What Exactly is the USDA?

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First…shout out to the best mentor an intern could ever have in Jacob Giddens. Not only does this guy know what he’s talking about, he places his knowledge in a easy-to-manage style that I am just soaking up! Now, I have passed by this building many times in the past, but I’ve never once stepped foot into this suite because I had no clue as to what it was for.

But, let’s just say that what they do for Duplin County–and especially Duplin County–is one of the most important jobs for the agriculture industry.

Fun Fact: Duplin County, along with Sampson County, produce the largest amount of agriculture in the entire United States.

Now that you’ve been hit with that fact, this is the mission objective of the USDA-NRCS, which stands for the United States Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources Conservation:

NRCS is an agency committed to “helping people help the land”—our mission is to provide resources to farmers and landowners to aid them with conservation. Ensuring productive lands in harmony with a healthy environment is our priority.

Essentially, the NRCS (which was formerly known as the U.S. Soil Conservation Service) provides farmers, ranchers, and landowners with “financial and technical assistance to voluntarily put conservation on the ground, not only helping the environment but agricultural operations, too.”


So for a county that is so heavily invested in agriculture, this organization is pretty important. Now, the amount of work that goes into this establishment is staggering and must be met with patience, compassion, careful scrutiny, and dedication.

To put it shortly, there is a lot more to agriculture than what meets the eye.