The Obama Administration has made domestic production of renewable energy a national priority because it will create quality American jobs, combat global warming, reduce fossil fuel dependence and lay a strong foundation for a strong rural economy.  Read more »

Hawaii and the Pacific Basin

The dwindling global supply of fossil fuels and the resulting escalation in prices has set the stage for entry of commercial biofuel produced from biomass, including co-products and bi-products.  This transition in the energy sector’s feed stocks offers Hawaii a unique opportunity to locally produce biofuel from locally produced biomass feed stocks, and ultimately support the stabilization of the state’s energy resources; increase the local circulation of energy dollars; and further under gird Hawaii’s agricultural industry.  Read more »

By Diane Van, FSIS Meat and Poultry Hotline Manager 

Remember when you were a student and your teacher would say, “If you have a question, someone else in the class is wondering the same thing?” Well, after many years of working with the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s Meat and Poultry Hotline, I can tell you that nearly every parent, cook, and party-planner—no matter how experienced—has questions about keeping the food that they serve safe for those who will eat it. Not surprisingly, the questions we receive at the Meat and Poultry Hotline are often repeats that we’ve heard many times before.

For this 4^th of July weekend, I’m going to try a new approach to answering summer food safety questions. Thursday afternoon at 1:00, I’ll be hosting a real, live “Summer Food Safety Chat” on USDA’s Facebook page and USDA Live. To join the chat, all you have to do is log in to your own Facebook account, go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s page, and ask away.

Sure, I’m expecting the usual suspects: “How long can potato salad stay out before it’s unsafe to eat?” “How long can I leave fried chicken in the refrigerator?” “Do hot dogs need to be hot?”

I’ll gladly answer those, but I’m hoping some of you can come up with a few clever new ones.  Watch what others ask, and there’s a good chance you’ll learn something you didn’t know you were even wondering.  Ask something you thought should be common knowledge, and someone else will be glad you spoke up.

The chat will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET, on Thursday, July 1—just in time to get you started on your shopping, prepping, and grilling for the July 4 holiday weekend. In the meantime, you can find food safety tips tailored for the summer season on FSIS’ Twitter and YouTube accounts.  See you there!

USDA Agriculture Secretary Vilsack kicked off the third in a series of five workshops on competition in agriculture today. Speaking to a packed house of more then 500 small and large dairy farmers, FFA members and members of the public at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Vilsack highlighted the struggles of those living in rural America and the need to explore the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in the dairy industry. Read more »

Written by Darrell J. Mowery, Indiana Public Information Coordinator

The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development is improving the lives of the residents of the Indiana Town of Ossian by providing a USDA Rural Development Water and Environmental Program low interest loan in the amount of $3,290,000.  The funds will be used to replace distribution mains to provide a reliable municipal source of water, provide adequate fire flows and pressure, and eliminate the health issues and water boil advisories that have been required the last three years.

Phil Lehmkuhler, USDA Rural Development Indiana State Director stated, “USDA Rural Development is providing millions of dollars to rural communities to support the efforts of rural cities and towns to improve their water and wastewater disposal systems.  Congratulations to the residents of Ossian for making this important commitment to protect the environment and well being of your community.”

The  Town of Ossian’s water system has old cast-iron mains which have broken 140 times over the past two years.  This has resulted in three boiling water advisories to the public over the same time frame.  The distribution mains need to be replaced in several areas with new 8-inch water mains to provide a reliable municipal source of water to customers to meet the maximum day and emergency fire flow demand conditions.  The average water loss, pumped versus billed water, averaged over 25 percent for the last three years.

Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA’s web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

Community officials from Ossian, Indiana join USDA officials to mark the start of a project to repair and replace water mains.