<p>Seal of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture" class="extiw" title="w:United States Department of Agriculture">United States Department of Agriculture</a>.
</p><p>The USDA seal was created in 1895. It was adapted for use as a general identifier in 1980, but those usages were replaced with the USDA Logo in 1996.  The seal has been withdrawn from use as a departmental identifier, though it is still used on legal materials and other internal uses. 
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The seal is defined as:<blockquote><p>Two and three-eights inches in diameter (azure), a shock of corn (or), upon a base (vert) an American plough proper.  All within a double annulet (argent), outer roped, inner beaded, charged with the inscription: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, and at the base, a scroll bearing the legend: "1862.AGRICULTURE IS THE FOUNDATION OF MANUFACTURE AND COMMERCE. 1889." (or). A diapered background of 44 stars (argent) for the States of the Union.</p></blockquote>
<p>The dates on the scroll represent the year the Department was founded by act of Congress (1862), and the year the Department was made an Executive Office headed by a Secretary of cabinet rank (1889). The 44 stars represent the states in the Union in 1889.
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See <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collect/history/seal.htm">here</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ocio.usda.gov/directives/doc/DR5160-001.htm">here</a> for more information.
U.S. Government.  The original seal was designed by A. H. Baldwin, a USDA artist.
The seal was originally unveiled on June 21, 1895.
<p>Extracted from a PDF version of the [<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.climatescience.gov/infosheets/factsheet3/">http://www.climatescience.gov/infosheets/factsheet3/</a> Overview of the 
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CCSP Strategic Plan] (direct PDF URL <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.climatescience.gov/infosheets/factsheet3/CCSP-3-StratPlanOverview14jan2006.pdf">[1]</a>).