![Jack Kauffman, USDA Rural Development Area Director (left), Board members of the Milton Public Library: Amy DeHart Woodcock (center) and John Meckley (right) and local resident Spencer Garvey (front) at the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Milton Public Library. Jack Kauffman, USDA Rural Development Area Director (left), Board members of the Milton Public Library: Amy DeHart Woodcock (center) and John Meckley (right) and local resident Spencer Garvey (front) at the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Milton Public Library.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121019055957im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5054/5507477376_f0e263b147.jpg)
Jack Kauffman, USDA Rural Development Area Director (left), Board members of the Milton Public Library: Amy DeHart Woodcock (center) and John Meckley (right) and local resident Spencer Garvey (front) at the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Milton Public Library.
Spencer Garvey, a young resident of Milton, Pennsylvania, is looking forward to visiting the children’s library at the new Milton Public Library at Rose Hill, where stakeholders and local officials broke ground last week. By early next year, the historic mansion in the heart of Milton will be transformed into an 11,000 square-foot library and community center with dedicated space for educational and cultural programs. Read more »
Breakfast matters! And starting the day on a nutritious note enables our children to learn better and acquire the energy needed for academic success.
To amplify that message, this week USDA celebrates School Breakfast Week to ensure our nation’s children have the best opportunity to prosper in school and in their futures. Read more »
![Young farmers in Florida participate in the New and Beginning Farmers Training Program to learn skills that will help them start successful farming operations. Young farmers in Florida participate in the New and Beginning Farmers Training Program to learn skills that will help them start successful farming operations.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121019055957im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5215/5506134467_b0cc6cfee5.jpg)
Young farmers in Florida participate in the New and Beginning Farmers Training Program to learn skills that will help them start successful farming operations.
The African-American farmer is a rare breed in the United States, and their numbers have declined dramatically over the past few decades. This trend, particularly, is due to the fact that young people are not entering the field to replace an increasingly aging population. In Florida, the average farmer’s age is 58.4, and approximately 45 percent of the farms in Florida are operated by farmers between 25 and 54 years of age. Read more »
On March 3rd, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan gave an informative speech about USDA’s ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ initiative to a packed crowd of Portland State University (PSU) students and faculty. As both a PSU graduate student of Public Administration and a new employee with USDA Rural Development in Oregon, I was impressed by USDA’s active role in creating solutions to some of our most pressing national and global issues. Read more »