Farmers

By Lisa A. Hokholt, NRCS California State Outreach Coordinator California’s Central Valley has long lured farmers to its fertile soil and generous growing season. It’s no surprise that Southeast Asian farmers are settling there too, bringing their farming and culinary cultures with them.

Dick Tremain, NRCS Iowa Amy Plavak of Hillsboro, Oregon, used to lead multi-million dollar projects as a certified professional project manager. Now she is one of 36,000 Earth Team volunteers working to improve the environment and restore wetlands which can clean water, reduce flooding and provide...

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. By Tara T. Weaver-Missick, Chief, Information Products and Services Branch, USDA Agricultural Research Service...

By Dan Berman, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service

The USDA is ready to kick off another season of its outdoor farmers market and it has a star-studded schedule planned for market visitors. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan will lead the June 4 opening ceremony of the USDA Farmers Market with the help of celebrity chef Eric Ziebold...

When you think of locally produced food, you often think of vegetables but in Washington State, Native “farmers of the sea” are developing a thriving aquaculture industry. Like traditional farmers, these “sea” farmers sew and reap, but in this case the harvest is shellfish: oysters and clams.

Today marks the release of the Feed the Future Initiative Guide during the Chicago Council of Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security. This guide lays out the implementation strategy for the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. USDA has been...

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. Are we seeing a resurgence in small farms? The latest Census of Agriculture reported that there were more small farms in...

Friday, a beautiful spring day in Pennsylvania, it was my pleasure to welcome Secretary Vilsack and his wife Christy to Pennsylvania for a tour and rural discussion. We started the day at Middletown Biofuels for a facility tour along with Congressman Tim Holden and other local and state officials...

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan challenged members of the Dairy Industry Advisory Committee on Wednesday to look beyond declining prices and seek an answer to the ailing dairy industry that will have a lasting impact. “I’m asking that you start thinking in long-term solutions,” said Merrigan...