USDA Seeks Applications for Funding to Revitalize Rural Rental Housing
WASHINGTON, December 19, 2012 – Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager announced today that funding is available to preserve and revitalize USDA-financed rural rental housing....
Census Provides Opportunity to Grow the Future of Agriculture
WASHINGTON, December 18, 2012 – It’s not every day that a walk to your mailbox leads to an opportunity to help shape farm programs, boost rural services and grow your farm future. But for producers across the country, that opportunity will soon become a reality. The 2012 Census of Agriculture, the only source of consistent and comprehensive agr...
USDA Grants Support Sustainable Bioenergy Production
LANSING, Mich., Dec. 14, 2012—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $10 million in research grants to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help create jobs. Vilsack highlighted the announcement today with a visit to Michigan State University, a grant a...
American Farmers and Ranchers Reach 50M-Acre Mark in Voluntary USDA Conservation...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2012 – In just four years, America’s top conservationists have enrolled 50 million acres in USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), a program that helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners take conservation to the next level. CSP is aimed at producers who are already established conservation stewards, helping them to...
USDA Action during Drought Opened 2.8 Million Acres to Haying and...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2012—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s measures to open conservation land to emergency haying and grazing during the 2012 drought freed up a record 2.8 million acres and provided as much as $200 million in forage for producers facing critical feed shortages. Vilsack mad...
United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and United States Trade Representative...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2012 – United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today issued the following statement in response to Russia's new requirements that U.S. beef and pork exports to Russia be tested and certified free of the feed additive ractopamine....
USDA and USAID Collaborate to Improve Productivity of the Common Bean...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2012 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today awarded five grants totaling $4.5 million in support of research to improve the production of the common bean, a main staple produced throughout food insecure areas of the world, including East and Southern Africa. The awards were made by USDA’s National Institute of Food an...
Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and Interior Sign Memorandum to Collaborate...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012—Four cabinet-level departments joined the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation today in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to improve the protection of Indian sacred sites. The MOU also calls for improving tribal access to the sites. It was signed by cabinet secretaries from the U.S. Departments of A...
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Releases Final Sacred Sites Report
WASHINGTON, December 6, 2012–Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released a report calling for USDA and the U.S. Forest Service to work more closely with tribal governments in the protection, respectful interpretation and appropriate access to Indian sacred sites....
More Communities Warm Up to Winter Markets
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced that the number of winter markets listed in USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory has increased 52 percent, from 1,225 in 2011 to 1,864 in 2012. Winter markets now account for roughly 24 percent of the 7,865 farmers markets listed in the USDA national dir...
