The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the creation of a toll-free hotline for small meat and poultry processors. The hotline, part of the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative, is designed to help these businesses navigate the agency's regulatory requirements.

The Agriculture Department reached a cooperative agreement with the Michigan-based Fair Food Network. The agreement, part of the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative, will help connect small- and mid-sized farms in southeast Michigan to regional urban centers -- particularly Detroit, where there is a dearth of fresh, local food options.

Sixteen organizations were awarded a combined $5 million in grants to promote local food systems, through the Agriculture Department's Community Food Projects program. These grants follow the Oct. 30 announcement that UDSA would award $19 million in grants to research organic agriculture.

The Department of Agriculture hosted its Fall Harvest Festival in Washington, featuring stands from local farmers in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The festival featured demonstrations from the White House People's Garden and provided healthy eating education, from how to determine serving sizes to recipes for fresh vegetables sold at the market.

The USDA launched a new program entitled "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food," as part of an effort to connect people with the origins of their food and encourage the development of local food systems. In the first week, USDA plans to announce initiatives with $65 million in new funding.

"Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local food producers will stimulate economies in rural communities, improve access to healthy, nutritious food for our families and decrease the amount spent of resources to transport our food," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release. He also released a YouTube video, which appears below.

The Department of Agriculture announced $50 million to fund an "Organic Initiative," which will be run by the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The funds, part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, will go to farmers and producers for help in transitioning to organic practices. Specific conservation practices that must be used will vary depending on the recipient's resources. States are required to consider conservation crop rotation, planting cover crops to prevent erosion, and using prescribed grazing to control the harvest of vegetation, among other practices.

Kathleen Merrigan was confirmed as deputy secretary of Agriculture. She was head of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service for two years during the Clinton administration, and as a senior Senate aide two decades ago, she helped write the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

"Sustainable and organic farmers are excited... that someone who has been associated with these issues her whole career is going to be at that level in the department," Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said after her nomination in February.

Accompanied by local schoolchildren, Michelle Obama dug out the beginnings of the first White House vegetable garden since World War II. In announcing her plans for the garden, Obama said that her goals were to encourage healthy eating habits, reduce childhood obesity and get people thinking about community gardens and local produce.

President Obama's budget outline proposes increased funding for the National Organic Program, the agency responsible for the handling, packaging and labeling of organic foods. The draft budget also calls for more enforcement to maintain the credibility of organic labeling, and ups funding for "value-added producers" including organic and free-range farmers.

Asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy of the Senate Agriculture Committee about the need for the Agriculture Department to do more to promote organic food, Tom Vilsack reiterated in his confirmation hearing that America needs to "celebrate and support" organic food as one of a variety of ways that the government can help farmers increase their income.