Prospering in rural America: rural development issues in spotlight at outlook forum

Rural Cooperatives, March-April, 2006 by Dan Campbell

Every winter, USDA holds a little get-together for more than 1,200 national and international farm leaders at an event called the Agricultural Outlook Forum.

The two-day forum has grown into a world-class conference under the guidance of USDA2s World Economic Outlook Board. Attendees get the inside track on what USDA and its invited guest speakers see as the shape of things to come on numerous fronts: crop and livestock markets, trade, technology, nutrition, food safety, and security, farm policy and legislation, among many other topics that determine the state of the nation's $260 billion agricultural industry.

But this year the program took on a distinctly new twist, with more general rural development issues than ever in the spotlight before a record crowd of more than 1,600. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns devoted a much of his keynote address to the impact USDA Rural Development programs are having on the rural economy. One of the five conference "workshop tracks" was devoted to rural development, with sessions ranging from the impact of e-commerce on rural communities to finding the next generation of farmers and skilled rural workers.

Rural economy evolving

Johanns noted that just 160,000 of the nation's 2 million farmers, who work 33 percent of our farmland, are responsible for 75 percent of U.S. farm receipts. In 1987, it took 295,000 farmers to account for that much of the nation's crop and livestock production. That means 92 percent of ag producers, working two-thirds of U.S. farmland, rely heavily on off-farm income.

"They choose to carry on the great American tradition of agriculture, but they do not depend on it as the sole source of income or, in many cases, even as their primary source of income," Johanns said. "We must provide greater economic opportunity for people to choose a rural quality of life, a lifestyle that upholds the values and principles upon which this great nation was truly built."

This trend is one reason why public testimony at the Farm Bill listening sessions around the nation in recent months has been so unanimously supportive of USDA Rural Development programs, Johanns noted. USDA hosted 52 listening forums, of which more than 20 were conducted by Johanns himself. The Secretary is well known as an intense listener who takes notes during most meetings. He recalled some of the key comments he heard regarding Rural Development programs:

* In Missouri, a producer told Johanns: "These Rural Development programs are what is keeping the heart-blood of the nation's business going and keeping us in a global economy and part of the edge of innovation."

* In Oklahoma, a man said, "100 rural water districts, small communities and towns [in the state] benefit from your programs. We were able to go out and train operators and bookkeepers and all sorts of things to upgrade the living standards of our rural population."

* In Nebraska, a female producer said of the Value Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program: "Those grants have led to the development of a very successful ethanol plant.... I encourage you to keep that program up and to expand it, if you can."

* A Minnesota resident said: "About three years ago, Sleepy Eye Medical Center took on a building expansion. We built a new clinic, a new emergency room and a new radiology addition. To help make this project a reality we obtained a $4.5 million, low-interest loan from USDA Rural Development. We created new jobs and increased the quality of our health care. We're proud of our facility."

* In Florida, there was praise for the agency's hurricane relief efforts, with one woman saying: "Equally important is the need to maintain a rental assistance program, which is currently assisting approximately 10,000 hurricane evacuees as well as tens of thousands of rural citizens on a regular basis."

Johanns said the USDA Rural Development hurricane-relief team was one of the first on the scene "in the trenches, helping people find shelter." He noted that Rural Development has invested $239 million in housing, economic and community development recovery, and rebuilding efforts to "help rural families put their lives back together and their communities back together. We helped to place more than 10,000 evacuees in 45 states and helped 22,000 families literally pay the mortgage."

Market-driven strategy

The featured panel discussion during the opening plenary session was titled: "Rural America's New Economic Frontier." During it, Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr said that sustainable market development must be market driven, not program dependent. He said he sees USDA Rural Development's primary role being that of an investment banker and an "enabler" for rural America, rather than a central planner or lender of last resort.

What rural America most needs, Dorr stressed, is "viable businesses, self-sustaining communities and young families eager to build a future." This job, he said, begins with identifying opportunities.

Dorr said he sees three primary areas of opportunity for the future of rural America: