Talk:United States Department of Agriculture/Archive 1

USDA Reorganization
The USDA was reorganized by the Trump Administration. NRCS, FSA, and RD have been moved to a new group entitled Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC). May look into fixing. Jacobagron

APHIS
According to their homepage APHIS is still with in USDA. No mention of DHS. This is why I reverted last change. Is this incorrect? ike9898 17:57, Jun 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * APHIS lost its border inspectors, including the "Beagle Brigade", to DHS (specifically, to CBP), but the bulk of APHIS employees remain in APHIS, which is part of USDA. Amustard (talk) 05:15, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

POV-Section
I added the tag to the "History" section because of the description of the Great Depression, i.e. "this department was wonderful and did so much great stuff," which reads like an advertisement for food bureaucracies. Paul 02:59, 18 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I think it's less a question of netrality than of poor style. I'd say fix 'er up if you know what you're talking about. [Unsigned comment by User:Btwied 19:27, 15 June 2006]


 * This article in general is not neutral at all. It reads like what you would find on the USDA's website and not like what you would find in an encyclopedia. [Unsigned comment by User:12.35.165.82 11:03, 16 October 2006]

Not very neutral.
The USDA's National Animal Identification System...that section needs to be looked at. [Unsigned comment by User:Adam850 21:17, 1 October 2006]

The accusation on discrimination of African Americans is incendiary and needs a citation to be more credible. [Unsigned comment by 66.149.104.2 13:08, 18 June 2007]

The section regarding "factory farms" should be edited. Nothing about farming is "factory." A factory operates with steady, predicable, inputs and outputs. Nothing about farming has such. It is a farm, maybe large, but not a factory. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.169.182.120 (talk) 02:39, 14 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Factory farms are only mentioned once in the article. What section are you referring to? I added a wikilink to factory farm so that anyone who is unclear about the term can learn how it is defined. Your points may be correct, but just because something is called a "hot dog" doesn't mean it's hot or a dog. Whether it makes sense or not, factory farm is an accepted usage. Bob98133 (talk) 16:49, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Am I (or my computer) crazy?
I've searched and searched the edit article box, but I can't figure out where the gigantic (I'd estimate 10-50,000px) stop hand.svg image is coming from at the bottom of this article. Maybe it's not really there, but I can see it. Maybe I should take a screenshot.... Xaxafrad 02:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Yup, I should've taken a screenshot. I reverted to the previous version, and the hand was gone, so I re-added that contributor's edit manually. It doesn't show up in the history, either. Some kind of weird wiki error, I guess. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Xaxafrad (talk • contribs) 02:21, 5 December 2006 (UTC).

Rural Development
I tried to ad a little bit of information about Rural Development, however I am not all that familiar with the organization. Most of what I put up was taken from their web site "about us" section. Any updates would be helpful. Thetippys 18:02, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

place coordinates
adding a link to "coordinates" of place using wikimapia so people can know where it is. Any other links to other similar sites welcome. Logictheo 08:23, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I've moved it to the External Links section. Melchoir 07:14, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

The Pigford Case
There is a comment in the article with no citation concerning discrimination by the FSA (part of the USDA) against African-American farmers. It appears that this is lesser known (I had never heard of it), but is at least partially true. However, Googling for some information results in various propaganda sites on both sides and some law documentation I don't fully understand. Perhaps someone with more knowledge in this area than I could help in adding information to the appropriate articles. --Southpaw018 12:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The Pigford Case is quite well documented. Perhaps somebody with a law background would be the best person to address this. Amustard (talk) 05:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

The Pigford article states "Allegations have been made" but the contributor doesn't provide any sources.

The referenced Pigford case is fairly well documented on Wikiepdia, Pigford v. Glickman.

Of all the work the USDA has done over the years, this Wikipage has been compromised by political crap. I am not saying that Pigford is political or crap, some contributors edited this page for political crap.

Sorry folks, I did not intend to offend.

The One and Only Worldwise Dave Shaver 09:39, 21 July 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaxdave (talk • contribs)

to mention its pictures
they take the best public domain pictures, (listed at http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?offset=&limit=50&target=Template%3APD-USGov-USDA-ARS&title=Special%3AWhatlinkshere&namespace=6), probably it doesn't matter. -- Andersmusician  VOTE  02:49, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Moved section here
The section Energy efficiency, renewable energy and global warming has been moved here as it seemed like a news report. If someone's able to rewrite it in a way that doesn't seem like news or "recentism", please do:

"The USDA announced on August 27, 2008 that 639 farms and rural businesses in 43 states and the Virgin Islands have been selected to receive $35 million in grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements. While many of the awards typically go towards more energy-efficient grain dryers, the USDA notes that a farm in Iowa will use its grant to replace a propane heating system with a geothermal heating system, while a firm in Louisiana will purchase energy-efficient electric motors for an irrigation well.[5]

The grants and loans are awarded through the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program of the USDA Rural Development office. The program was created by Section 9006 of the 2002 Farm Bill and will be expanded next year under the 2008 Farm Bill.[5]"

One reference was used in this section:

External Link Suggestion
There is currently a Search by Nutrient and Search by Food features on the External Links for this page. I suggested a Search by Health Condition (and offered a link https://www.personalremedies.com/PS.asp which is a free site) but someone removed it. Frankly Search by Health Condition is more important than the other two because more people are concerned about what to eat for their chronic condition(s) than they are just interested in learning about nutrients or nutrient contents of a food item.

I am new to editing this site and perhaps I am missing something. Can someone explain to me why my suggestion was ignored? Thanks.Spainbeach (talk) 00:30, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Sherrod
Do we need such a long section for a non-controversy over a minor employee? Sceptre (talk) 01:25, 21 July 2010 (UTC)


 * In the long run ... no, certainly not.
 * What happened is that user:Ronnotel created Shirley Sherrod as a redirect and pointed it here. Since then, someone has created Resignation of Shirley Sherrod as an article, which is now up for deletion.
 * It's not yet clear what will happen to Ms Sherrod (the USDA may reemploy her — see eg. here). It's impossible to predict how much Wikipedia should cover this incident, let alone which article that coverage should be in. So I suggest waiting a few weeks before making a decision. Cheers, CWC 12:23, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I created the redirect because it was pretty clear that "Shirley Sherrod" was becoming a relevant search term and there needed to be some place to direct the traffic. I didn't think a separate article was warranted due to notability so I looked for anywhere were some content has already been created. It came down to a choice between Andrew Breitbart and this page - this page seemed more apt. If someone wants to change the redirect then by all means. Ronnotel (talk) 15:27, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I just noticed that Resignation of Shirley Sherrod has been created - although is has also been nominated for deletion. I'll redirect Shirley Sherrod to that page for now. Ronnotel (talk) 15:55, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Good grief ... over half of the prose in this article is devoted to Sherrod. --B (talk) 02:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I have taken a stab at a trim ... I took out the bulk of it and left the introduction and a statement that the administration apologized to her and offered her another job. --B (talk) 02:18, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Looks very good to me. Thanks, B.
 * Also, thanks to Ronnotel for a good job with that redirect. Cheers, CWC 15:27, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Oops..saw a tag, and noticed the problem and removed it. If you guys disagree, let me know. Griffinofwales (talk) Simple English Wikipedia - Come and join! 19:36, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Shirley Sherrod
Under this title of USDA, why is there a section devoted to Shirley Sherrod?

I hope the Wikies delete this self-serving entry because it is not relevant to the main topic of USDA.

I don't know if she has her own entry the the Wiki, but that is where her commentary should be.

- Most contributors to Wiki understand that commentary should be posted on Discussion page and most Wiki users understand, to alter the main page is a serious issue.

If I didn't respect Wikipedia, I could go to any page and alter it.

I don't care much for Obama, I could go to the page that references him and alter it. BUT I DON'T because I respect Wikipedia.

Dear wiki-people, please correct the USDA title page and delete that section. IF Shirley Sherrod wants to "comment" on any issue, it should be on the Discussion page.

The title page is, "just the facts, ma'am"

Thanks Wiki people.

The One and Only Worldwise Dave Shaver 09:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaxdave (talk • contribs)

It's clearly a mistake to have so much information about this one incident in the article. 90% or more of it should be moved to the incident's own Wiki page. 129.120.4.2 (talk) 20:06, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Should it be mentioned that Jamie Oliver criticised the methods the USDA used to rate the nutritional value of food on his TV series; e.g. considering fries to be nutritionally equivalent to a fresh green vegetable and sugary flavoured milk drinks to be healthy, or is this a bit too trivial for an encyclopaedic article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.104.82.246 (talk) 16:35, 16 September 2010 (UTC) -- No, it's not too trival. Jamie Oliver is a well-respected public figure. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.147.120 (talk) 08:05, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

Extreme weather resource
Weather Extremes Causing More Variable USDA Data, Analysts Say by Jeff Wilson Bloomberg.com Dec 6, 2011 12:00 AM ET, excerpt ... 99.181.128.45 (talk) 09:21, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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Assessment comment
Substituted at 21:35, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

Pigford v. Glickman
The section "reopening of case" should be moved to Pigford v. Glickman, which has its own article. It's far too detailed to remain here. Thank you for your input. Magnolia677 (talk) 23:32, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Organization and Budget
The budget numbers in the table under this section appear to not match the numbers in the cited source (http://www.obpa.usda.gov/budsum/FY15budsum.pdf, for example at pages 106-109) (and the numbers do not add up to the total given at the bottom of the table either). Clarification and/or correction may be required — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.133.30.246 (talk) 14:08, 19 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Employment Data
The number of employees is from FY 2007, with no source. The OPM Federal Employment Reports shows 94,000 as FY2014 figure. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/historical-tables/executive-branch-civilian-employment-since-1940/ Don't know how to edit an infobox or might try to do it myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bharshaw (talk • contribs) 21:56, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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under ground water bunker all over the world.
My name is, Cheryl Brown. and i have a very good ideal. If we have underground water bunkers to preserve water all over the world, we, would have a very good chance of essential food abundant all over the world for a long time, and it would not flood cities, or countries. It is above ground, but goes back under ground back to the sea, and to reach, all regions, of the world. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:8803:E800:DFB0:ECE8:62A7:8A6B:D716 (talk) 00:44, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

The price of milk
I was surprised that milk jumped from $2.50 to $4.00, locally.

I learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets the minimum price of milk.

K-EYE: Milk Prices Could Hit Record Highs helped me to understand how this works.

Other people might be interested as well. [Unsigned comment by User:216.254.10.130 04:20, 15 May 2004]
 * Better link, yours is broken.--Canoe1967 (talk) 09:47, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yours is old. Cheapest since 2009! Locally to someone. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:09, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, the post you're replying to is from 3 years ago... - the WOLF  child  04:20, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Which is recent, next to nine. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:55, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * To you maybe. To others, it's... 3 years. (and for links on the internet, it's a eternity) - the WOLF  child  22:42, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * In case that's confusing. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:02, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Nope, not confusing at all. I didn't look at it. (or the next one) - the WOLF  child  22:44, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * That's often the best way forward. Eyes on the prize, not the boobs! InedibleHulk (talk) 23:05, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * The Fonterra forecast this January was a nine-year low and Saputo Inc. says "there's too much milk in the system". China seems to be tiring of drinking the stuff. Not sure what it all means, but it definitely seems to go beyond the USDA. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:18, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Bureau of Home Economics
What about it? Is there enough for a section, or a standalone article? Eleanor Roosevelt seemed to get a kick out of it, and figured maybe other people would, too. That was 77 years ago, but it's maybe not too late. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:06, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. Magnolia677 (talk) 03:09, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * It used to be a thing. I'm suggesting someone with knowledge and time help Wikipedia readers remember it. This seemed like the place to start. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:18, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * There seem to be enough reliable sources for a stand-alone article. Sounds interesting.  Magnolia677 (talk) 09:55, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Why is the relocation of the USDA left unmentioned in the article?
Cf. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2021/02/after-the-relocation-gutted-its-workforces-usda-research-agencies-struggle-to-rebuild/. 2601:200:C000:1A0:38A9:5C77:5F70:C4E9 (talk) 15:45, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Environmental Justice initiatives
I have added a section on USDA environmental justice initiatives. This material was copied from Environmental justice. The original material included in that article was much longer, and I cut about 80% of it out, because it was imbalanced for an article on global environmental justice. If anyone is interested in reviewing the material that I have cut, it may be found in this version of the edit history for that page. It's possible that the section in the EJ article should be a transclusion from this page. Larataguera (talk) 13:04, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 August 2021 and 9 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sparrow789120.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 08:40, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Tech Writing for Agriculture
— Assignment last updated by Jhjaime (talk) 22:13, 21 March 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Tech Writing for Agriculture
— Assignment last updated by Jvillicana18 (talk) 23:25, 25 April 2023 (UTC)


 * The article states that the USDA was established through the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. While the date is cited is correct (May 15, 1862), the piece of legislation creating the USDA was the Organic Act of 1862(https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CDOC-105sdoc24/html/ch2.html). 2600:4040:24D5:C600:19CE:8C0E:EC3A:D177 (talk) 01:42, 3 May 2023 (UTC)