Somewhere between 50 to 60 percent of the food you eat has been touched by immigrant hands, and it is fair to say some of them are not here as they should be here. But if you didn't have these folks, you would be spending a lot more - three, four or five times more - for food, or we would have to import food and have all the food security risks.

In the past 40 years, the United States lost more than a million farmers and ranchers. Many of our farmers are aging. Today, only nine percent of family farm income comes from farming, and more and more of our farmers are looking elsewhere for their primary source of income.

Local and regional food systems are about opportunity.

The future of healthcare security should include flexibility from the federal government to allow us to serve the state's most vulnerable citizens.

In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.

Over the past two years, the Obama Administration and USDA have worked to build a foundation for sustainable economic growth in rural America. At the center of our vision is an effort to increase domestic production and use of renewable energy.

The food pyramid is very complicated. It doesn't give you as much info in a quick glance as the plate does.