rural development

Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia’s 6^th Congressional District hosted an Agriculture Conference at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton on Tuesday August 24^th. The Conference covered many regional and local agricultural issues and concerns to Virginia farmers and those interested in farm policy.

Photos by: Steve Ritter, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

Tanner King spends Mondays at the Caldwell Livestock Auction in Idaho, decked out in a dark blue hoody sweatshirt and black cowboy hat, blending in with the other bidders. The young rancher might look as though he’s new to shaving but at buying cattle he’s an old hand.

Michigan has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs over the last few years, so it’s always nice to celebrate an occasion when we add jobs to this sector.

Earlier this week, USDA Rural Development State Director for Michigan James J. Turner announced two guaranteed loans totaling $7,785,000 that will enable Skilled Manufacturing, Inc., a Traverse City manufacturing firm to hire 75 new workers. 

Hardy Telecommunications, Inc., a nonprofit rural telephone cooperative, was recently awarded a $9,494,483 loan and a $22,153,791 grant through USDA Rural Development’s Telecommunications program.  This funding was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act).

Several Rural Development funded project sites in were visited by officials from Washington, D.C. in Texas recently to highlighted USDA’s commitment to strengthening rural communities.  

Earlier this month, USDA Rural Development Area Director Lyndon Nichols, Helen Rush-Lloyd, Constituent Services Director from U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney’s office, and I delivered 80lbs of donations to a local Gloucester, Mass. food pantry named "The Open Door." This food pantry has a slogan "Feeding People. Changing Lives."

Earlier today at the New Mexico Broadband and Smart Grid Summit in Moriarty, I had the opportunity to tell policymakers, issue experts and industry leaders about Rural Utilities programs (RUS) that are contributing to creating economic opportunity and increasing energy independence through broadband and smart grid deployment.  

Others speaking at the event included: National Telecommunications and Information Administration Deputy Administrator Anna Gomez, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and Federal Smart Grid Task Force Director Eric Lightner.   Together and with participants at the event, we opened a dialogue to help inform on future policy decisions regarding these important issues and the challenges we face in meeting them.

Now, for the latest on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funding Raleigh County Public Library was awarded through the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities program to obtain a new bookmobile.

The Volunteer Fire Department in Webster Springs, West Virginia recently used USDA Rural Development funds to purchase a 12-lead cardiac monitor and a thermal imaging camera.

Would you leave corporate America to work for a non-profit?  Jim Hires did when he became the Executive Director of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank.  How did I meet him?  We met when I accompanied Illinois Rural Development State Director Colleen Callahan to drop off the state office’s donation to the food bank.  And why were we there?  To support the Feds, Farmers and Friends Feed Families food drive, of course!