Microgreens grown by John Biscoe. Farmers markets are the missing link between John and the people who eat the food he grows.

During National Farmers Market Week, we celebrate farmers markets across the country, their popularity and their growth.  But there wouldn’t be any farmers markets without farmers. Just as farmers markets help consumers know their farmer and know their food, they also help producers know their customers and know their business.  I’d like to share with you one Virginia farmer’s account of how a farmers market helped him: Read more »

Agriculture Deputy Kathleen Merrigan meets with local Virginia business leaders to discuss growth and job creation in Richmond, VA, on Monday, July 22, 2011.

President Obama has stressed time and again that the best ideas don’t always come from Washington. It is with that spirit that I met this week with a group of agricultural entrepreneurs in Richmond, Virginia to hear their thoughts on the best ways for the federal government to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. Read more »

David Ferrell seems to rebound from setbacks with a vengeance.

During his first semester of college, his mother fell ill and he had to drop out to help take care of her and his four younger siblings. Back home, Ferrell met Charles Minor, a local Virginia man who would become a lifelong influence and who convinced Ferrell to sign up for the Job Corps, his foray into the U.S. Forest Service. Read more »

As the sun rose on the beginning of a normal workday last fall for Rural Development Area Specialist, Vanessa Ingles, little did she know that one of her recent housing repair recipients had some special gifts awaiting her.

Mrs. Roxie Whorley and her granddaughter Roxanna Mize who live in the shadows of the Skyline Drive in the rural community of Bent Mountain, Virginia, were in need of a new heating system. The old wood-fired system, located in the basement, had been in the home for many years and had reached its last mile of service.  Mrs. Whorley had heard about a program that might be able to help, so she contacted the USDA Service Center in Christiansburg for some assistance in purchasing a new one. Read more »

Second step from bottom (center) is Ms. Brandy Russell the Homeowner. Surrounding her are all of the Rural Development Staff that helped with the final landscaping and construction duties during the Volunteer Day held June 15th...

With Lucy the Habitat Wonder Dog as our mascot, a large group of Virginia Rural Development staff assisted on June 15^th, in the completion of the final construction and landscaping duties for Brandy Russell’s home in Ashland, Virginia. Read more »

Cross posted from the Let’s Move! blog:

Today marks day two in the first ever National Summer Food Service Program Week, a weeklong awareness campaign to promote USDA’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and other programs nationwide to feed low income kids.

Lots of things are happening around the country this week to help feed more hungry children this summer.  For example today is National Hunger Awareness Day – as designated by the U.S. Senate in a bipartisan resolution. This is very fitting, given that at least 17 million children in the United States face a higher risk of hunger in the summer. Also today Agriculture Secretary Vilsack joined Jeff Bridges, Share Our Strength founder Bill Shore, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and others to launch Virginia’s No Kid Hungry Campaign at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. Read more »