The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently launched a new initiative, 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,' to reconnect the people who purchase and prepare foods (consumers) with the farmers who produce it. With the vast majority of Americans living in suburban and metropolitan areas, so few people know how their food is produced and where it comes from - before the grocery store!

With this new initiative, three online tools were released by the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion:

1. Growing a Healthier You: Nutrition From the Farm to the Table. This web page provides facts about specific fruits, vegetables, and other foods as well as recipes, menus, and food safety tips. Users can also search the farmers market database to find locally-grown produce.

2. MyFood-a-pedia. With this tool, users can quickly access nutrition information for over 1,000 foods.  Enter a food you've eaten to find out how many ounce- or cup-equivalents from each of the food groups you consumed, as well as total calories and "extra" calories from solid fats, added sugars, and alcohol. To find out how much, total, from each food group you should eat each day for health and weight maintenance you can use the MyPyramid Plan tool.

3. 10 Tip Series. Here you'll find easy-to-follow, printable tip sheets on important topics like, 'Cutting Back on Salt and Sodium' and 'Being a Healthy Role Model for Children.'

The USDA hopes that these tools, along with others that come out of the initiative will get more people talking about food, where it comes from, and how to make healthy choices.