September 2018

Everyone knows about the Olympics, but did you know that there’s an Olympics-of-sort just for equestrian sports? Every four years, the world’s best competitors in a variety of equine sport disciplines get together for a spectacular event that awards 30 gold medals over the course of 13 days. Beginning in mid-September, the World Equestrian Games will take place in Mill Spring, North Carolina at the Tryon International Equestrian Center. Officials estimate half a million spectators will attend this year’s competition.

Pomace, the heavy puree left over after fruits and vegetables are juiced and processed, is used mostly as a feed additive for livestock. The rest of the wet puree is discarded in landfills.

“Lumber and economic growth are tightly connected,” says USDA Forest Service scientist Jeffrey Prestemon. “At a certain rate of GDP growth, you get a certain path of lumber consumption.”

Farming in a suburban town just 25 miles south of Boston has both benefits and challenges. Those benefits and challenges result from the same thing, lots of neighbors.

USDA’s Administrator of the Risk Management Agency, which oversees Federal crop insurance, was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, attending a conference hosted by the state’s Department of Agriculture.

With children going back to school and September being National Food Safety Education Month, now is a great time to learn more about food safety and preventing foodborne illness. One way to stay food safe and to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses (and any illness for that matter) is to make proper hand washing routine at home and at school.

The scene has played out millions of times in recent years – American children waking up to find their parents unable to care for them. Fortunately, some 2.7 million grandparents have stepped in to fill the critical role of caregiver, according to the 2010 Census.