Recently, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John P. Holdren and the Minister of Science and Technology for the People’s Republic of China, Wan Gang, signed an historic extension to the U.S.-China Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology.  The newly extended agreement will foster a continuation of decades of cooperative endeavors that have encompassed such domains as agricultural science, high-energy physics, clean energy, and biomedical research. Read more »

College student Latrice Watkins began an internship at the Kentucky USDA Rural Development State Office last summer – but her dedication, positive attitude and incredible work ethic led to an extended stay, which came to an end last week after seven months.

Watkins will graduate this spring from Kentucky State University – an 1890 Land-Grant Institution – with a degree in elementary education. Much to the disappointment of the state office staff who wanted her to stay on even longer, Watkins is leaving to begin two semesters of student-teaching. Read more »

In what is revered as one of the country’s most famed speeches, newly-elected President John F. Kennedy stood in front of the nation and promised to bring change on a united front – “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” These words have echoed from generation to generation and still serve as a civil call to action for all Americans. Read more »

Nick offers the salad he prepared from the garden to his clubmates

Cross posted from the Let’s Move! Blog:

I recently visited the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club to find out from the children what participating in USDA’s Summer Food Service Program means to them.  Year-round, afternoons at the Club means the children get to cook a healthy bean and kale soup, with fresh ingredients they grow in the Club’s Edible Schoolyard.  It also means that on a cool winter day a few blocks away from the San Francisco Bay, children brave the weather to water and tend to their garden knowing the strawberries will soon be ready to eat.  For Rena, the first strawberry that she ever ate came from the Edible Schoolyard, where she planted it. Now, of course, strawberries are her favorite food. Read more »

In today’s market, consumers have high expectations for the products they purchase.  Beyond performance and pricing, consumers like the opportunity to make educated purchasing decisions for their families, and increasingly, decisions that that have an impact. USDA’s new biobased product label will enable consumers to do just that.

Initially, USDA’s Biopreferred program was created by the 2002 Farm Bill and was intended to help increase the purchase and use of biobased products within the Federal government and the commercial market. In 2008, Congress voted to reauthorize the program in an attempt to expand the reach of this successful program and to further promote the sale of biobased products. Read more »

Dairy goats browsing in Vermont pasture.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) awarded the University of Vermont (UVM) a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) in late 2010 that will help producers improve and reclaim marginal pasture and increase profits.

For many of Vermont’s beginning and experienced livestock farmers, having access to established pastures for grazing is one of the greatest limitations for production. Often land is infested with weeds, without enough forage to support a successful livestock operation.  Producers most commonly control weeds with intensive grazing, mowing, or costly herbicides. Read more »