re faced with a dilemma: frozen or fresh?

At the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), we understand the essential role that veterans, military spouses, and transitioning service members can play in revitalizing and strengthening our agricultural industry. This is one of the reasons we provide a range of training resources and support. USDA’s Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison, or MVAL, connects veterans to resources within and outside USDA to help them embark on successful careers in agriculture. These efforts also help move USDA closer to its goal of developing a workforce in which 25 percent of all employees are veterans.

Retirement – for many – is a time for reconnecting with what you love and who you love. Laura Cristobal-Andersland and David Andersland have spiced up retirement with their seasoning business, Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts.

Many veterans and military spouses search for careers that can accommodate their health and physical needs. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), reasonable accommodations can be arranged to help employees succeed in the workplace.

This October USDA is celebrating National Cooperative Month, an observance that recognizes the cooperative model, its many influential uses, and how cooperatives benefit their members in numerous ways. There are at least 30,000 cooperatives in the United States providing more than $700 billion to the economy. This year’s theme is Owning Our Identity, a reference to the principles and values that distinguish cooperatives from other business forms.

If you follow the #PeoplesGarden on social media, you’ve seen informative videos by Jorge Penso, the lead gardener at the national headquarters People’s Garden in Washington, D.C.

When Linda Leaks organized tenants in low-income District of Columbia neighborhoods to fight eviction, she helped them gain more than home ownership. In combatting gentrification and the community displacement of the ‘80s and ‘90s, she empowered people to recognize the collective power of the cooperative business model.

Ant keepers enjoy a fun and educational hobby, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also has an interest in it. You might wonder what ant keeping has to do with American agriculture and natural resources. Some invertebrates that people—including ant keepers—import into the U.S. or move between states could threaten our crops, forests, and community landscapes if they escape. USDA can help you import and move them safely.