U.S. ag secretary announces $1.4 billion rural investment

In a Wednesday press conference U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more than $1 billion in investments into the country's rural economy through a number of programs, many of which will help Montanans.

All told, Vilsack said, the U.S. Department of agriculture is investing more than $1.4 billion in rural communities through 752 individual contributions to a number of programs.

The announced investments include $200,000 in rural cooperative development grants for the Montana Cooperative Development Center and the Lake County Community Development Corp. and, in USDA Rural Development grants, $64,407 to

Lake County Community Development Corp. and $3775 to Montana Community Development Corp.

Vilsack said the U.S.'s economy is growing at a historically rapid rate with shrinking unemployment, but,

as they often do, rural economies have been lagging behind despite their importance to the country.

"That's why it's important for us to focus on building back that rural economy better," he said.

He said this is part of an attempted transition from an extraction economy, where nonrural populations reap the benefits of rural resources, to a more circular economy where investments create wealth in rural communities themselves.

Vilsack said an example of this extraction economy can be seen in the ag industry. When products are grown or raised in rural America, he said, they tend to be immediately shipped elsewhere for processing, packing and further shipping, and it is those communities that see new jobs and economic growth.

He said investments like the ones made today aim to make sure rural areas see economic development as well, including for small businesses which are often the backbone of rural communities.

He said the flagship program for this effort is the Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program, which provides loan guarantees to reduce interest rates for businesses in rural America.

Complementing this, Vilsack said, will be a $65.7 million to the Value Added Producer Grant Program, which is designed to help farmers and ranchers add value to what they grow and raise to create new products and strengthen local and regional food systems.

Along with this is $10.2 million for the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program, which works with partners in utilities to creates an opportunity for them to create a lending program with low interest loans to rural businesses, he said.

Vilsack also championed the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program, which will receive $8.5 million and focuses on helping new businesses that may need some capital in their early days of operation.

The Rural Microenterprise Assistance Program which helps businesses of 10 people or fewer will also receive $6.2 million, he said, and the Rural Community Development Initiative Grant Program, which helps non-profits improve community development, create job opportunities and expand housing projects.

"You can see from the breadth of these programs that we are operating in all areas that could impact and affect rural economic opportunities," he said. " ... It's a good day for rural America, it's a good day for the rural economy, it's a good day for the businesses and enterprises that are going to benefit from these 752 investments that we're making today."

Vilsack said his department and the Biden administration will ensure that these funds and their benefits are distributed equitably.

When asked about concerns that local producers expressed regarding the difficulty of competing with imports coming form Peru and Mexico, and how to safeguard American-made products and the workers that made them, he said restraining international trade can backfire and both the U.S. and its trading partners benefit from their relationship.

Villsack said the U.S.'s trade relationship with Mexico in particular is extremely important and he hears similar things from producers on the other side of the boarder very often. However, he said, despite this the benefits of trade are reaped by both nations and efforts to restrict trade may ultimately hurt everyone.

He said he understands the concerns of producers and said it's important to make sure workers are given reasonable wages and are provided for.

He said H2A visas are a way to ensure workers are being provided for, but another way to do it is through immigration reform aimed at creating "a more stable, secure predictable immigration system."

Vilsack claimed everyone in Washington, D.C., knows what the solution is to reform the system and "secure our border" and create a workforce of gainfully employed people, but they don't have the political courage to do it.

He said he hopes producers pressure their law makers into changing their stance on the issue.