How is the Agricultural Sector Doing? The Latest Vital Statistics

April 12, 2018

There’s no more critical economic sector supporting a thriving and growing American economy than the great work of the nation’s farmers, livestock, and fisheries operators. A healthy agri-sector not only makes for a healthy American family, but also is of great importance as a reliable export contributor.

The Department of Agriculture’s yearly report, “Agricultural Cooperative Statistics”, is published annually to provide information on the position and trends among the America’s farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives. The latest report with 2016 data was just released.

These statistics are used for cooperative benchmarking, research, technical assistance, education, planning, and public policy. The collection, analysis, and dissemination of cooperative statistics are managed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

National Ag Day – March 20

March 20, 2018

National Ag Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by America’s agricultural community. Every year producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies, and countless others across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture.

What Is Ag Day All About?
Ag Day recognizes – and celebrates – the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to:

  • Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
  • Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
  • Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

Your family can celebrate and acknowledge the importance of agriculture in our daily lives easily and enjoyably by engaging your children in creating recipes that you also can suggest to your local school cafeteria leaders. Here’s an easy way to get involved; by obtaining this easy-to-prepare set of fun and nutritional recipes.

Recipes for Healthy Kids Cookbook for Schools from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This cookbook presents a variety of recipes, with full color photographs of the finished meals, for children (and adults!).  The recipes have fun names and are tasty to both kids and adults, and include nutritional ingredients like dark green and orange vegetables, dry beans and peas, and whole grains.  The recipes are low in fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.

This is a cookbook with recipes that kids and adults will want to prepare and eat, and have fun while doing so, while benefitting by great nutrition!  The cookbook features a collection of recipes from the “Recipes for Healthy Kids Competition,” where children, school nutritionists, chefs, parents, and other interested members of the community submitted their own recipes for fun, healthy foods.

Get on board a more nutritional lifestyle for your family and have fun doing it.

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

2 Comments | Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Agriculture Day: It’s about more than how America’s Farmers serve our Nation’s Need for Food

March 21, 2017

National Ag Day is a day to celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture across the United States.  American agriculture plays a critical economic and food security role in our country. To give the general public a chance to see how their food, clothing, and other products get from the farm, America’s Farm co-ops, universities, 4-H clubs, agricultural associations, FFA clubs, and organizations at the city, county and state levels celebrate with a variety of events.

National Ag Day encourages every American to:

  • Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
  • Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.
  • Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
  • Acknowledge and consider career opportunities in the agriculture, food and fiber industry.

Remember, these essential services are provided by the 1 in 11 Americans across the agriculture community that provide American consumers with more than 80% of the food we consume.

The Government Publishing Office online bookstore features a wide array of publications that inform the agriculture industry and the American public about important issues that impact every aspect of plant and animal cultivation and processing.

Land management and the complex process of growing and delivering agricultural products demands an understanding of subjects beyond the obvious. Consider how the introduction of foreign animals and plants to our eco-system can have a major detrimental effect on the wellbeing of the plants and animals we depend upon for our daily sustenance. A great example is the publication authored by the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service entitled:

 A Management Guide for Invasive Plants in Southern Forests

Invasions of nonnative plants into forests and landscapes of the Southern United States continue to spread and include new species, increasingly eroding forest productivity, hindering forest use and management activities, and degrading diversity and wildlife habitat. This book provides the latest information on how to organize and enact prevention programs, build strategies, implement integrated procedures for management, and proceed towards site rehabilitation and restoration.

If you work or are engaged in any phase of the “cycle of life” you might consider this title.

The theme for National Ag Day 2017 is “Agriculture: Food for Life.” Take part in celebrating and learning more about this essential industry by visiting https://bookstore.gpo.gov/ to find out more about the land you live in and depend upon.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

Leave a Comment » | Agriculture, Consumers, Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

What to Read for National Agriculture Day

March 11, 2016

800px-Grain-field“For amber waves of grain” is my favorite lyric in the song America the Beautiful. I picture fields of honey-colored wheat, undulating in the mild breeze. Such imagery is a real thing in rural America. Those fabled farmlands of song have fed, clothed, and employed real people for generations. The agriculture industry, a linchpin of the American economy, remains competitively strong and significant today.

National Agriculture Day on March 15th recognizes the plentiful contributions of U.S. agriculture. To boost your knowledge of the essential role of agribusiness in our daily lives, check out these U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) resources available from the GPO bookstore.

Running a Food Hub: A Business Operations Guide

001-000-04766-3This handy USDA report centers on decision points for food hub operators. What’s a food hub, you ask? It sources, aggregates, and distributes a wide array of local and regional food products. Food hubs can take on many different forms, from corporation to cooperative. Whichever way they legally and operationally organize, each has an assortment of logistics, regulations, and risks to consider.

Successful food hubs operate with the community in mind; many have a social-based mission. This guide certainly recognizes that. It includes tips on how to customize a service strategy, build in customer incentives, and chose a sale focus. Ultimately, food hubs can have “a tremendous impact on their producer-members by returning a percentage of food dollars spent.”

Read “Running a Food Hub” and grow your agribusiness acumen!

Agricultural Statistics 2014

9780160930393037USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service compiled this “reliable reference book” of data tables on agricultural “supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns.” It’s fifteen chapters of estimates on field crops, livestock, forestry, horticulture, and other subcategories. Foreign trade data is also represented.

Big export staples like corn, cotton, wheat, potatoes, and soybeans have lots of stats on them. So, naturally, they have several data tables in this tome. Not quite the case for pickles, lima beans, inedible tallow, and pink pelts. Their part is small but vital in an industry that contributed $835 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.

To wrap up, here are a few ag stats to impress your friends with:

  • In 2013, the U.S. produced over 97 billion eggs
  • In 2012, milk cows produced over 200 billion pounds of milk
  • In 2013, the value of U.S. cotton production exceeded 5 billion dollars.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Chelsea Milko, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

 

Leave a Comment » | Agriculture, Department of Agriculture | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Government Publications Focus on American Agriculture

April 15, 2015

grange logoApril is National Grange Month, honoring one of the Nation’s oldest and most respected farmers’ organizations. According to its website, “The National Grange, founded in 1867, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, fraternal organization that advocates for rural America and agriculture. With a strong history in grassroots activism, family values and community service, the Grange is part of more than 2,100 hometowns across the United States.” To help recognize the Grange’s contribution to rural America, Government Book talk is featuring the following publications focusing on American agriculture.

Profitable Farms and Woodlands: A Practical Guide in Agroforestry for 001-001-00694-7Landowners, Farmers and Ranchers. This practical handbook on agroforestry is organized in an easy to read format written for underserved and limited resource farmers and woodland owners living in the Southeastern U.S. It depicts step-by-step methods and principles on developing agroforestry practices for farmers and woodland owners for the purpose of enhancing the economic and environmental benefits of their farms and woodlands. Topics on agroforestry practices covered in this publication are Alley Cropping; Forest Farming; Riparian Buffer Strips; Silvopasture; and Windbreaks. This handbook will assist farmers and woodland owners establish, manage and market agroforestry projects that are diverse, integrated, profitable, healthy and sustainable.

001-000-04762-1Agricultural Statistics 2013 Agricultural Statistics is published each year to meet the diverse need for a reliable reference book on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns. Its tables of annual data cover a wide variety of facts in forms suited to most common use. Extensive table data include statistics of the following:
• Statistics of Grain and Feed
• Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Crops, and Honey
• Oilseeds, Fats, and Oils
• Vegetables and Melons
• Hay, Seeds, and Minor Field Crops
• Cattle, Hogs, and Sheep
• Dairy and Poultry
• Insurance, Credit & Cooperatives
• Agricultural Conservation & Forestry
• Consumption & Family Living
• Fertilizers & Pesticides
• Miscellaneous Agricultural Statistics such as Foreign Agricultural Trade Statistics including exports, fisheries and more.

001-000-04759-1Why Would Anyone Cut a Tree Down? This delightful book shows children the life cycle of trees, showing that trees are a renewable resource as their seeds can be planted to make new trees grow. It also discusses the need to remove sick, flammable and other dangerous trees as well as the various uses for wood from cut trees. All of it is so beautifully illustrated in full color that the lessons come alive for adults and children alike.

How can I get these or other agriculture publications?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy the following  publications (with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide) from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore website at http://bookstore.gpo.gov:

Order by Phone: You may also Order print editions by calling our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Trudy Hawkins is Senior Marketing and Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication & Information Sales Division supporting the U.S. Government Online Bookstore (http://bookstore.gpo.gov).

2 Comments | Agriculture, Department of Agriculture | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

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