Written by Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service

The Secretary of Agriculture has officially declared August 1-7 2010 as National Farmers Market Week.

National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to celebrate the thriving farmers markets in your community.  It’s a time to specifically honor the market vendors who tend the farms, grow the produce, raise the meat, bake the bread and prepare the other fresh local products you find at your farmers market. It’s a time to thank the market managers who organize and run farmers markets smoothly so you can enjoy the goods vendors have to offer.  It’s a time to benefit from the community pride and economic opportunities farmers markets build in towns and cities across the country. Read more »

By Amanda Eamich, Director of Web Communications

The Apps for Healthy Kids polls are open with 95 games and apps waiting for you to test and play. We’re thrilled with your interest thus far with almost 5,000 votes cast in the first week.  Read more »

Written by Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utilities Services

Remote learning, teaching, and service delivery are becoming a way of life, and nowhere is that truer than in rural regions.

Digital networks and new technologies are emerging to bring more cost-effective and high quality telemedical services to rural populations across the country.   The financial distance penalty so often assumed to be part of rural life appears to be receding as our broadband networks are expanding.  With medical record keeping systems moving to digital formats, the opportunity to have records and diagnostic tests “move” with you from doctor to doctor or from doctor to clinic is becoming more commonplace, as is the availability of sophisticated diagnostic procedures and specialized help, again through the broadband networks being built with USDA funding support  in metro and rural regions. Read more »