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Helene’s Hilltop Orchard, LLC, a family destination and small business in Merrill, Wis., was recently selected as a recipient of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Renewable Energy for America Program Grant. A $19,750 grant will be used to help lower the energy costs of running their rural business.

Federal employees, education and private sector representatives celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month in Nebraska with Judy Canales, USDA Rural Development's Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs.  The Hispanic Employment Council of Nebraska hosted a seminar at the new headquarters of the National Park Service Midwest Regional Office along Omaha's Missouri Riverfront on Tuesday, September 14.

The Town of Newburg was awarded a total of $2,875,000 for the Fellowsville, York Run, and State Route 26 Water Extension Project.  USDA Rural Development Community Facilities is providing a $400,000 loan, $941,000 grant, and a $185,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) grant to the project.  Also, a Small Cities Block grant for $1,000,000 and a West Virginia Infrastructure Council grant for $349,000 are assisting in the total project cost.

The life of a typical young boy is nothing compared to the daily routine of 11-year-old Farm Service Agency (FSA) Youth Loan recipient, Tanner Johnson. 

We recently marked the final day of Feds Feed Families Campaign.

José Otero-García, USDA Rural Development State Director for Puerto Rico, led the efforts of the Campaign that included the help from our sister Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). We collected 500 pounds of food and more is on the way.

In the 14^th century the Hisat’sinom people, ancestors of the Hopis, found themselves on the sandy slopes of a rich flood plain while on their migration north. This beautiful location in the Little Colorado River Valley was so compelling that the people stayed and established a community they called Homolovi—“Place of the Little Hills”.

For most of its 130-year existence, the city of Adrian, Minn., has had the services of a hometown pharmacist. That is, until the local pharmacy was forced to close in 2008.

I am winding through rural roads in extreme northwest Missouri, away from any large city, in the middle of the country, basically out in the middle of nowhere as some would say, and I am thinking about the investment Rural Development is making; thinking about the amount of money we have provided to the community of Fairfax, population 645 and the county of Atchison, population 6,430. The total investment is almost $39 million for a new hospital, regional wholesale water system, and city distribution system.

USDA Rural Development officials joined Greg Bell, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah recently at the 2010 Native American Summit held in Ogden.  This historic gathering provided an opportunity to meet with Utah’s tribal Leaders, and explore the means available for USDA to become a more effective partner in delivering services and addressing tribal needs.

The Volunteer Fire Department in Webster Springs, West Virginia recently used USDA Rural Development funds to purchase a 12-lead cardiac monitor and a thermal imaging camera.