Agriculture Department | featured news

News of the ammonia-treated additive, formally called lean finely textured beef, set off a reaction by schools and an announcement by the Agriculture Department.

The price of food at home is projected to rise by 4 to 5 percent this year, and another 2 to 3 percent next year, according to the Agriculture Department. That’s adding another financial worry for many people already living with tight budgets thanks to the weak economy and high jobless rate.

Meat giant Cargill is recalling 36 million pounds of turkey after a government hunt for the source of a salmonella outbreak that has killed one person in California and sickened dozens more. The Agriculture Department says it is one of the largest meat recalls ever....

The US government will spend up to $760 million to compensate American Indian farmers who were unfairly denied loans by the Agriculture Department, the Obama administration announced on Tuesday.

U.S. Agriculture Department employees worked full-time at two Iowa egg farms at the center of a salmonella outbreak, but two former workers said they ignored complaints about conditions at one site.

Ousted Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod said Tuesday that she will not return to the department in the new role. "I need to take a break from some of all I've had to deal with in the last few weeks," Sherrod said at a hastily arranged news conference at USDA headquarters. She said she hopes to maintain "some kind of relationship" with the department.

Former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod says she is meeting with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday to discuss ...

Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she will sue a conservative blogger who posted an edited video of her making racially tinged remarks last week. Sherrod was forced to resign last week as director of rural development in Georgia after Andrew Breitbart posted the edited video online. In the full video, Sherrod, who is black, spoke to a local NAACP group about racial reconciliation and overcoming her initial reluctance to help a white farmer.

Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official, also says she believes she deserves a telephone call from President Obama.

The pandemic H1N1 flu virus was confirmed in a sample from a hog exhibited at the Minnesota State Fair, the Agriculture Department said on Monday.