Author: Site Owner

Fine words, to be sure, but how do we make it true in a department that employs almost 100,000 directly and countless more indirectly at thousands of locations across the country?

At USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), civil rights are inherent to our mission. By promoting equal opportunity and supporting underserved groups and communities, NIFA’s programs help people improve their lives and communities.

NIFA provides funding and national leadership for research, education, and extension programs that address the nation’s agricultural challenges.  NIFA-supported programs turn research into action by bringing groundbreaking discoveries from research laboratories to farms, communities, and classrooms.

NIFA’s dynamic grant programs meet the nation’s needs for research-based knowledge and its educational programs enable people to make practical decisions that can improve their lives.  NIFA’s portfolio includes grants that specifically focus on meeting the needs, problems, or concerns of underserved groups and communities.

One such grant supports 4-H Youth and Families with Promise (YFP), a mentoring program run by the North Dakota State Extension Service.  The program supports Native American youth in North Dakota’s Sioux County and the Standing Rock Reservation, where young people face high poverty rates, emotional challenges, and poor academic outcomes.  The NIFA-supported 4-H program offers evidenced-based activities designed to strengthen academic and social skills using activities related to mentorship, leadership, community service and group project work. Their program offers video making, business development, entrepreneurship, 3D printing, beadwork, leather craft, outdoor skills, service learning, and literacy activities. As of early 2014, 187 tribal youth ages 5 to 17 are being reached through the work of 44 mentor volunteers. Schools where mentored youth attend report a 20% increase in attendance and the number of youth passing their classes has more than doubled. The program has also helped address truancy and drop out issues facing schools where the program is conducted.

Another NIFA grant to New Mexico Highlands University supports the Achieving in Research Math and Science (ARMAS) program, which is designed to increase the number of Hispanic students earning a Bachelor of Science degree. ARMAS received recognition from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. NIFA’s Hispanic serving institution’s program provided funds for the ARMAS program, which has helped more than 1,100 students since its inception in 2009.

At NIFA, Director Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy depends upon the agency’s EEO and civil rights staff to work with grant recipients and coordinate the requirements for civil rights compliance.  The staff conducts civil rights compliance reviews to ensure that the agency’s programs are available, relevant, and inclusive to all Americans.  NIFA staff conducts onsite compliance reviews in approximately 10 states, including 40 extension counties and state extension offices, each year.  These compliance reviews are the heart of a system that determines how well benefits and services are delivered by NIFA’s recipients in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and extension and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.

It’s a simple sign that has a pretty easy request, “Buy Fresh. Buy Local.”

It’s one that Gene Thornton hangs at his market stand each week at The Market at Ag Heritage Park on the Auburn University campus in Alabama. During market season, the sixth-generation farmer travels more than 40 miles from his small, organic farm in Roanoke to Auburn each week of market season. But he says the drive from Sneaky Crow Farm is worth it.

“There’s a big push on local, sustainable organic foods in America, and we think it’s very important to come here because we don’t have a problem selling our produce,” Thornton says. “In fact, most times we always sell out, which is a great feeling. You get a lot of support in a town like Auburn.”

And, it’s true. While we visited Thornton’s stand on a hot summer afternoon, a steady stream of return customers stopped by.

“The best stuff comes from him,” said Zachery Gaylor, a Southern Union State Community College student. “The food is much better. It’s fresher. You feel better about buying it and supporting farmers like Gene.”

Auburn graduate student, Liz Graham said, “The potatoes. Oh my god, the potatoes are so good.”

Why is it so good? Thornton says, “We’ve always had to produce a good crop that’s marketable. And, it’s something that’s in my blood and I enjoy it.” Thornton has been selling his produce at The Market at Ag Heritage Park for four years now and plans to continue as long as customers keep coming.

Thornton also says that his relationship with his local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office has helped him stay competitive. Over the last several years, he’s worked with NRCS on his 10-acre farm to improve soil health, pollinator habitat and water quantity. By implementing conservation practices, his produce, and his customers, have seen the benefits.

The 17^th annual National Farmers Market Week is August 7-13, 2016 this year and we at NRCS are asking you to support farmers, ranchers and local food businesses like Gene Thornton’s by visiting your local market. There are more than 8,500 farmers markets across the nation and that means there are plenty of opportunities to support local economies.

To break it down in dollar terms, “the multiplier effect” shows that spending money at your local market can have a big impact. In fact, research shows that for every dollar spent locally, 40 cents of that dollar are reinvested in the local economy.

Make it a priority this year, if only for one week, to visit your local farmers market and get to know great people like Gene Thornton who are growing fresh, local food. We promise, it’ll be worth it.

By Lindsay Seventko, Communications Intern

With the 2016 Summer Olympic Games now in full swing, some horrific environmental problems plaguing Rio de Janeiro and the rest of Brazil have been brought to light. Aquatic athletes are swimming through raw sewage and being exposed to antibiotic-resistant super bacteria, competitors and visitors risk being exposed to Zika-carrying mosquitoes, rare forests have been cut down to create the golf course and an endangered jaguar was shot and killed during the torch passing ceremony.

The Olympics are just now shedding some international light on these issues, but deforestation and environmental degradation have plagued the country for decades. Last year alone, 50 environmental activists were confirmed to have been murdered in Brazil,[1] and illegal logging and intentional wildfires have rapidly destroyed its rare ecosystems.[2] Throughout the environmental damage and upheaval, American Forests has been working to restore forests and help mitigate some of the environmental damage in Brazil.

Back in 2003, American Forests began a partnership with Pro-Natura and the Carrapeta Farm Hotel to restore northern Rio de Janeiro watersheds and agricultural land back into rich Atlantic Forest, the same type of rare ecosystem that was deforested to create the Olympic golf course. This biodiverse area used to cover 120 million hectares (that’s twice the size of Texas!), but has now shrunk to 10 million hectares fragmented into sections, making it difficult for wildlife to find sufficient habitat.[3] The reforestation project in northern Rio de Janeiro sought to replant valuable sections of this forest that would improve watersheds, mitigate erosion and improve wildlife habitats.

Then in 2014, American Forests returned to the Rio area to further address the loss of Atlantic forest habitat in partnership with Associacao Mico-Leao-Dourado. Strategically replanting areas that would reconnect fragmented areas, 5,000 trees were planted to create wildlife corridors for the unique Golden Lion Tamarin and the 60 percent of Brazil’s threatened species that live in the Atlantic Forest.

While American Forests’ reforestation projects are only a small-step towards mitigating Rio’s extensive environmental issues, there is still hope for Brazil. Restoring forest land would not only provide more habitat for rare and endangered wildlife, but would also improve Rio’s water quality and help combat climate change, which would discourage the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses.[4]

As you enjoy the 2016 Olympic Games, be reminded of how much forests impact our daily lives. While the Rio games came at a price for forests, the attention that the Olympics have brought to Brazil’s environmental issues may inspire more conservation work throughout the country. To read more about American Forests’ projects in Rio de Janeiro or other areas throughout Brazil, visit our Global ReLeaf page.

 

[1] Gertz, Emily J. “187 Environmental Activists Across 16 Countries were killed in 2015.” EcoWatch: June 20, 2016.

[2] Wallace, Scott. “Illegal Loggers Wage War on Indigenous People in Brazil.” National Geographic: January 21, 2016.

[3] Peel, Chris. “The Buried History of Golf’s Return to the Olympics.” Paste Magazine: July 13, 2016.

[4] Mercer, Greg. “The Link Between Zika and Climate Change.” The Atlantic: February 24, 2016.

In recent months, we have all become familiar with images in the media of wildland firefighters digging lines, air tankers dropping retardant and fire engines dispersing water. You may wonder “how do these firefighters know what it takes to fight fire?”

The short answer is: research.

Before a wildland firefighter sees his or her first fire, they are given the tools and training on how to fight fire and its behavior. The information passed onto them is not learned overnight but rather through years of research.

In the US Forest Service’s Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, in Montana, employees conduct research on flame, smoke, fuel types and how fire spreads. The lab has six different focus areas including one called the Physical Fire Processes which studies the fundamental physics of fire spread. Another one, Fuel Dynamics, works to make the process of fire behavior and its effects more accurately predictable, and the Smoke Emissions and Dispersion area’s focus is on a better understanding of smoke movement from fires and potential impacts. Other focus areas concentrate on the effects of fire on plants and the study of how a forest responds to fire disturbances and climate change.

Fire and firefighting have been around for centuries, so what else can we learn? The answer is a lot. In fact, we learn more each day.

For example, in 2015 the lab received an award for its research in buoyant flame dynamics in wildfire spread. As everyone knows, fire is hot, but the question that remained unanswered was “how is heat from a fire transferred to other fuels like pine needles so that it spreads?”

Our lab researchers discovered convection, or hot gasses bursting rapidly forward from the flames, which occurs by contact of air or fluid moving past an object, transferred fire.  Before this discovery, most scientists had considered radiation, the heat we feel from the sun or a fire, to be the key heat transfer mechanism in wildfires. The research showed that flame and hot gasses are forced into contact with new fuels because the rising motion of hot flames actually causes downward flow of cooler replacement air nearby. Thus flames form an alternating pattern of up and down motions along a fire front, and these motions cause the air to spin in the direction wind is moving.

After reading about the research our agency has been doing, you might have some ideas yourself, such as having the Forest Service test a new retardant (something that can be very time consuming and expensive). If you would like more information, contact the Missoula Technology and Development Center at 406-329-3900.

National Farmers Market Week is the perfect time to reflect on the evolution we’ve witnessed in our nation’s local and regional food systems, and to celebrate the results of the public and private partnerships that have made success possible.

The local food sector represents more than $12 billion dollars per year in sales, according to industry estimates.  That’s a lot of economic growth and opportunity for American producers and businesses.  And, in the newly-released results of the 2015 survey of nearly 1,400 farmers market managers, we are able to see the direct benefits these markets provide to businesses and communities across the country.

For farmers and food businesses, the survey conducted by my agency—USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)—shows that 56 percent of markets were able to increase their product variety because of vendor recruitment and market growth.  Another 37 percent were able to contract directly with local restaurants to have their vendors supply fresh ingredients.

The survey results also illustrate the critical role that farmers markets serve for rural communities, with 17 percent of markets reporting that their farmers were able to increase their farm acreage due to participation in local markets, and 41 percent of markets reporting that the market enabled their local farmers to continue farming.

We also saw evidence that communities are benefiting directly from markets that combine vendors with hosted events.  In fact, 64 percent of markets hosting community events reported customer growth, with another 57 percent reporting increased customer retention.  Hosted events included a wide variety of educational and recreational activities—such as cooking classes, live music, gardening classes and children’s activities.

Markets that mature into a multi-faceted community resource perform better than markets that don’t—showing that a path to continued success is a blending of rural products and responding to community needs.

Local food is not a trend.  It’s not a fad hooked to a priority that will fade away.  Local food is bigger than any one individual, bigger than policy documents or informational campaigns.  It’s a vital part of our nation’s diverse food system, born out of consumer demand and driven by the universal connection we have to our community and the farmers and businesses owners who produce the food we eat.

Long-lasting connections are being forged between farms and consumers, and USDA and AMS are helping. In the last two years alone, USDA has made over 900 investments in local food infrastructure that connects farmers with local markets, including food hubs, warehouses, local processing facilities and distribution networks. Over the course of the Obama Administration, we’ve invested close to $1 billion in 40,000 local projects—from small loans of a few thousand dollars to local farmers, to multi-million dollar grants for infrastructure development.

We know that these investments will help farmers markets and local food systems continue to serve their communities. And this week, we get to celebrate everything that this support—coupled with community passion and private sector innovation—makes possible across the country. Happy National Farmers Market Week!

It’s National Breastfeeding Month, and we at ChooseMyPlate.gov are celebrating moms everywhere! Caring for a child is no small task, and MyPlate has resources to support moms and moms-to-be.

As a nutritionist and a mom with baby #2 on the way, I know it can be overwhelming to figure out what you should be eating to keep you and your baby healthy. MyPlate’s SuperTracker, a free food, physical activity and weight tracking tool, offers personalized food plans specifically for breastfeeding moms. Simply create a profile and enter information about you and your baby to get your plan. You can also use SuperTracker’s Food Tracker to track your daily meals and see how they stack up to your plan. Since SuperTracker is mobile-friendly, you can enter them on your phone or tablet while you’re nursing.  We moms are excellent multi-taskers!

You can also find more information about your nutritional needs while breastfeeding on ChooseMyPlate.gov. For example, do you find yourself constantly thirsty? When I was breastfeeding my daughter, I kept a refillable water bottle in her nursery and plan to do the same thing when our son arrives next month!

For more solutions from real moms, check out the latest video in our “MyPlate, MyWins” video series.  See how breastfeeding mom, Lilac, makes healthy eating a reality for herself, husband PJ, her two sons and newborn daughter.

Well done to Lilac and all of the other supermoms out there! We’d love for you to share your own healthy eating solutions at ChooseMyPlate.gov or on social media using #MyPlateMyWins.

For more helpful tips, follow MyPlate on Twitter and Facebook.

I’m really looking forward to celebrating National Farmers Market Week. Farmers markets play a key role in developing food systems that help local grow economies. They bring people together, create bridges between rural and urban communities and increase access to locally-grown fruits and vegetables, providing healthier options for consumers across the country.

When Hurricane Katrina struck over a decade ago, New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward notoriously faced some of the worst devastation in our nations’ history. The floodwaters have long since subsided, but residents in this community are still struggling to rebuild the lives they knew before the storm.

For many, a trip to the grocery store is a mundane errand, but for Louisianans in the Lower Ninth Ward, it hasn’t been easy for a long time. With the nearest full-service supermarket nearly four miles away in St. Bernard’s Parish, accessing fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables in the community has been nearly impossible.

Rashida Ferdinand, executive director of the Sankofa Community Development Corporation and resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, was determined to find a solution. In 2008, Ferdinand launched Sankofa’s monthly marketplace, a local hub for artists, producers, creators and innovators, to focus on holistic wellness in the community—starting with nutritious food options for preventive health. Since its launch, Sankofa has expanded exponentially and today operates a weekly farmers market, community garden, mini-farm, and youth enrichment programs that have created new opportunities for urban revitalization, education, holistic healthcare, and economic development.

USDA has worked closely with Sankofa to bring new energy to the Lower Ninth Ward, providing funding and technical assistance through the Agricultural Marketing Service, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and Natural Resources Conservation Service to help launch and sustain the Sankofa Farmers Market.

Over the past few years, it’s been exciting to see the results of Sankofas’ work. Today, residents of the Lower Ninth Ward can buy fresh fruits and vegetables without having to go far, sparking new interest in locally-grown products. USDA is proud to call Sankofa a partner and I look forward to their continued leadership in strengthening New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.

The United States is the largest beef producer and one of the largest beef exporters in the world.  In order to remain competitive, our Nation’s beef producers and everyone else in the supply chain need reliable data to evaluate market conditions, identify trends, make purchasing decisions, and monitor price patterns.

USDA Market News – part of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service – provides the entire beef industry with equal access to the data they need with just the click of a button.  Livestock, Poultry, and Grain Market News Division reporters gather and disseminate beef market information, ranging from feeder cattle to retail beef prices.  From farm-to-fork, we have the cattle and beef markets covered.

USDA Market News administers a voluntary reporting program that captures valuable information from many points in the cattle and beef supply chain.  Focusing on feeder cattle voluntary reporting, USDA Market News provides volume and weighted average price reporting, capturing prices on thousands of head of cattle.  From the Plains of the Midwest, to the grass pastures of the Southeast, feeder cattle weighted average reports are valuable to producers, feedyards, and end users such as the CME index.  At many of these same feeder markets, producers can find current slaughter cow and bull prices which facilitate timely livestock sales.

As we continue through the supply chain, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) section of USDA Market News contains slaughter cattle reports, like the National Direct Slaughter Cattle Report, providing data on negotiated and grid sales for steers and heifers on a national basis.  If you are looking for meat prices, look no further than LMR daily and weekly boxed beef market reporting.  Daily and weekly reporting includes individual cut and grind items, in addition to primal and carcass cutout values.  The wealth of beef transactions represented daily, weekly, and monthly brings transparency to the market.

Market data on byproducts, hides per piece, and a variety of additional meat market information is available online using the By-Product Price Report, the Tallow and Protein Report, and the Major Packer Hide Report.  This series of voluntary reports includes the often used steer by –product drop value report, featured in many margin and profit-and-loss tools.

USDA Market News also provides grass-fed beef price and volume information through our voluntary local and regional reports – be sure to check out the newly revamped National monthly grass fed beef report.  The report features wholesale and retail data collected from producers across the Nation, in addition to helpful charts, graphs, and comparisons.

Retail is the end of the supply chain for USDA Market News, where data is tabulated on to the National beef retail report.  The report covers retail prices for over 29,000 major supermarket outlets.  From boneless ribeye steaks to ground chuck, this voluntary report is the go-to report for volumes and weighted averages of featured Choice, Select, and Branded beef items.

From coast to coast, USDA Market News reporters capture the ever-changing beef market and publish their findings online for easy access.  The combination of voluntary and mandatory reporting programs provide a seemingly endless stream of data.

USDA Market News takes great pride in following beef through all channels of production, bringing clarity to the beef markets, and offering a wide variety of data and information available to the public.  Next time you are in the market for beef data, be sure to check out our reports.

Find out the latest in forest news in this week’s Forest Digest!

• Earlier snowmelt decreases streamflow, reduces forests’ ability to regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide — Phys.org
  According to a recently published study, drought- and climate-variability-induced early snowmelt each spring could potentially result in a reduction of forest carbon by as much as 45 percent by mid-century.
• 9 of the most unusual forests on Earth — Mother Nature Network
  No two forests are the same, but some are particularly unusual! Check out this fun list of nine phenomenal forests throughout the world!
• The Effort to Restore Tropical Forests Gets a Massive Cutting Edge — Truthdig.org
  New research reveals that effectively controlling lianas, a fast-growing vine, within forests can help to increase new and established tree growth, which could help mitigate climate change and increase biodiversity.
• Asian beetle threatens Adirondack forests that produce iconic baseball bats — North Country Public Radio
  Emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle from Asia, infestations across New York state are wreaking havoc on groves of white ash trees in the Mohawk Valley and southern Adirondacks, an area known for producing iconic baseball bats.

Last June was one for the record books as Matthew Martin achieved his long-term goal of becoming a permanent employee with the U.S. Forest Service, an achievement made possible via a new hiring authority being used by the federal land management agency.

A second generation Forest Service employee, one could say that forestry was in Matthew’s DNA, which is certainly reflected in the hard work he did leading up to his permanent hire as a Forestry Technician on the Wayne National Forest.

Matthew’s permanent hiring was thanks to the new Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act that allows former and current long-term temporary employees to compete for jobs alongside other current land management agency employees.

The Workforce Act is a win/win for the Forest Service and temporary employees who are passionate about working for the agency but often find it hard to secure permanent employment.

Matthew’s new district ranger, Jason Reed, reflected on the mutual benefits, stating, “We are fortunate to have Matt. He has several seasons of experience and comes with good qualifications, which means a short transition from orientation to work on the unit. It’s a very good thing when we are able to get a return on the investment we make in our seasonal employees.”

During his temporary employment with the Forest Service, Matthew served in several positions including as a forestry aid with the recreation program, and a forestry technician with the fire program. In addition, Matthew completed a number of fire assignments with the agency and assisted with Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Now Matthew is ready to reengage with the Forest Service as part of a four-person crew on the Athens Ranger District that will provide support to multiple programs including timber, botany, recreation, wildlife and fire.

“I’ve wanted a career with the Forest Service for years. I’m excited and feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on the Wayne National Forest”, stated Matthew.

And, he’s hoping that other temporary and seasonal employees will realize their own Forest Service career goals, stating, “I hope the other great seasonal employees I’ve worked with can also benefit from this authority. It’s a good way to bring in people who love working in the field of natural resource management.”