Programs and Services | USDA
Stay Connected   Become a fan on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch USDA videos on YouTube Subscribe to receive e-mail updates View USDA Photos on Flickr Subscribe to RSS Feeds
Stay Connected
USDA Programs and Services
 Broadband

This program is designed to provide loans for funding, on a technology neutral basis, for the costs of construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide broadband service to eligible rural communities.

 Grants and Loans

 Disaster Assistance

Natural disaster is a constant threat to America's farmers and ranchers and rural residents. USDA provides assistance for losses that result from drought, flood, fire, freeze, tornadoes, pest infestation, and other calamities.

 Insurance Programs

To help users better understand crop and livestock insurance, USDA provides critical tools and policy and reinsurance agreement information and details the insurance cycle from the application process to the claims process.

 Restoration and Conservation

Conservation programs within USDA assist owners of America's private land with conserving their soil, water, and other natural resources. Certain programs also provide financial assistance for agricultural producers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and pests.

 Environmental Markets

The Office of Environmental Markets (OEM) supports the Secretary in the development of emerging markets for carbon sequestration, water quality, wetlands, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. OEM was established in response to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, America's Farm Bill.

 Water Resources

 Wildfire Prevention

The Forest Service manages wildland fire to protect human life, welfare, and property. The Agency also manages wildland fire to restore and maintain the health of ecosystems on which Americans depend for clean water, oxygen, carbon sequestration, recreation, forest products, biodiversity, beauty, and other resource benefits.

 SNAP

SNAP helps put food on the table for some 31 million people per month in FY 2009. It provides low-income households with electronic benefits they can use like cash at most grocery stores. SNAP is the cornerstone of the Federal food assistance programs, and provides crucial support to needy households and to those making the transition from welfare to work.

 WIC

WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

 Child Nutrition Programs

USDA announced a proposed rule that would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; and reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals. Implementation of this proposed rule would result in more nutritious school meals and help improve the nutrition and health of children across the country.

 Organic Program

USDA's National Organic Program regulates the standards for any farm, wild crop harvesting, or handling operation that wants to sell an agricultural product as organically produced.

 Food Security

USDA conducts and provides research on food security and hunger in U.S. households and communities. This research facilitates informed public debate regarding food security, and its impact on the well-being of children, adults, families, and communities, as well as its relationship to public policies, public assistance programs, and the economy.

 Importing Goods

While foreign regulatory systems need not be identical to the U.S. system, they must employ equivalent sanitary and health measures that provide the same level of protection achieved domestically for imported goods.

 Exporting Goods

To promote and assist exportation, USDA offers a variety of valuable tools, services, policies and research to assist new and experienced exporters in all the stages necessary for getting their product out to their desired market.

 Economic Research

The Economic Research Service is a primary source of economic information and research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ERS conducts a research program to inform public and private decision making on economic and policy issues involving food, farming, natural resources, and rural development.

 Agricultural Research

Advances in agricultural productivity have led to abundant and affordable food and fiber throughout most of the developed world. The major goals of this ERS research program are to quantify productivity improvements, and the sources of improvement, and to investigate the direction and efficiency of the public and private sectors in enhancing the stock of agricultural knowledge and in developing new technologies.

 Agricultural Statistics

A collection of data, analysis, and statistics from the Economic Research Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and National Agricultural Statistics Service.