Category Archives: Features
FSA Part of Team Helping Beginning Farmers Secure Land
Caleb and Lauren Langworthy positioned themselves to get as much farming education as possible. Several internships and knowledge of both farming and business took them from renting land to a path of farm ownership. After investors took an interest in their … Continue reading
Good-Bye, Willie
By Kent Politsch, Chief, FSA Public Affairs Willie F. Cooper recently retired after more than 56 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Three hundred of his Louisiana friends – more if the rain doesn’t freeze — are prepared to … Continue reading
Farmers Embrace Social Media With Felfies
Taking a picture of one’s self, generally by cell phone or webcam and uploading it to social media is known as a “selfie.” The word has moved itself into the English vernacular so much so that the Oxford Dictionary named … Continue reading
USDA Announces Winners of the 2014 Agricultural Outlook Forum Student Diversity Program
Thirty university students have been selected to attend the 2014 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum. The forum — held Feb. 20-21 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va. — will introduce the students to contemporary agribusiness, future trends, scientific … Continue reading
Teen Uses Youth Loan to Fill Niche Market
When high school senior Jake Ledoux saw a niche market for poultry at a farmers market, he jumped in to fill the void. Using a Farm Service Agency Rural Youth Loan, Ledoux began raising chickens and turkeys to sell directly … Continue reading
Teaching the World to Eat Pecans
By Kent Politsch, Chief, FSA Public Affairs Do they like pecan pie in Turkey? If they don’t now, they will soon if Randy Hudson has anything to say about it. Hudson, his wife Mary Jo and their family operate Hudson … Continue reading
StrikeForce helps farmers and ranchers provide communities with local produce
By Beverly Moseley, NRCS An Apache youth, Noah Titla, 13, has chosen to follow in the footsteps of generations of San Carlos Apaches by growing and harvesting his own food. His passion for reconnecting growing food with tribal traditions has … Continue reading
S.C. StrikeForce Meeting Reaches More Than 100 Producers
By Amy Melissa Overstreet, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist and SC StrikeForce Coordinator It was a collaborative effort to bring more than 100 producers and seven U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies together in one StrikeForce county in South Carolina to reach … Continue reading
Modern-Day Land Grab: Expiring CRP Contracts Create Opportunity For Fledgling Farmers
Courtesy Martha Mintz, John Deere’s THE FURROW Magazine, There was no shotgun start or race to stake a claim, but when Conservation Reserve Program contracts started expiring, a good old-fashioned land rush kicked off in Blaine County, Mont. “Ten years … Continue reading
One Day of Gleaning Brings Joy to Thousands of Children
What started out with just a handful of FSA employees trying to do the right thing has turned into an annual event that spans six New Mexico counties. Ten years ago John Perea, county executive director for Torrance County, N.M., … Continue reading