Blog

Like many of our USDA colleagues across the country, federal staff from the Food and Nutrition Service were glued in last week to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Many attended in-person to contribute ideas and host the event alongside White House staff, and hundreds more tuned in virtually. It was a day to remember, filled with excitement and a renewed commitment to the important work our agency does to improve food and nutrition security.

This month, I had the opportunity to travel to New Paltz, New York and visit with Peter Ferrante of Wallkill View Farm. Mr. Ferrante received funding through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to install a solar array on the rooftop of his farmers market in the Hudson Valley. REAP provides financing for renewable energy systems and can help agricultural producers or rural small businesses improve energy efficiency with new equipment and systems.

Access to high-quality water will be a defining feature of the 21^st century. Record heat waves and drought are not only leading to more frequent and intense wildfires but are also putting one of life’s most valuable resources at risk: the water we drink.

Cooperatives are a vital pillar of the U.S. economy and contribute essential goods and services to rural America. Many communities rely on cooperatives to provide locally grown food, housing, electricity, financial services, internet, retail services, and so much more.

A meal preparation study (PDF, 1.3 MB) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) revealed that only 55% of people use a food thermometer to verify if their food is safe to consume, despite 88% of participants reporting that they own a thermometer. Instead, participants in the study relied on visual cues such as color, firmness and time. But are visual cues enough to prevent foodborne illness?

As an undergraduate student, Dr. Mireya Loza, Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University, wrote a paper about her Uncle Juan, a guest worker from Mexico who worked in the fields in California, Michigan and other places in the U.S.

September 29 is International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Earlier this month, USDA hosted a convening to raise awareness of food loss and waste mitigations across the supply chain. The second annual Food Loss and Waste Innovation Fair showcased some of the latest food loss and waste mitigation technologies, programs, and innovations from USDA agencies, universities, local governments, and businesses.

It’s an exciting day in the country as we kickoff the second, historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. It’s been more than 50 years since the last conference, which produced impactful, meaningful changes to improve USDA nutrition assistance programs, including SNAP, WIC, and school meals – all programs from which my family and I personally benefitted from when I was a child. Today, we are coming together to work towards ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases and disparities in the U.S. by 2030. Meeting this challenge will take the whole country. I hope you join this effort.

It’s eight in the morning, and farmers with hand hoes and buckets have been here for two hours already, weeding and watering their plots before the heat of the day. Over 200 members of the Somali Bantu community of Lewiston, Maine, make the short drive out to Liberation Farms a few times each week to tend their crops. Visitors to our farm often comment on how few weeds they spot between stalks of corn. It’s not magic, we tell them: our farmers are constantly in friendly competition to see who can have the best-looking plot.

From an early age, Sarah Baskins had in interest in agriculture. This interest accelerated when she became Merced College Agricultural Business Student of the Year. While studying for her Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Studies and Economics at California State University, Stanislaus, Baskins had an important internship as an economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).