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About the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agencies

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), also known as the Agriculture Department, is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, agriculture, forestry, and food. It aims to meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to assure food safety, protect natural resources, foster rural communities and end hunger in the United States and internationally.

A basic history of the USDA is available on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture

The University of Florida Libraries identified the 21 agencies below as collections for which strong holdings already existed at UF or because of local importance of the topic. For some of the agencies, in collaboration with the Gainesville office of the Division of Plant Industry allowed for greater representation and preservation of rare and fragile materials.