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U.S. Department of Agriculture

USDA Secretary Ann Veneman

The "nation's largest conservation agency", the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was established in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln at a time when over 45% of the U.S. population were farmers. (1)

Select Links for USDA: USDA Home Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NCRS) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) Economic Research Service (ERS) Natn'l. Agriculural Statistics Service (NASS)

Initially designed to provide these farmers with the materials and information needed to successfully grow their crops, the USDA has evolved into a department that serves all Americans through such initiatives as their food safety and natural resource conservation programs.

In addition to governing the country's supply of meat and poultry, the USDA is "the steward of our nation's 192 million acres of national forests and rangelands". Within the USDA, one will find the Economic Research Service (ERS) whose mission is to "inform and enhance public and private decision making on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food, natural resources and rural development". Among the information available here are USDA reports and publications regarding research in such areas as biotechnology, farm risk management, and food safety. (1)

"Providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture" the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) is another sub-site of the USDA and it provides both "ready reference" type answers to the more casual visitor, as well as vital information to farmers searching for specific help in any number of areas--crop production and value, livestock slaughter, and the use of chemicals to name just a very few.

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