Rural Development

Tucked away in the hillsides of Somerset County, Pennwood Farms is seeing great results from its new methane digester. The 600-cow dairy farm is owned by four brothers who installed the digester in April of this year with the help of a $264,450 USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) loan, a...

Dozens of people gathered in Monticello, Ky., on Wednesday to break ground on a project in which five local families began the process of building their own homes. Great partnerships can lead to great projects – and this event highlighted several strategic partners that worked incredibly hard to...

Today, Secretary Vilsack announced that, during the month of July, USDA employees donated more than 270,000 pounds of canned goods and fresh produce to feed families across the country as part of the Feds Feed Families food drive! That means USDA employees have worked together to donate more than...

On a beautiful summer morning, more than 200 Bridgewater faculty, staff, students and local residents celebrated the completion of a $14 million dollar student housing project on the rural campus of Bridgewater College. The new “Stone Village” as named by the college for its past President, Mr...

How do you garner valuable feedback from key partners and stakeholders from around your state? Just ask and let them speak, which is what USDA Rural Development leadership did in Washington State when they convened a stakeholder outreach meeting in Olympia on July 29 to discuss Rural Development...

This week Wisconsin kicked off an annual tradition, the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, WI. As a part of the Opening Day activities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hosted a White House Rural Council Forum with businesses and community leaders, farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers...

Six families gathered in Liberal, Kan., to celebrate the completion of their newly constructed homes. The families utilized USDA Rural Development’s Self-Help Housing Program administered by the City of Liberal to help construct the homes. The family members devote time and labor to painting...

With just over three weeks left in the 2011 Feds Feed Families campaign, we are nearing the finish line of what has been an extraordinary show of support, commitment and compassion from USDA employees across the country.