Two Paths for Rural America

Two Paths for Rural America

By John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

“Rural economic development isn’t like in the big cities; we’re never going to get some Fortune 500 company to build a plant in our town. That’s OK, but we need to get behind the little guys with the family owned businesses. They want to live here and they work hard to figure out how to make it work.”

So I was told by a farmer at the Center for Rural Affairs’ Annual Gathering in Kearney, Nebraska. And he’s right.

Congress must invest in rural America and focus the 2007 Farm Bill Rural Development Title on entrepreneurial development; rural asset-building; agricultural entrepreneurship; and beginning farmers and ranchers.

Economic development based on industrial recruitment simply does not work in rural communities. But rural entrepreneurship does work. In the rural Great Plains, nearly 70 percent of job growth in the 1990s came from small businesses and microenterprises.

Chronic economic decline and depopulation in rural places is not some natural phenomenon, guided by an invisible hand of economic fate. There is another path.

Giving rural communities the tools to create their own opportunities is the best way, perhaps the only way, to address deep-rooted poverty in many rural places and the growing economic disparity between cities and rural communities.

Robert Frost said, “Two paths diverged in a wood, and I, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Two paths are diverging in rural America, I suggest we heed Robert Frost and take the road less traveled.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Rural Development and the 2007 Farm Bill

Rural Development and the 2007 Farm Bill

by Jon Bailey, Center for Rural Affairs, jonb@cfra.org

The Rural Development Title of the 2007 Farm Bill should be based upon and should focus on two themes: entrepreneurial development in rural areas and strategies to build assets and wealth for rural people and in rural communities. Both strategies address the persistent, deep-rooted poverty present in many rural parts of the nation. Both strategies address the growing economic disparity between rural and urban areas of the nation. And both strategies address the issues of how to repopulate rural areas and how to ensure the long-term future of rural America.

There is a developing broad agreement among researchers, policy advocates and others that the traditional economic development models of industrial and business recruitment simply do not meet the needs of rural communities. Entrepreneurship has been lifted up as an economic development model that will better serve rural people and rural places.

For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City states that, “Rural policymakers, who once followed traditional strategies of recruiting manufacturers that export low-value products, have realized that entrepreneurs can generate new economic value for their communities.

Entrepreneurs add jobs, raise incomes, create wealth, improve the quality of life of citizens and help rural communities operate in the global economy.” Federal rural policy must begin to recognize the importance of entrepreneurship as a rural development strategy and provide the resources necessary for rural people and rural communities to leverage the spirit, creativity, and opportunities entrepreneurship creates.

Asset- and wealth-building strategies are equally important. Greater income alone cannot lead to economic well-being for individuals and families; asset- and wealth-building through home ownership, business ownership or enhanced education lead to important long-term psychological and social effects that cannot be achieved by simply increasing income.

While income is an important factor, income can be achieved nearly anywhere in varying degrees. Assets like businesses and houses bond one to a place and help to build sustainable communities. A commitment to rural asset- and wealth-building strategies can lead to a stronger individuals, families, and communities.

Agriculturally-based entrepreneurship and innovation must also continue to play a vital role in rural development policy. Agriculturally-based entrepreneurship can contribute to the creation of jobs and businesses in rural communities and to the alleviation of poverty in the same communities.

Programs that promote a new generation of farmers and ranchers and which provide incentives for entry into agriculture also benefit the development of rural communities and their institutions. Beginning farmer and rancher programs also provide opportunities for the advancement of agriculturally-based enterprises among a new generation of rural entrepreneurs.

We propose the following for the 2007 Farm Bill Rural Development Title:

Small Business and Entrepreneurial Development

Many rural communities have self-employment and small business ownership rates many times greater than urban areas. Small businesses are also the job creators in much of rural America. In the Great Plains region, for example, nearly 70 percent of job growth in the 1990s came from non-farm proprietorships. To allow for continued creation and expansion of rural businesses and employment opportunities, resources to rural small business development must be enhanced.

Rural Asset- and Wealth-Building

Asset- and wealth-building strategies will allow rural people to undertake activities that have both individual and community benefits. Individuals and families build an asset base that lifts the veil of poverty and dependence on low-wage work. Communities become stronger and more viable as opportunities and ownership are expanded to a wider group of people. The issues of depopulation, poverty, and low-wage employment facing many rural communities are largely a function of a lack of opportunity in those communities. In order to create a future for those communities and their residents, a commitment must be made to enhancing opportunity through the building of assets and wealth.

Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Many farmers and ranchers are pursuing new consumer driven markets for agricultural products, thus creating enhanced economic opportunities in rural communities. By providing resources to farmers and ranchers to supply those markets, issues of agricultural profitability, economic decline, and poverty alleviation in rural communities can be addressed. The 2007 Farm Bill can address these issues and promote agricultural entrepreneurship and innovation by reauthorizing and reforming the Value-Added Producer Grant Program and by providing other means to promote and reward agricultural innovation.

Beginning Farmers and Ranchers

The future of agriculture depends on the ability of new family farmers and ranchers to enter agriculture. Providing opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers is also important for rural communities – the viability of rural businesses, schools, and other community institutions are all dependent in part on the existence of new agriculturalists on the land. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program can play an important role in addressing critical issues facing new farmers and ranchers. Extension of other 2002 Farm Bill programs and modifications in tax law can also provide opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Foreign Company to Purchase Iowa Ethanol Plant

First Iowa ethanol plant to be purchased by a foreign company

The Midwest Grain Processors ethanol plant in Lakota could be the first farmer owned Iowa plant to be sold to a foreign firm. Chris Peterson, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, has concerns about the loss of local control of Iowa's growing ethanol industry.

For the first time, an Iowa ethanol plan could be purchased by a foreign company. Global ethanol of Australia has offered to buy a controlling interest in Midwest Grain Processors in Lakota. It was the state’s first and largest farmer owned ethanol plant. Chris Petersen, President of Iowa Farmers Union, has concerns about the loss of local control and what it means for national security.

"We can not be undermined in things that are of security interests in the country including energy, the ports. I believe there should be restrictions placed on it and it's very clear why."

Petersen is urging lawmakers to look at restricting foreign ownership of Iowa fuel producing plants. He says farmer owned plants help keep money spent on energy in Iowa.

“If we sell everything off, yeah they’ll be showing some short-term gains and profits, but for the long-term, contributing back to the economy, I believe local ownership is key.”

As profits of Iowa’s ethanol operations increase, investors both in the United States and overseas are showing interest in buying plants. Members of the cooperative that own the Lakota ethanol plant will have to approve the deal, and balloting on the question will probably be held next month.

Chris Peterson can be reached at 641-357-4090.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Preserving Farmland

Preserving Farmland

By Lynn R. Miller
Small Farmers Journal (Summer, volume 29, #3)

Why on earth do we find ourselves needing to defend the concept that farmland is fragile and valuable? If our food does not come from here – you’re here, my here, every here – we are vulnerable. If our food always comes from there, somewhere over there, somewhere eels, somewhere we have no influence over, we are vulnerable.

We trade off our farmlands at our own peril. When we scrap off the invaluable top soil to make room for concrete pads and asphalt and buildings, as we’ve done at increasing rates for decades, we destroy cubic tons of our capacity to grow food, of our capacity to sustain life. We trade life for a convenient place to put a building or a parking lot. We should be putting our buildings and parking lots in those areas of the planet which have less or no capacity to sustain life. We should have reverence for that which sustains life. Our farmland should be a sacred preserve. No thing should rank above saving farm land, nothing.

Over the years we have been involved in a variety of civic efforts to define and protect farmland from development. Early on I felt a disconnection between those who would protect “open spaces” at all costs and those who wanted to protect “farmland.” I have returned to areas of Lane County, Oregon and seen what has become of large tracts of land “we” successfully protected from development thirty years ago. Without exception they are developed now into housing tracts and shopping centers and industrial parks. Our efforts only succeeded in holding off the development until the pressure of land values and encroachment drew those “open spaces” into the ‘realm of the inevitable’. No effort in those doings had been made to identify the need s and aspirations of people who might actually want to farm the lands we wished to protect.

Consciously or otherwise, each of us holds within a priority or set of priorities which govern us and guide our choices in living. We must argue that those priorities cannot place money or law or leisure or power or fame above life. Our first priorities must always be about a reverence for the sustaining, fertile, balance, lively fabric of life, for the web of life, for the art and craft of life. That web of life does not exist for humans without our thin and vanishing layer of farmland. If we revere life, and we must, then it follows that farmland must be held in the same reverence.

In order to protect farmland you must first value farming and farmers. To set farmland aside an say ‘these are protected – we will not develop here’, without making it possible for the land to be farmed, is almost a guarantee that at some point his unused set-aside land will be developed. Every day logical arguments are made by expanding communities that nearby open spaces are valuable to the growth of that community. Open spaces with no designated or obvious use attributed to them other than that they be ‘open spaces’ are the first to fall to the planner’s gavel. So-called expert, sometimes of dubious distinction, are called before local governance to give clear and simple evidence that this open space can or cannot be economically viable as farmland.

“Yes, you might be able to grow crops here, but who would choose to farm this close to neighborhoods, and anyway this tract of land is worth far more to the town for a sewage treatment plant, industrial park, school, shopping center and housing than to grow a truck load of cabbages.” Seldom does anyone stand to speak in defense of farmland.

Where will the food come from to feed these expanding communities? From Mexico? From China? From Africa? From Europe? We have forgotten to ask. Most of us want to believe that there are intelligent people in government and industry who will not allow us to go without food. That these critical answers are being taken care of for us, every day and every way. If this were true then we would not be losing one child every 36 seconds to death by starvation all around the planet. It hasn’t hit North American yet; we are protected by our fragile credit/debit society. But at the rate we have sold off our capacity to produce food it will hit here, and sooner rather than later. We are paving over our farmlands and we are neglecting our farmers.

We need farmland upon which to grow food. And we need farming and farming knowledge in order to get the job done. Our farmland must be a sacred preserve. Our farms and our farming knowledge should also be a scare preserve.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Rural Entrepreneurship Crucial

Entrepreneurship Crucial for Rural Nebraska

By Elisha Greeley Smith

In the last ten years, half of all the jobs created in this country were created in firms with five or fewer employees. These firms, microenterprises, have been the real engine of economic growth in America. And nowhere is that more true than in rural communities.

Too often, federal and state governments have not recognized the importance of microenterprise development as an economic development tool, especially for rural communities. However, progress has been made in Nebraska in recent years.

In 2005, working with rural Nebraska citizens and communities, the Rural Development Commission and key leaders, we convinced the Legislature to double the funding for small business development; establish entrepreneurial development grants for rural communities; and extend tax incentives to the smallest businesses. Our Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP) helped over 1000 rural small businesses with loans, technical assistance or training.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) and Citigroup also recognize the importance of microenterprise development in rural America. That’s why, for the second year in a row, they have selected the Center for Rural Affairs’ Women’s Business Center as one of 15 local partners throughout the country. Through this program, REAP will provide cash equity awards from $500 to $2500 to women microentrepreneurs in rural Nebraska communities. This outstanding program is designed to provide low and moderate income women microentrepreneurs the opportunity to achieve greater business success as well as financial freedom and self sufficiency by providing cash awards that will have a significant impact on the development of their business and on their communities.

post a question or comment here, or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Center for Rural Affairs - Annual Gathering

Center for Rural Affairs Annual Gathering

at University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska

Lyons - The Center for Rural Affairs will hold its Annual Gathering on Saturday, February 25, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the University of Nebraska - Kearney, 1013 West 27th Street, Kearney, Nebraska. We recommend parking in the lot east of the student union (Lot 3).

The Nebraskan Student Union is three floors. Registration will take place in the atrium at the southern entrance on the main floor. Nearly all the other activities take place on the second floor adjacent to the large Ponderosa meeting room. The exception is the teach-ins, which will use rooms on all three floors. Check the program on the day of the event to locate teach-in sessions.

The meeting has 14 teach-in sessions. In these informal, small group sessions, participants learn about contemporary rural issues and the Center’s perspective on them.

Following lunch Chuck Hassebrook, a noted authority on farm and rural issues, will keynote with “The State of Rural America”. Hassebrook is the Center’s Executive Director and a regent of the University of Nebraska.

A Gubernatorial Candidate Forum featuring Congressman Tom Osborne, Dave Nabity, and David Hahn will be held in the afternoon, co-hosted by Nebraska Educational Television and Radio. Following the forum participants will be able to meet the candidates while enjoying refreshments before departing for the day.

There will also be a Small Business Fair to shop and browse until early afternoon. The meeting itself is free; there is a charge for lunch and refreshments of $10.00 per person (first-come, first serve basis for lunch tickets).

You can find more information on Kearney, including area accommodations and maps, at the Kearney Visitor’s Bureau, 800-652-9435 or http://www.visitkearney.org.

post a question or comment here or contact, John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

USDA and Livestock Market Competition - Pretense and Deception

Last month, an audit of the Packers and Stockyards Administration revealed that they have utterly failed to enforce the very law that gives the agency a reason to exist.

The Packers and Stockyards Administration has become anything but an enforcer of competition in livestock markets – robbing farmers and ranchers of the best assurance they have that livestock markets will be fair, open and competitive.

Senior officials in the Packers and Stockyards Administration blocked investigations from being referred to USDA lawyers or the Justice Department and agency employees were instructed to create the appearance of enforcement activity by recording everything from routine correspondence and review of public data as “investigations.” Over 1,800 so-called “investigations” were documented between 1999 and 2005, but according to the Inspector General’s audit, 1,739 of those so-called investigations could not be traced to a specific complaint, producer, packer or other details that a true investigation would contain.

The Packers and Stockyards Administration perpetrated a lie, and disillusioned farmers and ranchers in the process. It is wrong for government to turn a blind eye to citizens’ concerns. It is worse when government tells citizens that their concerns are valid and, through pretense and deception, leads them to believe that their concerns are being addressed when they are not.

USDA has proven, again, that they cannot be trusted to use the considerable authority vested in the Packers and Stockyards Act to breathe life back into American livestock markets. Surely they will claim that new leadership at Packers and Stockyards, including the new Administrator James Link, will fix the problem. But they will not, and farmers, ranchers and rural communities will continue to pay the price.

Repeated calls for competition reforms from farmers and ranchers as well as the Commission on Small Farms, General Accounting Office and Inspector General have fallen on deaf ears at USDA.

That is why Congress must act to define the rules of livestock market competition and provide clear direction for USDA’s enforcement. Congress should move forward with reform now and prepare for a larger debate over a comprehensive competition title in the 2007 farm bill. As this newsletter is written, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and a bipartisan team of Senators are preparing to introduce a comprehensive package of livestock market competition reforms. If Congress acts boldly on behalf of livestock market competition, farmers, ranchers and rural citizens will stand with them.

for more information on agricultural market concentration,
see - http://www.cfra.org/pdf/CommStaffConcentrationPaper.pdf

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Competitive Agricultural Markets Act of 2006

The Competitive and Fair Agricultural Markets Act of 2006

Introduced by Senator Harkin (D-IA), Senator Enzi (R-WY) and Senator Thomas (R-WY)

Includes the following provisions:

§ Reorganize USDA to establish an Office of Special Counsel whose sole responsibility will be to investigate and prosecute violations on competition matters. Currently, the Deputy Administrator at GIPSA oversees the Packers and Stockyards program and has the responsibility of enforcing the Packers and Stockyards Act. The Special Counsel would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Make the following amendments to the Packers and Stockyards Act:

§ Strengthen USDA’s authority in enforcing the Packers and Stockyards Act by requiring USDA to promulgate rules that define “undue price preferences” that are prohibited under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Meatpackers routinely provide undue price preferences to large volume producers that far exceed any differential costs in procuring livestock, and discriminate against small and mid sized producers who can provide the same or better quality and meet similar procurement standards.
§ Strengthen Producer Protections by making it easier for them to prove unfair actions by packers without additional burdens of having to prove adverse affects on competition. For example, recent court decisions such as London vs. Fieldale Farms have ruled that in order for producers to succeed in cases involving unfair actions they must prove how it adversely affects competition for their region. These rulings will now complicate USDA’s ability to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.
§ Strengthen USDA’s authority in enforcing the Packers and Stockyards Act over the poultry industry and make it more in line with livestock. Currently, it is illegal for poultry integrators to engage in unfair or anti-competitive practices, but the enforcement section of the law to prosecute violations was left out many years ago.

Make the following changes to the Agricultural Fair Practices Act:

§ Prohibits unfair or deceptive practices by a person that affects the marketing, receiving, purchasing, sale or contracting of agricultural commodities.
§ Provides needed contract protections to ensure that the contract clearly spells out what is required of the producer. Harkin’s bill would require giving the producer at least 3 days to review or cancel the contract. Harkin’s bill would prevent confidentiality clauses so that producers are free to share the contract with family members or a lawyer to help them decide whether or not they should sign it. The legislation would also protect producers from having their contracts prematurely terminated if they have made a sizable capital investment. The bill also prevents mandatory arbitration so that producers are not prevented from going to the courts to speak out against unfair actions by companies.
§ Prevent discrimination against producers belonging to an organization or cooperative.

For more information on competition issues see – http://www.cfra.org/pdf/CommStaffConcentrationPaper.pdf

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Senator Harkin Calls for Competition in Livestock Markets

Harkin Calls for Competition in Ag Markets

Lyons, Nebraska – The Center for Rural Affairs called a livestock market competition bill introduced in the U.S. Senate today a major first step toward instilling more competition in livestock markets and protecting farmers and ranchers from price discrimination, market manipulation and anti-competitive behavior by meatpackers.

Earlier today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) introduced legislation to improve competition in livestock markets and fairness in the production and sale of agricultural commodities. The “Competitive and Fair Agricultural Markets Act of 2006,” proposes a series of changes in response to the failure by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prevent unfair, manipulative and anti-competitive behavior prohibited under the Packers and Stockyards Act. This bill will also strengthen the ability of producers to succeed in cases involving unfair and manipulative practices by packers and provide needed protections for producers that use contracts.

“USDA Packers and Stockyards Administration has become anything but an enforcer of competition in livestock markets – robbing farmers and ranchers of the best assurance they have that livestock markets will be fair and competitive,” said John Crabtree, Center for Rural Affairs. “This bill addresses the most onerous problems with USDA’s lack of competition policy enforcement by defining the rules of livestock market competition and providing clear direction for USDA’s enforcement,” added Crabtree.

Last month, an audit of the Packers and Stockyards Administration revealed that they have utterly failed to enforce the very law that gives the agency a reason to exist. Senior officials in the Packers and Stockyards Administration blocked investigations from being referred to USDA lawyers or the Justice Department and agency employees were instructed to create the appearance of enforcement activity by recording everything from routine correspondence and review of public data as “investigations.” Over 1,800 so-called “investigations” were documented between 1999 and 2005, but according to the Inspector General’s audit, over 1,700 of those so-called investigations could not be traced to a specific complaint, producer, packer or other details that a true investigation would contain.

“The Packers and Stockyards Administration perpetrated a lie, and disillusioned farmers and ranchers in the process. USDA has proven, again, that they cannot be trusted to use the considerable authority vested in the Packers and Stockyards Act to breathe competition back into American livestock markets,” said Crabtree.

“USDA will claim that new leadership at Packers and Stockyards will fix the problem. But it will not, and farmers, ranchers and rural communities will continue to pay the price. That is why Congress must act to define the rules of livestock market competition, provide clear direction for USDA’s enforcement and prepare for a larger debate over a comprehensive competition title in the 2007 farm bill. This bill is a major first step in that process,” added Crabtree.
“We’ve witnessed a widespread failure by USDA in enforcing existing producer protections. We need to get rid of extra layers of bureaucracy and allow competition issues to be in the forefront, rather than swept under the rug as they currently are,” said Senator Harkin.

For more information on competition issues see – http://www.cfra.org/pdf/CommStaffConcentrationPaper.pdf

Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Center Annual Gathering in Kearney

Center for Rural Affairs Hosts Annual Gathering in Kearney

Public Invited and Encouraged to Attend

Lyons - The Center for Rural Affairs will hold it’s Annual Gathering on February 25, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The meeting has 14 teach-in sessions which focus on varied agricultural, business, and rural issues. In a new twist this year, two of the morning teach-ins will focus on the interest and need for a statewide entrepreneurial fair. The Center for Rural Affairs, along with several other partners, is working on the idea of combining their annual gathering with a Marketplace for Entrepreneurs. North Dakota has been holding an event such as this for the last 17 years, and it has been very successful, drawing over 7,000 people each year.

Nebraska’s rural communities need small business and micro entrepreneurs for economic growth. During our Annual Gathering in Kearney, listening sessions will gauge Nebraskans interest in holding such an event next year. There will be two listening sessions held: one from 9:30-10:30 - the other from 10:45 - 11:45. People interested in this idea, especially community leaders with knowledge of what is going on within their communities, and entrepreneurs are encouraged to participate in the listening sessions. Contact Kathie Starkweather, kathies@cfra.org, 402-687-2100 or Monica Braun, mbraun@alltel.net, 402-643-2673, or check the Center’s website, www.cfra.org for more information.

The event would be an Entrepreneurial Fair where new entrepreneurs could meet with established entrepreneurs for guidance and networking, and meet with experts like the Small Business Administration and the Center’s Rural Enterprise Assistance Project. Established entrepreneurs could share success stories and also stories about overcoming mistakes and failures. They could help others understand there are many rewards and risks in bringing new ideas and products into the marketplace. Many rural entrepreneurial opportunities can exist side-by-side with an existing farm or ranch.

Like the Center's annual gathering, North Dakota’s Marketplace for Entrepreneurs has classes that cover a wide range of agricultural and business topics, including advertising, export regulation, new crops, farm diversification, patents, copyrights, and information technology. The difference is in scale and the number of partners involved.

Marketplace classes are taught by representatives of private businesses, government agencies and institutions of higher learning. Other classes are led by farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs and others who have launched their own entrepreneurial ventures. The event extends over several days.

Another item on the annual meeting agenda will include a keynote from Chuck Hassebrook, a noted authority on farm and rural issues. Hassebrook is a regent for the University of Nebraska and the Center’s Executive Director.

A Gubernatorial Candidate Forum featuring Congressman Tom Osborne, Dave Nabity, and David Hahn will be held in the afternoon, co-hosted by Nebraska Educational Television and Radio. There will also be a Small Business Fair. The meeting itself is free; there is a charge for lunch and refreshments of $10.00 per person.

You can find more information on Kearney, including area accommodations and maps, at the Kearney Visitor’s Bureau, 800-652-9435 or http://www.visitkearney.org.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Congress Must Make Livestock Markets Competitive

Congress Must Make Livestock Markets Competitive

Last month, an audit of the Packers and Stockyards Administration revealed that the agency has utterly failed to enforce the very law that gives the agency a reason to exist.

The Packers and Stockyards Administration has become anything but an enforcer of competition in livestock markets. Over 1,800 “investigations” were documented between 1999 and 2005, but according to the Inspector General’s audit, 1,739 of those so-called investigations could not be traced to a specific complaint, producer, packer or other details that a true investigation would contain.

USDA has proven, once again, that they cannot be trusted to use the considerable authority vested in the Packers and Stockyards Act to breathe life back into American livestock markets. Surely they will claim that new leadership at Packers and Stockyards will fix the problem. But it will not, and farmers, ranchers and rural communities will continue to pay the price.

Repeated calls for competition reforms from farmers and ranchers as well as the National Commission on Small Farms, General Accounting Office and Office of Inspector General have fallen on deaf ears at USDA.

That is why Congress must act now to define the rules of livestock market competition and provide clear direction for USDA’s enforcement. Congress should move forward with reform now and prepare for a larger debate over a comprehensive competition title in the 2007 farm bill. If Congress acts boldly on behalf of livestock market competition, farmers, ranchers and rural citizens will stand with them.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

REAP Partners With Microenterprise Boost Program

REAP Partners with Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program

Rural Nebraska Women to Receive Cash Equity Awards

Lyons, Nebraska – The Center for Rural Affairs –REAP Women’s Business Center is proud to announce that it has been selected again as a Local Partner for the Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program. Through this program, REAP will have an opportunity to provide cash equity awards from $500 to $2500 to women microentrepreneurs who have worked with the REAP program in rural Nebraska communities. The program is designed to help women grow and develop their businesses. The Center for Rural Affairs -REAP was chosen as one of fifteen Local Partners throughout the country to participate in this program in 2006. In 2005, REAP Women’s Business Center received the top “Excellence in Microenterprise Work with Women Entrepreneurs” award from AEO and Citigroup Foundation for this program.

The Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program is designed to provide low and moderate income women microentrepreneurs the opportunity to achieve greater business success by providing cash awards that will have a measurable impact on the development of their business. Supported by the Citigroup Foundation, the program will distribute equity awards to women microentrepreneurs through Local Partners across the country. The program is managed by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), a national membership association for the microenterprise development industry, representing hundreds of microenterprise development programs across the country. Women and Company, a division of Citigroup that provides access to financial education and resources for women, will work with AEO to implement and promote the program.

“Women and Company is proud to participate in this program because we believe all women should have the opportunity to achieve their financial goals,” said Lisa Caputo, President and CEO, Women and Company. “More and more women are finding they can begin to achieve financial independence by starting their own businesses, and these grants can have a practical and immediate impact as they strive to grow these businesses.”

REAP (Rural Enterprise Assistance Project) consists of four elements including; networking, business management training, credit and technical assistance. Local rural communities form associations or roundtable networking groups which meet for discussing business ideas and problems, networking, ongoing training and reviewing loan applications if a local loan loss reserve is established. REAP is an SBA micro-loan program and operates the only SBA funded Women’s Business Center in Nebraska. REAP staff provide technical assistance, loan packaging assistance and training to rural small business owners.

The recipients of the equity awards will be announced by REAP in March. As part of the program, equity award recipients will receive technical training and assistance from REAP on growing their business and maximizing their equity award. The awards may be used for essential business development activities such as marketing, technology purchases, website development, inventory, or professional services. Applicants for the equity awards must have worked with REAP in some significant way, either by being an active member of REAP, attending a REAP training, or having worked with a REAP Business Specialist for business technical assistance within the past year. REAP Business Specialist contacts can be found on the web at www.cfra.org/reap.

Citigroup, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com

Women and Company is a membership program from Citigroup designed to help women expand their financial knowledge, and prepare themselves for financial decisions that life’s transitions often bring. Women and Company provides financial education through conference calls, Master Classes, and newsletters; personal attention through toll-free resource lines for questions related to taxes, general finance, care giving, survivorship and real estate issues; and special savings on select Citigroup financial products. Additional information may be found at www.womenandco.com.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the national association of community-based organizations that provide entrepreneurial education, access to capital, and support to aspiring and active low-income entrepreneurs. AEO's mission is to support the development of strong and effective U.S. microenterprise programs to assist underserved entrepreneurs in starting, stabilizing, and expanding businesses. To learn more about AEO or microenterprise, please visit our website at www.microenterpriseworks.org.

The Center for Rural Affairs’ Rural Enterprise Assistance Project was selected by the Small Business Administration to create a rural women's business center, the first such program in Nebraska. For REAP, the Women’s Business Center provides an opportunity to enhance its outreach to potential women entrepreneurs and its work with small businesses across Nebraska. More information about REAP is on our website www.cfra.org/reap. REAP is U.S. Small Business Administration.

Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

REAP Local Partner for Women's Microenterprise Boost Program

REAP Selected as Local Partner for Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program

Rural Nebraska Women to Receive Cash Equity Awards

Lyons, Nebraska – The Center for Rural Affairs – REAP Women’s Business Center is proud to announce that it has been selected again as a Local Partner for the Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program. Through this program, REAP will have an opportunity to provide cash equity awards from $500 to $2500 to women microentrepreneurs who have worked with the REAP program in rural Nebraska communities. The program is designed to help women grow and develop their businesses. The Center for Rural Affairs -REAP was chosen as one of fifteen Local Partners throughout the country to participate in this program in 2006. In 2005, REAP Women’s Business Center received the top “Excellence in Microenterprise Work with Women Entrepreneurs” award from AEO and Citigroup Foundation for this program.

The Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program is designed to provide low and moderate income women microentrepreneurs the opportunity to achieve greater business success by providing cash awards that will have a measurable impact on the development of their business. Supported by the Citigroup Foundation, the program will distribute equity awards to women microentrepreneurs through Local Partners across the country. The program is managed by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), a national membership association for the microenterprise development industry, representing hundreds of microenterprise development programs across the country. Women and Company, a division of Citigroup that provides access to financial education and resources for women, will work with AEO to implement and promote the program.

“Women and Company is proud to participate in this program because we believe all women should have the opportunity to achieve their financial goals,” said Lisa Caputo, President and CEO, Women and Company. “More and more women are finding they can begin to achieve financial independence by starting their own businesses, and these grants can have a practical and immediate impact as they strive to grow these businesses.”

REAP (Rural Enterprise Assistance Project) consists of four elements including; networking, business management training, credit and technical assistance. Local rural communities form associations or roundtable networking groups which meet for discussing business ideas and problems, networking, ongoing training and reviewing loan applications if a local loan loss reserve is established. REAP is an SBA micro-loan program and operates the only SBA funded Women’s Business Center in Nebraska. REAP staff provide technical assistance, loan packaging assistance and training to rural small business owners.

The recipients of the equity awards will be announced by REAP in March. As part of the program, equity award recipients will receive technical training and assistance from REAP on growing their business and maximizing their equity award. The awards may be used for essential business development activities such as marketing, technology purchases, website development, inventory, or professional services. Applicants for the equity awards must have worked with REAP in some significant way, either by being an active member of REAP, attending a REAP training, or having worked with a REAP Business Specialist for business technical assistance within the past year. REAP Business Specialist contacts can be found on the web at www.cfra.org/reap.

Citigroup, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com

Women and Company is a membership program from Citigroup designed to help women expand their financial knowledge, and prepare themselves for financial decisions that life’s transitions often bring. Women and Company provides financial education through conference calls, Master Classes, and newsletters; personal attention through toll-free resource lines for questions related to taxes, general finance, care giving, survivorship and real estate issues; and special savings on select Citigroup financial products. Additional information may be found at www.womenandco.com.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the national association of community-based organizations that provide entrepreneurial education, access to capital, and support to aspiring and active low-income entrepreneurs. AEO's mission is to support the development of strong and effective U.S. microenterprise programs to assist underserved entrepreneurs in starting, stabilizing, and expanding businesses. To learn more about AEO or microenterprise, please visit our website at www.microenterpriseworks.org.

The Center for Rural Affairs’ Rural Enterprise Assistance Project was selected by the Small Business Administration to create a rural women's business center, the first such program in Nebraska. For REAP, the Women’s Business Center provides an opportunity to enhance its outreach to potential women entrepreneurs and its work with small businesses across Nebraska. More information about REAP is on our website www.cfra.org/reap.

This U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Cooperative Agreement is partially funded by the SBA. SBA’s funding is not an endorsement of any products, opinions, or services. All SBA funded programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Nebraska Can Grow From Within - Opinion - The Kearney Hub

Best strategy: Nebraska can grow economy from inside

Editorial by The Kearney Hub

Nebraskans generally aren’t shy about heavy labor, but where economic development is concerned, sometimes it pays to give the back muscles a rest and put the brain to work.

That could be one of the ideas behind an event the Center for Rural Affairs is planning later this month at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Working with several partners, the Center will stage what it’s calling a Marketplace for Entrepreneurs.

The Marketplace idea is patterned after a North Dakota event that’s been attracting 7,000 people for the past 17 years. The Marketplace is based on the belief that small towns must look within for economic development, not count on business recruitment or outside investment.

We agree with the Center for Rural Affairs’ assessment.

Local businesses that take bold and creative initiatives are far more likely to expand and improve local economies than are outside investors. Towns that wait for a big factory to come along might as well be scratching lottery tickets. The real payout is in helping locally successful businesses to become even more successful.

Recent trends in Nebraska suggest an increasing emphasis on growing from within.

Last year’s legislative overhaul of the state’s flagship economic development law, LB775, included a number of incentives for rural development, including ways to boost rural entrepreneurship. In addition, the formation of several regional resource conservation and development councils recognizes the need to connect the innovators and risk-takers with the resources they need to turn their business dreams into reality.

The Marketplace for Entrepreneurs planned at UNK will be about connections, giving participants a chance to learn about some of the public and private resources that can help with their business plans.

We appreciate the Center for Rural Affairs’ efforts in bringing together the Marketplace for Entrepreneurs. Nebraskans need an event where they can generate ideas for agricultural diversification, value-added agriculture diversification, small businesses, home-based businesses, marketing skills and stronger communities.

For the hard workers out there who are bothered by the idea of taking a day off to attend the Marketplace, we suggest looking upon your participation as a working vacation.

While your back rests, your brain can do the lifting.

Entrepreneurs Welcome

The Center for Rural Affairs’ Marketplace for Entrepreneurs is planned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 25 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The meeting will have 14 teach-in sessions focused on agricultural, business and rural issues. The meeting is free, but there will be a $10 charge for lunch and refreshments. More information is available by calling Elisha Greeley Smith at the Center for Rural Affairs, 402-687-2103 or sending e-mail to elishas@cfra.org.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Rural Oklahoma "REDI" for Change

Rural areas are REDI for change

By James S. Tyree
CNHI News Service

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma House Speaker Todd Hiett, an ardent Republican, is tired of Oklahoma being so red. He wants to see it all become a blue state.

The speaker and other legislators Thursday announced their Rural Economic Development Initiative aimed at bringing more residents and jobs into cities and counties that have been losing population.

To illustrate, the group created a map that showed 48 counties and 43 additional communities affected areas in red, primarily in western, southeastern and far northeastern Oklahoma. Counties that have gained residents since 1940, according to the 2000 census, were blue.

Perhaps the most radical part of the initiative, the Come Home Oklahoma Act, would enact a five-year personal income tax exemption for any out-of-state person or family who moves into a REDI county or community and buys or builds a house for their primary residence.

C.J. Montgomery, president of the Woodward Chamber of Commerce, was eager to read the initiative in detail. But at first blush, he figured he’d be OK with some of his newer neighbors not having to pay income tax, as long as their arrival helps to build his region’s economy.

“Anything that helps rural Oklahoma, that was the stance they said they’d take,” he said. Montgomery said the REDI task force visited Woodward and took his town’s ideas last Nov. 1.

If passed, the measure would cost the state $6 million in fiscal year 2007 and $60 million by its completion in fiscal year 2013. But the return, said Rep. Lee Denney of Cushing, would be much more.

“If they get a job here then they buy a house and put their kids in schools here and they’re part of the economy, paying property and sales taxes, so it’s just a rippling effect,” she said.

Other REDI parts include:
* Boosting rural tourism by protecting from liability rural landowners who open their land to recreational tourism,
* Giving local communities funds to improve infrastructure for the accommodation of business and allowing counties to join to organize and enhance their economic development efforts,
* Streamlining permit regulations for new refineries, trucking permits and other processes that could otherwise frustrate commerce.

Some aspects are part of previously announced bills, such as ending the estate tax and boosting funds for county roads. In all, Hiett said, parts of the initiative will show up in 21 or 22 bills to be considered after the Legislature convenes Monday.

The diverse goals are meant to help different parts of the state with their own needs.

Montgomery said improving transportation is a major concern for northwestern Oklahoma, whereas Jim Mills, director of the McAlester Economic Development Service, said improving infrastructure for more industry is a bigger deal in his town.

McAlester remains within the REDI area despite making a recent recovery. Mills said about 500 new jobs have come to town over the past two years, some commercial and others industrial, “so our climate has been pretty positive.”

Private companies have invested $40 million in McAlester, but the city needs help with infrastructure to handle the growth.

“That is so important because if you cannot handle the expansion of an existing industry, which is Numbet 1, and then attracting new industry, then that hurts your economic development,” Mills said. “… The other thing is infrastructure can mean a lot of things like more housing and quality of life things like entertainment.”

In Woodward, Montgomery said doing away with daily trucking permits and, perhaps, making them annual was specifically brought up during the Woodward town meeting. Meanwhile, repairing the roads and bridges everyone drives remains a major commercial need.

“Our transportation need in this part of the country is foremost, and that is part of the legislative plan,” Montgomery said. “They upped the amount of money last year, but the next step is bringing more money to the counties.” Montgomery said a number of ideas bandied about in the Woodward meeting showed up in the initiative, which made him pleased but not surprised. “That’s kind of been what we expected,” he said. “They do want to get a true handle on it, and it was a bipartisan effort.”

James S. Tyree is CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

White House Budget Mixed Bag for Rural America

White House Budget Mixed Bag for Rural America

According to the Center for Rural Affairs, the White House budget proposal for agriculture has some good and some bad for rural America. Center for Rural Affairs Media Director John Crabtree says it will have a huge impact on rural states like South Dakota.

The farm and rural advocacy group says the White House budget proposal for agriculture that was released last week is a double edged sword for rural South Dakota and rural America. John Crabtree with the Center for Rural Affairs says his group supports proposals calling for more effective payments limits for federal farm programs but opposed White House efforts that make deep cuts to rural development programs. He says that funding for these programs is vital to helping rural citizens strengthen their communities and the rural economy.

“The federal agriculture and rural budget for next year needs in invest in America in a meaningful way. We need to look at rural revitalization not cutting the programs that do that. And, one of the best ways we can do that is through payment limitations and use the savings to invest in rural development and conservation and the types of programs that really make a difference for farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” said Crabtree

Crabtree says the administration’s payment limitation proposal would save money and provide potential for rural communities, but adds that the additional cuts to rural development and conservation programs will hurt states like South Dakota.

“We have to invest those savings in rural America and this proposal does the opposite. It cuts the very programs that provide the capacity for the federal government to invest in rural communities and that really works to the detriment of rural communities and rural people,” added Crabtree.

Crabtree says the farm payment limits proposal is similar to the one proposed by Senators Grassley of Iowa and Dorgan of North Dakota and that many of the other proposed cuts are the same as the President’s budget proposal from last year. He said included in the cuts are rural development programs, value-added producer grants and small business micro-loans for rural small business development.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Our Common Interests

Advancing Our Common Interest Builds a Stronger, Better World

A rare example of a selfless act shows that we have the power to improve our communities, our nation, and the world around us.

by Chuck Hassebrook, Center for Rural Affairs

A corporate CEO made a shocking request last year.

Ethan Berman of RiskMetrics “requested that he receive no increase in salary, zero stock options, a smaller bonus than last year, and a piece of the company’s profit sharing equal to that received by all employees,” according to the New York Times.

It’s a refreshing departure from those on top grabbing all they can get. The Wall Street Journal reported the latest excess. Corporations are paying taxes for their top executives and hiding it from stockholders. Gillette shareholders paid $13 million of taxes on their CEO’s golden parachute.

Berman’s selfless act compels some moral reflection. It is often assumed that we must act according to our selfish interest. But in truth, we often protect what we value most by acting unselfishly. Each of us is part of something bigger that is at least as important to us as extra cash. Our true interest is tied to the health of our community, our nation, and the world around us.

If our community dies, even as we prosper, we too suffer as schools close, churches dwindle, and our neighbors leave. Even taxpayers in Omaha, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, and Kansas City feel the effects of rural decline.

When there is no opportunity for young families to earn a living and pay taxes, rural communities become tax takers. Metro residents pick up the tab. But when we revitalize rural communities, they become economic and fiscal contributors and city people benefit.

Similarly, if working people, family farmers and small business people are denied the American dream, they lose their stake in America and their reason to give back. But if they share in the good life, they have a reason to take responsibility for sustaining it. America is made stronger, to the benefit of all.

It’s also true at a global level. Desperately poor people in the developing world form legions of potential low-wage workers. In a global economy, that depresses wages worldwide. And if the world’s poor look jealously to America, it lessens our security. When the whole world shares in prosperity, we are more secure in our lives and livelihoods.

Nonetheless, inequality is intensifying. Top management and the best educated – particularly those residing in the centers of commerce – demand ever more for their services, while working people and rural areas fall behind. Wealth is concentrating. The gap is growing between rich and poor, between the upper middle class and lower middle class, and between rural and metropolitan.

Those economic forces won’t be changed by CEO Ethan Berman alone saying “no thanks.” But good citizens recognizing that their true interest is tied to the common good can work together to change trends and shape their own destiny.

Ordinary citizens make a difference by committing time and energy to community projects or just spending a little more to shop locally. Landowners who forego the highest cash rent enable young families to get started or survive in farming. Successful professional and business people donating to local foundations for stimulating small business development help revitalize local economies. Many of us in rural America hold substantial assets. We can make a difference by investing them in the future of our community.

We also advance our common interest through public policy when we look beyond selfish interests. When we advocate for limits on what we might someday receive – for example limits on farm program payments or estate tax exemptions – we ensure that opportunity is widely shared and the community and nation are strengthened.

We all benefit when we endure short-term sacrifice (paying taxes) to invest in a long-term greater good. If our America is to sustain itself, we must invest in conservation of natural resources to meet the needs of future generations.

If our struggling communities are to be made strong, government must invest in entrepreneurship to create genuine opportunity. We must invest in education – including help for the new immigrants into rural America to gain the language skills they need to become contributing members of our communities.

If trade is to benefit all Americans, we must invest in creating opportunity for the poor in developing nations so they too can prosper, rather than become a drag on wages.

No society can fully achieve the common good if its people act solely on the basis of their selfish interests. America and its communities are strongest and we all benefit when, like CEO Ethan Berman, we act accordingly.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Rural Action Network Update

National Rural Action Network Update

Issuing a ChallengeBuilding a network through people like you will take hard work and commitment; building rural leaders will be a critical component

by Kathie Starkweather, Center for Rural Affairs, kathies@cfra.org

Thanks to all of you who called or sent notes about the creation of the National Rural Action Network! We appreciate the show of support, and it helps bring home the idea that there is a need for this type of effort.

Organizing a rural constituency to speak out for what Rural America wants and needs in terms of public policy is going to take a lot of work and commitment – but it will be good and worthwhile work.

We need fair opportunities for Rural America, and the comments we received support that need. Here are a few excerpts from notes and phone calls:

“I want to applaud the Center for working on the creation of the Network. I think it is a good way to move.”

“Our voice needs to be heard.”

“This IS an idea whose time has come. A national rural action network with good advisors could really shape and help empower folks across the U.S.”

A “Leadership Development for the National Rural Action Network” training session was held in Fargo, North Dakota, in conjunction with the annual Marketplace for Entrepreneurs. Developing leaders within the Network is a critical component of its success. Helping these leaders build the capacity to do the types of things that will be required to have a successful Network is the focus of this training.

This is just the beginning, and I would like to ask something of those of you who are reading this article. Within the next month, will you speak to three other people in your community about the National Rural Action Network?

Ask those three people how important it is to ensure their community has a future. Hand them a copy of this newsletter and ask them to be engaged.

Let me know, will you, if you took up this challenge? I’d like to hear how it went and who you spoke with. We’re building this network through people like you; we need to start now!

Kathie Starkweather, kathies@cfra.org

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

Our Rural Children

Taking Care of Our Rural Children

Rural children living in poverty are most likely to be from two-parent families in which both parents work

by Michael L. Holton, Center for Rural Affairs, michaellh@cfra.org

We have highlighted problems associated with mental health care in rural areas and what some places are doing to lighten the pressure. We know that the charge set before us in rural areas is to become more self sufficient and creative in solving these concerns.

Yet growing poverty seeps our ability and resources to solve these problems. Nationally, we confront poverty largely based on adult statistics. What about the children? Where do they belong in the scale of poverty across the country?

Rural children in poverty are more likely to be from two-parent families and in families where at least one adult works. The reason for this unusual statistic is the quality of jobs, not the quantity of jobs. Frequently rural children in poverty come from two adults in the labor force. Unemployment rates may be lower in rural areas, but many jobs are substandard in pay and are often part-time.

In Nebraska it is estimated that 13.5 percent of rural children live in poverty while 11.3 percent of urban children live in poverty. As disturbingly high as they are, these figures are not indicative of the real picture in rural America.

Two factors tend to disguise rural poverty. First, rural areas lack access to benefits which are much more accessible to residents of metro and urban communities. Secondly, rural residents have been brought up with a set of traditional values that low-income households in rural areas would feel shame in accepting “handouts.”

Another concern in child poverty and well being is the care given when both parents must work to support the household. Where are the children cared for? Most urban families use what is known as center-based care. More than three-fourths of children in urban families are sent to center-based care facilities.

The percentage is opposite in rural areas, with only one-fourth of children sent to qualified center-based care. To top this off, many of the centers that exist in rural areas are often subsidized, and thus they target special populations, leaving working-poor and middle-class families with few choices.

Next month we will look at how South Dakota is attempting to remedy this situation through new and creative financing loan packages especially made for child-care providers and center-based facilities.

agree? disagree? post a question or comment here or
contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.

New Approach to Beginning Farmer and Rancher Issues

New Approach to Beginning Farmer and Rancher Issues

Fewer than 70,000 young people will farm by 2007 with current trends – it is imperative for the next farm bill to change that outcome

by Traci Bruckner, Center for Rural Affairs, tracib@cfra.org

The 2007 farm bill is the means by which genuine opportunity for rural people and a future for communities can be achieved. Elemental to this vital effort is the existence of beginning farmers and ranchers on the land and within the community. Present trends and current obstacles are working against that very existence.

In 1978, there were approximately 350,000 farmers and ranchers 35 years old or younger in the U.S. That total has gone into a free-fall to the point that in 2002 there were less than 125,000 farmers and ranchers under 35. If the current trend line is extended, by 2007 there will be fewer than 70,000 nationwide. While the number of beginning farmers is falling, nearly half of farmers and ranchers will reach the age of 65 within the next 10 years.

It is critical that the new farm bill address beginning farmer and rancher issues. Traditional methods of farm entry and farm succession are no longer adequate to meet current challenges. There must be a new approach if we are to successfully usher in a new generation of farmers and ranchers.

One way of doing that is through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), authorized in Section 7405 of the 2002 farm bill, which would have been the first-ever USDA program other than farm credit/debt financing programs targeted specifically to beginning farmers and ranchers. This program is designed to support training, mentoring, linking, education, and planning activities to assist beginning farmers and ranchers.

However, the program was only extended discretionary funding status under the 2002 farm bill and never appropriated funds to be implemented. We believe the BFRDP should be reauthorized with $15 million in mandatory funding for the 2007 farm bill.

Escalating land values across the nation have priced most beginning farmers and ranchers out of the market for land, the most valuable commodity in any agricultural operation. The 2002 farm bill established the Beginning Farmer Land Contract pilot program to allow USDA to provide loan guarantees to sellers who self-finance the sale of land to beginning farmers and ranchers.

The 2007 farm bill should reauthorize this as a nationwide program.

The new farm bill is approaching. We need to continue developing innovative policy ideas that will better serve beginning farmers and ranchers. We need to work to build momentum behind these policies and work every day to make our voices heard on these and other issues.

post a question or comment here or contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org

Center for Rural Affairs
Values. Worth. Action.