December 2009

It’s that time of year again, when we all make promises to “do better” or “do more” in the new year. These may include getting more exercise, doing more reading, or eating better. But one of the most important resolutions for you and your family is to improve food safety in your home and workplace. 

Here are just a few food safety resolutions for 2010:

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest new Supervisor's Office in Rhinelander, Wisc., was re-engineered with "green" features. The use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding helped complete its restoration.  Here students from the USDA Forest Service’s Blackwell Job Corps Center help with the restoration on this 3 year project.

There is no better demonstration of the holiday spirit than when people give their time and resources to help those in need.

USDA employees are a shining example of how a small gesture can go a long way toward helping others. In rural communities across the Commonwealth, many of them worked diligently this holiday season to collect food donations and personal items for agencies that help those less fortunate.

On December 18, USDA Rural Development hosted a Jobs and Economy Roundtable discussion in Livingston, Montana in Park County.  About 7,000 people live in Livingston, which has an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.  The local economy was once dominated by the railroad and agriculture, but in recent years, because Yellowstone National Park is less than an hour away, tourism has become a growing business segment.

Oscar Wilde once said, “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”

It was within that frame of mind that the Obama Administration brought its ‘Jobs Roundtable’ series to Somerton, Arizona.  The goal of the roundtable was to reach out to local leaders for their thoughts and ideas on how to create jobs, move the economy forward, and create rural wealth.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was pleased to deliver a little holiday cheer to our nation’s dairy producers when he announced the implementation of the new Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment (DELAP) program. The 2010 Agricultural Appropriations Bill authorized $290 million for loss assistance payments to eligible dairy producers.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director for Michigan James J. Turner and Farm Service Agency Director Christine White held a roundtable on job creation and economic growth on Thursday, December 17 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Lansing Community College’s West Campus.

USDA Rural Development-New Mexico, along with the Farm Service Agency held a Jobs Forum yesterday in Silver City -- a community nestled in the Gila Wilderness of Southwestern New Mexico.  Silver City is working hard to address its local economic situation.  The recent drop in copper prices caused local mines to lay off more than 600 employees in a community of 10,000.  Those layoffs and other economic factors caused the County’s unemployment rate to rise by 10 percent in three years.

I want to thank Avoided Deforestation Partners for holding this event and inviting me to join all of the distinguished speakers here today in urging the adoption of REDD plus as part of a global climate framework.

Just in time for the holidays we are implementing the new Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment (DELAP) program that will provide critical help to America’s struggling dairy farmers.