tom vilsack

The USDA is rocking its comfortable relationship with some of its biggest constituents -- the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, for one -- with its announcement that nutritional labeling will be required beginning Jan. 1, 2012. The new labels will detail the number of calories and the grams...

Hoping to stop more small ranches from failing, the Obama administration has proposed a new antitrust rule. But ranchers are divided about whether it will help or hurt them. At a workshop Friday, some argued the rule could end up reducing their earnings.

Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department employee who lost her job after a conservative website painted her as a racist, is planning a lawsuit in what could be a landmark case for the blogosphere.

As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, the federal government is pouring a bit more money into alternative energy sources with a grant to groups working on turning algae into a commercially viable fuel.

In the future, America will harness cow farts to curb pollution and power the grid. What? It sounds like a joke, but it's actually a real promise. By 2020, dairy industry emissions will be reduced by 25%, largely by persuading dairy farmers to capture methane gas, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom...

Blame Tom Vilsack's grandchild, blame Sasha and Malia Obama, blame 30 million American children. Blame them for this: food politics are changing mightily, and the Secretary of Agriculture is out to prove he's no longer a shill for Monsanto. Call him a convert to the ways of Michael Pollan and Alice...