U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

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Shutdown Leaves Program Feeding Women And Infants In Lurch

Eliza Barclay and Allison Aubrey | NPR | October 1, 2013

Among those affected by the chaos of the government shutdown are 9 million low-income women and children who may be worrying where next week's meal is going to come from. Read More »

Shutdown Salmonella Outbreak Continues. CDC Food Safety Chief: ‘We Have A Blind Spot.’

Maryn McKenna | Wired | October 10, 2013

We’re 11 days now into the federal shutdown and four days since the announcement of a major foodborne outbreak in chicken that is challenging the shutdown-limited abilities of the food-safety and disease-detective personnel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture. Here’s an update. Read More »

The Rise Of Superweeds—And What To Do About It

Staff Writer | Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) | December 5, 2013

It sounds like a sci-fi movie: American farmers fighting desperately to hold back an onslaught of herbicide-defying "superweeds." But there's nothing imaginary—or entertaining—about this scenario. Superweeds are all too real, and they have now spread to over 60 million acres of our farmland, wreaking environmental and economic havoc wherever they go. Read More »

The War On Poverty Has Been A Colossal Flop

Robert Rector | The Daily Signal | September 16, 2014

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual report on poverty. This report is noteworthy because this year marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s launch of the War on Poverty...

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There’s A Major Foodborne Illness Outbreak And The Government’s Shut Down

Maryn McKenna | Wired | October 7, 2013

Late-breaking news, and I’ll update as I find out more: While the government is shut down, with food-safety personnel and disease detectives sent home and forbidden to work, a major foodborne-illness outbreak has begun. Read More »

They’re Feeding WHAT To Cows?

Brad Jacobson | OnEarth | December 12, 2013

'Poultry litter' is exactly what it sounds like: the filthy stuff scraped off the floor of a chicken coop. Feeding it to cattle (yes, that happens) risks the spread of mad cow disease—yet the FDA has done nothing to stop it. Read More »

U.S. Declares The Largest Natural Disaster Area Ever Due To Drought

Dashiell Bennett | The Atlantic Wire | July 12, 2012

The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have the prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That's almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest distaster declaration ever made by the USDA. Read More »

US Honeybee Population Suffers 'Unsustainable' Death Rate Over The Winter

Staff Writer | RT | May 16, 2014

Nearly one quarter of the US honeybee population died over the winter, according to an annual survey. Beekeepers report the losses remain higher than they consider sustainable, and the death rate could soon affect the country’s food supply. Read More »

USDA Announces Investments To Expand Distance Learning And Telemedicine Opportunities In Rural Areas

Press Release | U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) | February 4, 2014

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Obama Administration is investing in rural telecommunications equipment to help expand access to education, create jobs and improve health care in 25 states. Read More »

USDA Awards $6 Million for Rural Telehealth

Nicole Lewis | Information Week | November 28, 2011

Rural areas in six states will get $6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help finance 10 telehealth projects. The projects will deliver health and education services to rural areas currently lacking adequate healthcare in the Delta region.

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USDA Reports Honeybee Death Rate Too High For Long-Term Survival

Staff Writer | EcoWatch | May 16, 2014

Honeybees in the U.S. are dying at a rate too high to ensure their long-term survival, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Read More »

What Would It Take to Mainstream "Alternative" Agriculture?

Maywa Montenegro | Ensia | July 25, 2016

The industrialized food system, studies have shown, is linked to greenhouse gas emissions, algal blooms, pesticide pollution, soil erosion and biodiversity loss, to name a few ecological troubles. Add to this a long list of social ills, from escalating rates of obesity to the demise of the family farmer and deadening of rural landscapes and rural economies across much of the U.S...

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White House Actions On Antibiotic Resistance: Big Steps, Plus Disappointments

Maryn McKenna | WIRED | September 22, 2014

The United States government proposed several important steps last week that, if accomplished, will significantly change how this country attempts to counter the advance of antibiotic resistance, bringing us within reach of the more complete programs which exist in Europe. But as significant as it is, the new program has some perplexing gaps that left experts attending to the issue disappointed...

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Why This Year's Gulf Dead Zone Is Twice As Big As Last Year's

Tom Philpott | Mother Jones | August 14, 2013

[...] This year's "biological desert" (NOAA's phrase) is much bigger than last year's, below, which was relatively tiny because Midwestern droughts limited the amount of runoff that made it into the Gulf. At about 2,900 square miles, the 2012 edition measured up to be about a third as large as Delaware. Read More »