North End schools participate in federal chef program

Through the USDA-sponsored "Cooking for Kids" program, schools applied to have a chef come to their cafeterias several times a year to work with the food service employees to improve methods and best practices, as well as implement new menu items, the Enid News & Eagle reported. Chisholm Food Service Director Rhonda Robinett said members of the district attended a "Cooking for Kids" conference during the summer.

Darien Man Found Guilty Of Defrauding Banks Of Millions In Loan Scheme

A Darien man was convicted of defrauding banks and the USDA of more than $25 million on Wednesday, according to United States Attorney for Connecticut Deirdre M. Daly. Pablo Calderon, 61, along with Brett C. Lillemoe, 46, of Minneapolis, submitted fraudulent documents to two United States banks in connection with a USDA loan guarantee program by which the USDA provides credit guarantees, Daly said.

Meat production helps offset wild pig problem

Sure, feral hogs cause their share of trouble, but if you like bacon and pork chops, Texas' pig problem has a swine solution In this photo taken Oct. 20, 2016, feral hogs are enclosed at Jason Bond's ranch near Snyder, Texas. Feral hogs cause their share of trouble but if you like bacon and pork chops, Texas' pig problem has a swine solution.

Big producers like General Mills, Organic Valley get creative with organic food

Wild prairie grasses and wooden signs advertising handwoven rugs dot the roadside leading to the home of the nation's largest organic cooperative. The barn-style headquarters of Organic Valley, off a serpentine byway and tucked in the hills of southwest Wisconsin, feels far away.

Central PA Food Bank

The Bethesda Mission serves hundreds of the city's hungry and homeless every day, and being a Christian-based ministry, faith is the critical part of its purpose. "We don't force our faith on anybody, but we do expect anybody who's here is going to show a bit of respect to us and we're going to respect them, that's for sure," executive director Chuck Wingate said.

USDA designates Pointe Coupee Parish as a disaster area

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Pointe Coupee Parish as a primary natural disaster area due to damages and losses caused by severe storms and flooding that occurred in August. Farmers and ranchers in Avoyelles, Concordia, Iberville, St. Landry, St. Martin, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes also qualify for national disaster assistance because their areas are contiguous.

Mind the Food Gap: Who Does Farm-to-Table Serve?

She explains that the restaurant she and her partner opened in the renovated mill at the center of Saxapahaw's development boom, the one they describe as a "central gathering place for the community," aims to build a model that's economically viable for everyone - including farmers and their staff. "We're here supporting the locals, and they come in and support us," she says.

Workforce event highlights PSU initiative

PlantVillage, an online crop-disease knowledge library and image database co-founded by a Penn State researcher, was represented at an event unveiling a new agricultural workforce development initiative Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Rural Council - in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, other federal agencies and private-sector stakeholders - announced America the Bountiful, which will include wide-ranging efforts to expand and diversify the U.S. agriculture workforce. David Hughes, assistant professor of entomology and biology, was an invited guest at the event, which was held at USDA headquarters.

Grain futures tumble, despite US stocks figures falling short of forecasts

Bumper US corn, soybean and wheat harvests will lift stocks by less than investors had expected, thanks to success in finding extra import buyers, according to official data - although prices tumbled nonetheless. The US Department of Agriculture, in its flagship monthly Wasde crop supply and demand report, pegged domestic soybean stocks at the close of 2016-17 at 395m bushels - a doubling over the course of the season but a figure smaller nonetheless than investors had expected.

AM markets: grains revive, amid ‘surprise’ at data aftermath

Another of those Chicago traders' adages, of which Agrimoney.com has already produced a few this week, holds that a crop, typically of corn or soybeans , viewed as likely to come in large will only increase in size as the season continues. But that isn't the case for this year's US corn crop, which the US Department of Agriculture downgraded on Wednesday by 36m bushels to 15.09bn bushels - albeit that is wasn't a huge downgrade, and the output figure is still high enough to rate as a record high.

USDA To Buy Another $20M Worth Of Cheese Amid Market Slump

The federal Agriculture Department this week announced its intent to purchase $20 million in cheddar cheese products as part of efforts to help dairy farmers weather a sluggish dairy market. The move would be the second $20 million purchase in many months as the U.S. dairy sector faces slower demand, increased inventories and low global prices.

Consumer Demand, Government Support Boost Biobased Products Industry

The biobased products industry contributes hundreds of billions of dollars to the US economy while reducing millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a US Department of Agriculture report . The report says that in 2014, the biobased products industry contributed $393 billion and 4.2 million jobs - indicating that the sector grew from 2013 to 2014 , producing an additional $24 billion over the previous year.