Rural Health Index

The Watershed Rehabilitation Program helps project sponsors rehabilitate aging dams that are reaching the end of their design lives. This rehabilitation addresses critical public health and safety concerns. Since 1948, the Natural Resources Conservation Service NRCS has assisted local sponsors in constructing 11,845 dams project dams.

According to a recent survey by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. farmers and ranchers alone sold $7.6 billion in certified organic commodities in 2016. During the same time, there were 14,217 certified organic farms. To sustain this growth, NIFA established programs designed to address critical challenges of the organic industry. These programs cover the entire value-chain of organic products and include both food and non-food products. NIFA supports programs to address critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems through the integration of research, education and extension activities and programs to evaluate both the environmental impacts of organic agriculture and the environmental services provided.

The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program competitive grant programs are authorized under 7 U.S.C. 7517, for fiscal years 2019 through 2023 with mandatory growth in annual funding from $45 million to $56 million to be appropriated over 5 years. The 2018 Farm Bill allows the Secretary to provide funding opportunities to conduct and evaluate projects providing incentives to income-eligible consumers to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables and prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables. By bringing together stakeholders from various parts of the food and healthcare systems, GusNIP projects help foster understanding to improve the health and nutrition status of participating households, facilitate growth in underrepresented communities and geographies, as well as collect and aggregate data to identify and improve best practices on a broad scale.  GusNIP includes three competitive grant programs, which are described briefly below:

In FY 2022, the Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) is expanding upon the FY 2015 national infrastructure established by USDA-NIFA and FDA-CFSAN (National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Competitive Grants Program). The program focuses on the delivery of customized training for owners and operators of small to mid-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. 

Food and Agriculture Service Learning Programs are intended to increase knowledge of agriculture and improve the nutritional health of children, and to bring together stakeholders from the distinct parts of the food system to increase the capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education within host organizations or entities, such as school cafeterias and classrooms, while fostering higher levels of community engagement between farms and school systems. The initiative is part of a broader effort to not only increase access to school meals for low-income children, but also to dramatically improve their quality.

The CPPM program supports projects that will increase food security and respond effectively to other major societal challenges with comprehensive IPM approaches that are economically viable, ecologically prudent, and safe for human health. The CPPM program addresses pest management challenges with new and emerging technologies. The outcomes of the CPPM program are effective, affordable, and environmentally sound IPM practices and strategies supporting more vital communities.

The Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program (CFPCGP) has existed since 1996 as a program to fight food insecurity through developing community food projects that help promote the self-sufficiency of low-income communities. Community Food Projects are designed to increase food security in communities by bringing the whole food system together to assess strengths, establish linkages, and create systems that improve the self-reliance of community members over their food needs.

Join USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for its new virtual Nutrition Security Webinar Series. The series will feature speakers across a range of backgrounds and disciplines as they lead discussions about nutrition security during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the program is to assist Federal, State, and local agencies and tribal governments to protect watersheds from damage caused by erosion, floodwater, and sediment and to conserve and develop water and land resources. Resource concerns addressed by the program include water quality, opportunities for water conservation, wetland and water storage capacity, agricultural drought problems, rural development, municipal and industrial water needs, upstream flood damages, and water needs for fish, wildlife, and forest-based industries. Types of surveys and plans include watershed plans, river basin surveys and studies, flood hazard analyses, and flood plain management assistance. The focus of these plans is to identify solutions that use land treatment and nonstructural measures to solve resource problems.

This program provides for cooperation between the Federal government and the states and their political subdivisions to work together to prevent erosion; floodwater and sediment damage; to further the conservation development, use and disposal of water; and to further the conservation and proper use of land in authorized watersheds. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers financial and technical assistance through this program for the following purposes:

• Erosion and sediment control
• Watershed protection
• Flood prevention
• Water quality Improvements
• Rural, municipal and industrial water supply
• Water management
• Fish and wildlife habitat enhancement
• Hydropower sources