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Thursday, 04 February 2010 16:44 |
Des Moines Register
January 31, 2010
Des Moines Register
TOM VILSACK is secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Contact: agsec@usda.gov
January 31, 2010
www.desmoinesregister.com
After a year as the U.S. secretary of agriculture, I've reached two conclusions: Most Americans do not fully appreciate the work and sacrifice of the farmers and ranchers who produce the food and fiber that keeps all of us alive, and an overhaul of our approach to economic development in rural America is long overdue.
Last year, America lost one of its great heroes when Norman Borlaug passed away. I felt honored to be asked to give one of the eulogies for him at a remembrance held at Texas A&M. My remarks focused on his early life, and how the nature of farming in the early 20th century profoundly influenced him. Borlaug grew up with subsistence farming in America. If crops did not produce, families did not eat. That experience drove him to find ways to increase crop production so hunger could be eradicated.
Appreciate America's farmers
Some do go hungry today in America, but not because farmers and ranchers fail to produce enough. During my lifetime we witnessed a historic increase in agricultural production in this country. Few of us fully appreciate the extent of productivity gains in agriculture, which outstripped the productivity gains in most other sectors of our economy.
Increases in productivity should lead to increases in profit. Unfortunately, for America's farmers and ranchers that rule does not apply. Over the last 40 years, America lost 1 million farmers and ranchers. During that period, income from farming operations declined as a percentage of total farm family income by half. Today, only 11 percent of family farm income comes from farming, which may explain why fewer young people go into farming and why many families rely on off-farm income opportunities to keep their farms.
When was the last time we simply thanked our farmers and ranchers for their contribution to the strongest nation on Earth? Do most of us understand the hard work required to put that pork chop, steak, salad, rice, pasta, or potato on our plate or the fuel in our gas tank?
The struggles of our farm and ranch families mirror the struggles of those who live in rural America. Rural incomes remain substantially lower than incomes earned by those who live in cities - $11,000 per capita less. Rural America continues to age faster than the rest of America. Fewer rural residents complete high school or college than their urban counterparts. Poverty rates in rural America remain much higher than national rates.
Rural America needs to be renewed.
Regional economy key
In searching for answers about how rural America can transform itself into a place of unprecedented prosperity, all of us should resist the easy temptation of looking back to the "good old days." The answers lie in the future, not in the past.
During the past year at USDA, at the instruction of President Obama, we worked on the elements of a new rural economy built on a combination of the successful strategies of today and the compelling opportunities of tomorrow. The framework of the new effort recognizes that the rural economy of tomorrow will be a regional economy. No one community will prosper in isolation.
Investment in growth
Recognizing that successful rural economic development will occur on a regional basis, USDA will help regions prepared to pool their resources and talent with grants to develop comprehensive strategic plans designed to promote real growth. USDA will invest rural development program resources in a coordinated fashion while helping to identify resources in other federal agencies in an integrated effort to advance regional development.
Six approaches will create the foundation for growth and opportunity:
- First, expand exports. Agriculture generates wealth and opportunity for the country through a robust export effort. Agricultural exports represent 9 percent of total American goods exported despite the fact that agriculture represents about 1 percent of total gross domestic product. We enjoy a trade surplus in agriculture, and should do all we can to promote expanded exports.
- Second, promote biofuel and renewable energy production. The president instructed his administration to develop a plan to build a robust biofuel industry and clean energy future for America. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Energy title of the 2008 Farm Bill will provide the resources to carry out these efforts. These investments will lead to higher incomes for farmers and create more jobs in rural America.
- Third, link local farm production to local consumption. Investments in local processing and storage facilities will allow for large scale consumers (e.g. schools, hospitals, small colleges) in rural communities to buy locally produced goods from smaller scale operations. These new and niche markets will leverage the wealth generated from the land, create jobs and repopulate rural communities.
- Fourth, bring broadband to rural America. Access to broadband Internet empowers farmers and ranchers to make real time marketing decisions to improve their bottom line. At the same time, broadband enables small businesses in rural communities to extend markets from local to global. To rapidly build up broadband infrastructure, USDA will commit $2.5 billion in grants and loans through the ARRA to providers of broadband services.
- Fifth, capitalize on outdoor recreation. Rural America is home to many of America's natural wonders. Hunting, fishing, hiking and other outdoor recreational activities in those landscapes represent real economic opportunity. For example, each year there are 175 million visitors to our national forests.
- Sixth, take full advantage of ecosystem markets. Markets that exist for water, wetlands preservation, carbon and habitat enhancements will expand in the future representing new income and investment opportunities for rural America. USDA recently ramped up its Ecosystem Markets Office to assist in helping farmers and investors take full advantage of these opportunities.
As I start my second year as the secretary of agriculture, I am optimistic about the growth of rural America, despite the trends of the past. An appreciation for what we have and an investment in what can be will lead to a rural America that provides safe and abundant food for us and the world, puts America back in control of its energy future, and preserves and conserves our precious natural resources.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201001310405/OPINION01/1310318
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