Category: Agriculture

On Thursday, Deputy Secretary Torres Small visited the site of a future solar power facility in Pahrump, Nevada, where she announced more than $140 million for clean energy projects in Nevada and Kentucky as part of the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program.

Within New Mexico the county of Doña Ana is quarantined to stop spreading imported fire ants.  Shipments of nursery stock, sod, soil, baled hay and straw must be certified. Soil moving equipment originating in Doña Ana County must also be certified free of the pest. In the case of nursery stock this is verified by…

With their wide variety of inventory, they utilize the local farmers markets year-round, run a storefront on their farm, and an online store to sell their products. Their farm motto is, Healthy Soil and Happy Plants – Living in Harmony.

Throughout the fall months, they have a variety of events around the farm, including U-pick apples at their orchard and grapes from their vineyard.  

They discussed how USDA’s historic Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative is helping more producers access climate-smart agricultural practices to create new markets for their products and generate more income.

Having “the kids” come home to preserve the family farm may be an old story, but the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping sisters Nita and Neva Mensia write a new version.

Research Director for New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Science Center at Farmington Kevin Lombard is a co-principal investigator on a collaborative project focused on developing and accessing modern controlled environment agricultural practices to assist tribal communities.

To begin the week, Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small was in Houston, where she joined U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) welcomed students and educators back to school and highlighted efforts by USDA, under the Biden-Harris Administration, to ensure that schools in Texas and nationwide have access to healthy, nutritious meals for students.

Deputy Secretary Torres Small was in Pennsylvania and North Dakota this week to highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to help farmers build more, new, and better markets and strengthen farming operations and businesses.

The technique will allow repopulation of the species in the event of a rapid extinction

New Mexico State University Regents professor Cynthia Bejarano was among 32 faculty and staff that the United States Department of Agriculture welcomed to Washington, D. C. earlier this month in the 2024 class of E. Kika De la Garza Fellows.

On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary Torres Small was in Morgan, Minnesota, to attend Farmfest, an event held every other year in Minnesota on 50 acres of land to showcase products, services and technologies from over 500 exhibitors and vendors.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announces changes to the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Farm Loan Programs, effective Sept. 25, 2024 — changes that are intended to increase opportunities for farmers and ranchers to be financially viable.

El Departamento de Agricultura de EE.UU. (USDA) anunció las tasas de interés de préstamos para agosto de 2024, que son efectivas a partir del 1 de agosto de 2024.

At her first stop of the day this morning, Deputy Secretary Torres Small was in Carpinteria, California, to tour Hollandia Produce Group, which recently received a Rural Energy for America Program grant to implement energy efficiency systems.

El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. recuperó $268,417 en salarios atrasados ​​y compensación por daños para 76 trabajadores tras descubrir que su empleador los alojaba en condiciones deficientes y eximía a muchos del pago de horas extras, en violación de regulaciones federales.

The term acequias has come across the desk at Las Cruces Digest several times in the past week. This post explores what all of the attention is about.

A collaborative agreement for use of NOAA satellites will help the Interior and Agriculture Departments detect wildfires early, track wildfires in real time, and provide data for public safety and air quality modeling

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that approximately 25,140 additional households that may not normally be eligible under regular Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rules may qualify for D-SNAP – if they meet certain criteria, including the disaster income limits and have qualifying disaster-related expenses.

Deputy Secretary Visits Connecticut, New Hampshire To Focus on Rural Communities

The 2024 New Mexico Youth Ranch Management Camp was held June 9-14 at the CS Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.

This week, USDA officials, including Deputy Secretary Torres Small, welcomed 32 faculty and staff from Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Hispanic-Serving School Districts around the nation to the 2024 class of E. Kika De La Garza Fellows.

Excitement buzzed in the air as kids gathered from miles around, ready for a day filled with friendly competition and learning.

The Amy Goldman-Fowler Teaching Garden, part of New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute, is now open for self-guided tours from sunrise to sunset seven days week throughout chile-growing season.

Training for collegiate competitions has been a primary focus for NMSU’s meat judging team since its early days in the 1900s. After a nearly 40-year hiatus, the team orchestrated a comeback in fall 2023.

USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences broke ground on the new National Grape Improvement Center on Wednesday in Geneva, New York. Deputy Secretary Torres Small and Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) were on hand to celebrate the new state-of-the-art USDA grape research facility on the Cornell AgriTech campus.

Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small visited two USDA Summer Food Service Program sites this week to see them in action serving meals, known as SUN Meals, to kids of all ages at no cost to families. In Virginia Beach, Virginia, she visited Bettie F. Williams Elementary School and in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, she and Representative…

During the week of June 17-23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is recognizing and celebrating National Pollinator Week.

Participants in the vet science camp at New Mexico State University listen to Extension Veterinarian Dr. John Wenzel during a presentation.

Floral design is not the only skill the New Mexico State University College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ floral team teaches students.

The study sought to better understand the ecology of human pathogens in the environment in the Southwest agricultural region, particularly how pathogens survive, move, and possibly contaminate produce prior to harvest, so that the agricultural community can work together to identify best practices to enhance food safety.

On June 3, 1924, the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico was established, paving the way for it to become the world’s first-ever designated wilderness thanks to the leadership of Forest Service employee Aldo Leopold.