Institutions

United States Department of Agriculture

Also Known As USDA · The People's Department

Citation Formats

General Reference

Agriculture and Farming Atlas. "United States Department of Agriculture." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-agriculture.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/united-states-department-of-agriculture.

APA Style

Agriculture and Farming Atlas. (n.d.). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-agriculture.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/united-states-department-of-agriculture

BibTeX

@misc{agricultureandfarmingatlas-united-states-department-of-agriculture,
  author = {Agriculture and Farming Atlas},
  title = {United States Department of Agriculture},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-agriculture.interactiveatlas.org/institutions/united-states-department-of-agriculture},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Founded by Lincoln in 1862, the same year as the Morrill Act and the Homestead Act, and called by him the people's department when half of Americans farmed. The USDA runs research, extension, crop statistics, food inspection, conservation programs born of the Dust Bowl, and the farm subsidy system, making it the template for national agriculture ministries worldwide.

Facts

Founding Year

1862 1

Headquarters

Washington, D.C., United States 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Agricultural Extension

The US Cooperative Extension System, established by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, is administered through the USDA and land-grant universities.

Source Agricultural Extension (Wikipedia)

Sources

1. United States Department of Agriculture (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationFormation section

Quote, Formation section

Lincoln called it the 'people's department', since over half of the nation, at the time, was directly or indirectly involved in agriculture or agribusiness.

View the Source

Agricultural Extension (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Agricultural ExtensionView the Source

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