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One of my fondest childhood memories was helping my grandma tend to the fresh fruits and vegetables in her garden. After a morning’s work outside in the sunshine, the fresh-picked corn was a feast for the taste buds and a sweet reward for our hard work. Working alongside my grandma taught me many important lessons – notably, that food on the table across the nation is a result of the dedication and effort of America’s farmers.

You may be familiar with Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer” speech that he delivered to the FFA Convention in November 1978. What he said then still rings true today. He describes the hard work and sacrifices as well as the gentle family spirit and sense of community that farmers and ranchers have provided from generation to generation across our great country.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost through food banks and pantries. In recent years, a number of states have recognized the value of supporting donations from local farmers to their food bank networks – commonly known as Farm to Food Bank Projects.  

In 2018, food insecurity returned to the pre-recession level of 11.1 percent, last observed in 2007. It is down from 11.8 percent in 2017 and a high of 14.9 percent in 2011. USDA’s Economic Research Service recently released its Household Food Security in the United States in 2018 on the incidence and severity of food insecurity in U.S. households. 

As we celebrate Farm to School Month this October, we can all feel the temperatures cooling down with the fall season. Here are seven ways USDA’s Farm to School Program can make your school and community ‘cooler’ throughout the year!

Customer service is a priority for this Department and taking stakeholder input seriously is an integral part of ensuring optimal service is delivered. Today’s final rule adjusting timelines for the Child and Adult Care Food Program requirements is the latest example of this.

USDA today announced $5 million for investments in customer service projects to improve and modernize application processing in SNAP.  

Technological advances are streamlining industries across the globe. To make use of these innovations for program participants, USDA today announced the award of an $8.5 million cooperative agreement with Tufts University to test and evaluate the use of telehealth innovations in delivery of USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

Children’s nutritional needs do not take a summer break. This summer, FNS partnered with the Texas Department of Agriculture and Baylor University’s Texas Hunger Initiative to help keep Texas children in several low-income rural areas fed during the summer through a summer meals demonstration project.