WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will become the 52nd state agency to operate the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP). The program is part of USDA’s efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of seniors, ensuring that all older Americans have access to healthy food.

Source: The USDA.

WASHINGTON, August 7, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $63 million in loans grants for 264 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide that USDA is supporting through its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

Source: The USDA.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2015 — For the first time in its 110-year history, the Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is spending more than 50 percent of its budget to suppress the nation's wildfires. A new report released today by the Forest Service estimates that within a decade, the agency will spend more than two-thirds of its budget to battle ever-increasing fires, while mission-critical programs that can help prevent fires in the first place such as forest restoration and watershed and landscape management will continue to suffer. Meanwhile, the report notes, these catastrophic blazes are projected to burn twice as many acres by 2050.

Source: The USDA.