Walter Smith, executive director of the Yadkin County Farm Service Agency in North Carolina will retire from federal service on Dec. 2, after more than 34 years of service to USDA. Smith began his career measuring crops from aerial slides and training other employees to do the same. By 1979, he was named executive director of the Yadkin County FSA office. Read more (Yadkin Ripple).

Children made crafts and learned about the Indiana bat and during "Freaky Farm Day." 

Staff members at the Henry County USDA Service Center in New Castle, Ind., found a way to engage youth and educate local farmers about the programs offered through the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Soil and Water Conservation District. With a lot of brainstorming and a lot of work, the team held their first annual “Freaky Farm Day,” to coincide with Halloween.

Continue reading →

by Latawnya Dia, FSA public affairs specialist

Jennifer Geel is a Farm Loan Technician in Machias, Maine

After graduating from high school, Jennifer Geel, a farm loan technician in Machias, Maine, joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school,” said Jennifer. Although her mother was very nervous about her enlisting in the armed forces, her father had served in the Air Force and supported her decision. In fact, Jennifer was quite accustomed to military life.

“I was a military brat from ages 7 to 15,” said Jennifer. “My stepfather was in the Navy. It just seemed natural for me to serve my country.”

Continue reading →

Since 2003, USDA employees from locations across the United States have volunteered their unique skills to help Afghanistan rebuild its agricultural economy and regain its political and social stability. Paths to Progress is a 19-minute documentary-style film produced by USDA that shows slices of life from employees working on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) in Afghanistan.


Back row (l to r): Bonnie Nickelson, CED; Trish Harrell, IT; Program Technicians Jean Johnson, Laurie Pfeifle and Kris Stevens, Susi Odden, COT and JoDee Bryant, Faulk County farm loan manager. Front row (l to r): Program Technicians Shelley Moncur and Kim Joy-Nelson, and Nancy Harrell, farm loan officer.

Located at the intersection of Highways 14 and 45 in east central South Dakota, the city of Miller is home to the Hand County FSA Office. Established in 1933 under the name of AAA, the office has occupied several locations before moving to the present location at 118 East 2nd Street, one block east of Main Street, in the mid 1970’s. This was the creation of the Agricultural Service Center for Hand County, and the first time Farmers Home Administration, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service were housed in the same building. The present building has undergone three remodeling projects to accommodate the needs of CFSA, FSA and IT requirements.

Continue reading →

Richard Lopez is a farm loan officer training in Estancia, N.M.

Hi, I’m Richard Lopez, farm loan officer trainee in Estancia, N.M. I served both active duty and in the reserves with the U.S. Army. I was a military intelligence analyst from 1983 to 1987, after which I left the Army to become a special agent with the Defense Investigative Service. All my life I wanted to be a federal agent. While I was in college I asked around as to which military branch had the best intelligence operations. I was told the Army. That’s why I initially joined the Army.

From 1987 to 1991, I served in the reserve and was deployed to Desert Storm for 90 days in 1990.

Life in the Army can be tough, but that’s what helped make me the man I am today. The military taught me to work hard to get what I need in life. This country is the greatest because we have the best trained and equipped fighting force in the world and we all owe a debt of gratitude to our veterans and proud men and women of our armed forces.

Proud to serve.

Teri Kawahara and Harry with military dignitary at medal ceremony.

 by Candy Moore, communications coordinator, FSA Idaho State Office

Patti Harris, an FSA farm program specialist in Idaho traveled with her father to Washington D.C. to participate in a ceremony honoring the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Her father, Harry Kawahara, was part of this elite Japanese-American combat team during WWII. The team will be receiving a group Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Here are Patti’s words describing her dad’s heroism.

“I am very proud of my dad who is a Purple Heart veteran and my mom who survived the internment of her family of Japanese Americans to the Hunt Relocation Camps outside of Jerome, Idaho, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Both my mom and dad were second generation Japanese Americans and both were born in the United States.  You will not find any two people more loyal to their country and who taught us how to be good citizens and patriots. My brother also is a Vietnam Veteran.”

Continue reading →

The USDA Field Day, held at the Williams Muscadine Vineyard and Farm in South Carolina, served as a venue to present a shining star to David Williams, an FSA loan recipient who uses his farm and vineyard as a place to experience Black farm life in the rural South. This was the first Shining Star award ever presented. Read more (The News, Kingstree, S.C.).