Pollinator Health Task Force Praised

News from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:

U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) praised the Obama Administration for creating a Pollinator Health Task Force to develop a federal strategy to promote the health of honeybees and other pollinators. 

The new interagency task force will help address troubling pollinator declines in California, New York and elsewhere by improving federal coordination to protect the long-term viability of native and managed pollinators.

“New York’s agricultural industry is a key part of America’s economy and pollinators play such an important role in that success,” said Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “With the alarming drop in pollinators, farmers across America have been suffering from a decrease in agricultural productivity. This new federal strategy to promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators is a step in the right direction. It will allow research to be advanced to better understand and rectify this drastic loss that is impacting America’s agricultural system.”

During negotiations for the 2014 Farm Bill, Boxer and Senator Gillibrand introduced a honeybee and pollinator amendment that among other provisions would have created an interagency task force dedicated to developing a federal strategy to address pollinator declines and sustain a healthy pollinator population. The amendment was included in the Farm Bill passed in the House, but was not included in the final bill.

Since 2006, winter hive losses for managed honeybee hives have averaged nearly 30 percent, compared to historical losses of 10 to 15 percent. The losses in part have been attributed to a phenomenon commonly referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder, which results in sudden and catastrophic hive depopulation. 

Honeybees and other pollinators are under threat by a multitude of stressors including habitat loss, disease, exposure to certain pesticides and management practices. The new task force has been directed with creating an action plan to focus federal efforts on understanding, preventing and recovering pollinator populations.

Ag Secretary's Weekly Column

By Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack:

Farmers, ranchers and foresters have long understood the need to care for our land and water — not only because preserving those resources for our children and their children is the right thing to do, but because they know that our farms and forests are more productive and efficient when they’re properly cared for.

Science and technology has expanded our capability and improved our understanding over the years, but this core mission remains the same. Today’s farmers and ranchers have risen to the twin responsibilities of producing safe, affordable food while employing cutting edge conservation practices on their operations to conserve water, minimize runoff, prevent soil erosion, and preserve wildlife habitat. They know that this will only become more critical as we take on the challenges of feeding a growing global population and dealing with the impacts of a changing climate.

This past week, the White House released the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) report, which provides an unprecedented look at what many of us in agriculture already know: climate change is not just a problem for the future.

We’ve seen firsthand the impact of increasingly severe drought, floods, extreme temperatures, and other dramatic weather patterns. Drought alone was estimated to cost the U.S. $50 billion from 2011 to 2013.

Farmers and ranchers know that severe and extreme weather means crop damage, delayed spring planting, delayed harvest, and reduced yields, and they know that those things have happened with increasing frequency over the past decade.

The NCA authors — 240 of the nation’s leading scientists and experts, including researchers from USDA — confirm our on-the-ground understanding. The authors found that climate disruptions to agriculture have increased in the past 40 years, and project that those disruptions will increase over the next 25.

Thus far, agriculture has been able to adapt, and USDA has been there to buffer and protect producers from weather-related risks through programs like disaster assistance. However, as the impacts of climate change become more prevalent, farmers and ranchers will need new tools and techniques to protect their bottom line and ensure the future food security of our nation.

USDA has undertaken a multipronged, multiyear approach to protect producers from the negative impacts of climate change. Our regional Climate Hubs collect data, conduct research, and develop practical, science-based conservation tools and techniques tailored specifically to the differing needs of each region of the country. 

We support cutting edge research by our land-grant university partners, including $6 million to ten schools to study the effects of climate on agriculture and an additional $6 million to develop tools to improve water resource quantity and quality. This research will help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners deal with the complex consequences of climate change in the short term.

Our efforts provide invaluable information and will help to safeguard the future food security of our nation, but there is more to do. We must continue to support policies and practices that mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, reduce consumption of fossil fuels, and make our land, air and water cleaner. You can learn more about the Climate Hubs and USDA’s climate change research at www.usda.gov/climatechange.

Ag Secretary Comments on Obama's Budget

Here is a statement from Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack on the proposed federal budget from President Obama:

“The President’s 2015 USDA budget proposal achieves reform and results for the American taxpayer; fosters opportunity for the men and women living, working and raising families in rural America; and supports innovation through strategic, future-focused investments.

The budget focuses on creating jobs and building a foundation for future economic growth, particularly in rural America, where 85 percent of our nation’s persistent poverty counties are located.

It supports farmers, ranchers and growers as they achieve net farm income well above the average of the previous decade. Mid-sized farms and livestock producers continue to face challenges as a result of prolonged drought. We are hopeful that implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill, which restores disaster assistance and invests in programs to help beginning, small and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, will provide much-needed stability for producers moving forward.

To support hardworking Americans as they find and keep jobs and transition out of nutrition assistance programs, we have invested in programs that will build the skills they need to get back into the workforce. 

The budget continues to fund programs that, since 2009, have helped more than 800,000 families buy, repair or refinance a home; extended new or improved broadband service for more than 7 million Americans and 364,000 rural businesses; improved or constructed more than 90,000 miles of electric line; invested in 6,700 water and wastewater projects for nearly 20 million Americans; and provided grants and loans to assist nearly 75,000 rural small and mid-sized businesses in rural America, creating or saving more than 377,000 jobs.

To help America’s producers break into new exports markets for farm and ranch products, and building off of President Obama’s recently announced Made in Rural America export initiative, we will continue funding for trade promotion and market expansion. Last fiscal year, farm and ranch exports reached a record $141 billion and supported nearly one million American jobs.

Here at home, we continue to capitalize on nearly limitless opportunities to use what is grown and raised on our farms and ranches in innovative and unexpected ways. Supported by the recently signed 2014 Farm Bill, the budget makes targeted investments in biobased product manufacturing, local and regional food systems, and specialty crops and organic production. 

Building on historic efforts underway across rural America, the budget adds about 23 million acres of land to USDA conservation efforts and sustains 25 million acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, ensuring clean air, clean and abundant water and critical wildlife habitat for generations to come. 

The budget also proposes a new approach to wild land fire suppression, which will allow the Forest Service to stabilize and invest in programs that more effectively restore forested landscapes and support those living in communities impacted by wildfire to avert and minimize damage from future wildfires.

The 2015 budget makes strategic investments that further innovation and encourage creative approaches to solving rural America’s most pressing challenges. The budget provides increased funding of $325 million for our premier competitive grants program to support the cutting edge research that will help producers adapt and succeed in the face of modern challenges, including a changing climate. It also provides $25 million each to three public-private innovation institutes that focus on biobased product manufacturing, pollinator health, and anti-microbial resistance research, respectively.

At the same time, the 2015 budget recognizes fiscal realities. It supports USDA’s ongoing efforts to modernize and update the way we do business. It builds off of our efforts through the Blueprint for Stronger Service, which in recent years has saved the American taxpayer a total of $1.2 billion while ensuring that USDA customers receive the best possible service. Our leaner workforce continues to find ways to implement increasingly complex programs with fewer resources.

The security of our nation’s food and fiber supply depends on what we do today to support a rural America that is increasingly nimble, diverse and responsive to changing consumer tastes. The 2015 budget proposal, and the tools provided in the new farm bill, will help to create jobs and drive long-term, sustainable economic growth in rural America, while equipping our farmers and ranchers with the tools they need to survive and thrive.

Obama: We're Not Trying to Regulate Smaller Farms

Obama says he is not trying to regulate small farms.

Read it here at http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/OSHA-responds-to-pressure-on-small-farm-inspection-5257983.php

Obama Signs Farm Bill

Well, this long drawn-out saga is over.

The nation finally has a Farm Bill.

Here is what some groups are saying:

President Obama's signature on the Farm Bill ushers in a new sense of security for New York's diverse agricultural community," said Dean Norton, president of New York Farm Bureau. "New York Farm Bureau is not setting its sights on working with the USDA on the implementation of the Farm Bill. We look to assure farmers that the programs in this legislation are properly carried out in the way they were intended.

"We also find the President's 'Made in Rural America' announcement today (Friday, Feb. 7) regarding efforts to boost agricultural exports promising for New York business," Norton said. "This initiative recognizes that farming is important to rural economies of this country, providing jobs along with the food and fiber that are in demand around the globe."

The National Corn Growers Association thanked President Obama for signing the Agricultural Act of 2014 today. The Farm Bill passed the House Jan. 29 and the Senate Feb. 4.

"This new five-year farm bill means certainty and stability for farmers. It means food on the table of hungry families. And it means taxpayers will save money," said association President Martin Barbre.

If you want a full look at the Farm Bill and the journey to get it passed, go to http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/farm_bill_us/ this link at the New York Times. Then click on the story to read, including a timeline of what has happened and the story from the Associated Press called "What Is the Farm Bill?"

THe Affordable Care Act and Farming

Check out this http://www.dairyherd.com/e-newsletters/dairy-daily/Farms-and-the-Affordable-Care-Act-239642251.html?utm_source=5457F2022134E3Y&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=Dairy+Herd+Network+Daily_20140113&utm_term&utm_content information from dairyherd.com about Obamacare and farmers.

New White House Rural Council Report Highlights the Economic Importance of Passing a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill

This is really long, but includes some good information about the Farm Bill.

In June of 2010, the Obama Administration began providing input to Congress regarding the prospective features and policy of contents for a reauthorized farm bill. Over a period of more than three years, the Administration has supported reauthorization efforts aimed to help build a better safety net for farmers and families, and to build a better farm, food, and energy policy for the nation.

However, 43 months later and despite the best efforts of many in Congress, work on reauthorization on the Farm Bill remains incomplete. While some programs have been simply extended, others remain either unfunded, unauthorized, or without enactment of needed reforms.

The Administration has made clear that passing a comprehensive farm bill is a priority, and of importance for every American. The White House today is releasing a new report, which explains what is at stake in this debate. You can read the full report HERE.
Today's report outlines the many benefits of a new Farm Bill for all Americans. Passage of a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill would:

• Build on recent momentum of the U.S. agriculture economy, a key engine of economic growth.
• Promote development in communities across the country, by expanding new opportunities for American agriculture, increasing manufacturing potential and supporting businesses across rural America.
• Protect our vital food assistance programs, which benefit millions of families and individuals – in rural, suburban and urban areas alike
• Create a reliable safety net for our farmers and ranchers, including a strong crop insurance program, a long term extension of disaster programs and retroactive assistance for livestock producers.
• Continue federal conservation efforts, working alongside a record number of farmers and ranchers to conserve our soil and protect our water.
• Promote new markets for U.S. producers abroad and at home, honor our trade commitments and assist our farmers and ranchers to export a record amount of product around the world.
• Support research, and ensuring that our long history of agricultural innovation continues.
• And reduce the deficit, by enacting reforms saving billions of dollars in the coming decade.

The report highlights the economic benefits – for the domestic agriculture sector, its workforce, rural American communities, and families and businesses across the country – that would result from these changes, and the imperative to passing a comprehensive Food, Farm, and Jobs bill as soon as possible.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Build On Recent Momentum Of The U.S. Agriculture Economy

The U.S. agriculture sector is a key engine of economic growth. Not only does it put food on the table of American families at affordable prices and provide raw material for a range of vital purposes—it also supports millions of jobs and is a key economic driver in many rural communities.

In recent years, the agriculture sector has seen strong growth, with farm income and agriculture exports both reaching historical highs not witnessed in decades.

• After adjusting for inflation, net farm income – at $120 billion for 2013 – now stands at its second-highest level since 1973.
• Farm asset values are expected to rise 7.1 percent in 2013, as farmland values are expected to continue rising; farm equity is expected to increase by 7.6 percent in 2013.

Since the President took office, agriculture exports have had the strongest five-year period of growth in our nation's history, and hit a record level in the last fiscal year:

• In the 2013 fiscal year, exports reached over $140 billion -- exceeding the previous high of $137 in FY2011, and setting a new record.
• The average volume of bulk commodities exported increased by nearly four million tons per year over the past five years.
• U.S. farm exports have supported about one million American jobs.

Between 1948 and 2011, total farm production more than doubled, and U.S. total agricultural output grew at an average annual rate of 1.49 percent over this period. Almost all of this growth in U.S. agricultural output was due to increased productivity growth.

The Farm Bill offers an opportunity to build on this progress, providing long-term certainty about the next five years of U.S. farm policy for America's farmers, ranchers and producers.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Invest In Rural Development

The Farm Bill authorizes and directs the work of USDA-Rural Development, with a mission of improving the quality of life in rural America by financing long-term investments in the future of rural communities through loans, loan guarantees, grants, and technical assistance.

While there is a vibrant agricultural economy today, rural America continues to face a number of unique challenges:

• Eighty-five percent of persistent poverty counties in America—counties where poverty has been high for at least 30 years—are in rural areas.
• Additionally, rural America faces a growing demographic challenge due, in part, to lowering birth rates and an aging population: between 2010 and 2012, rural areas experienced the first recorded period of population loss.

A comprehensive Farm Bill with funding for water and wastewater investments would help tackle the $2.1 billion backlog of shovel-ready water/wastewater infrastructure projects in small towns across the country

• Since 2009, Farm Bill rural development programs have financed 3,898 rural water and wastewater projects, putting people to work and providing clean water for nearly 14 million rural Americans.
• During the same period of time, investments that farm bill programs authorize have supported improvements to 276 hospital and medical clinics, 166 schools and 401 libraries in rural America; the agency has awarded 15,727 grants and loans to aid 65,636 businesses expand opportunity and create jobs.
• The Farm Bill also will help keep rural communities safe and connected, through the expansion of 911 access and by supporting access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas through project loan guarantees.
• Between 2009 and 2012, Farm Bill authorized programs helped create new market opportunities for rural producers and businesses by supporting over 800 local and regional food projects, including new product development and critical infrastructure like food hubs.

A comprehensive farm bill will allow USDA-Rural Development to work in partnership with local governments and organizations to align public investments, leverage private dollars, and respond to local priorities.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Invest In The Bioeconomy And Clean Energy

The Farm Bill also is a key opportunity to advance the bioeconomy through continued investment in the next generation of advanced biofuels, construction of advanced biorefineries, top-notch research, support for farmers establishing new biofuel crops, and the manufacture of biobased industrial products.

A strong bioeconomy means producing manufactured goods, fuels, and power using plant materials, rather than petroleum, chemicals, or other extracted materials as the fundamental building block. More than 3,000 companies produce bio-based industrial products – everything from chemicals, to auto parts and beverage bottles – from homegrown, plant-based materials.

The Farm Bill includes several energy programs that correspond with the various components of the energy chain—from the field and the research lab to the factory and the generator. A comprehensive Farm Bill would:

• Reauthorize and fund the Renewable Energy for America program, which provides grants and guaranteed loans to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for the purchase of renewable energy systems and the implementation of energy efficiency projects. Since 2009, 9,166 awards have been made through this program, saving or generating a total of over 9.8 million megawatt hours of energy
• Jumpstart the production of the next generation of advanced biofuels by helping communities and companies invest in building advanced biorefineries, funding regional research, and continuing to help farmers to establish those biofuel crops.
• Continue USDA's BioPreferred program, which has helped to create thousands of new jobs in rural communities and added jobs across the value chain even in larger manufacturing cities by using agricultural and forestry commodities as the base feed stock for everyday products.
• Support domestic investment, development, and production in the emerging bio-based industrial products industry through expanded eligibility for loan programs and directed research.

A strong bio-based economy will improve the bottom line for farmers while creating good manufacturing jobs in rural America. 

At the same time, these investments reduce our use of foreign oil, reduce the trade deficit by replacing imported crude oil with home-grown, fuel, and contribute to a healthier planet by reducing emissions.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Support Vulnerable Families By Protecting Our Vital Food And Nutritional Assistance Programs

For the past 40 years, the Farm Bill also has authorized the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), one of our nation's strongest defenses against hunger and poverty. SNAP helps families and seniors put food on the table, while also benefitting farm and rural economies.

In 2012, SNAP kept nearly 5 million people, including 2.2 million children, above the poverty line.

• SNAP benefits led to an average annual decline of 4.4 percent in the prevalence of poverty from 2000 to 2009, and led to even greater reductions in the depth and severity of poverty.
• Program benefits are targeted to those most in need: the vast majority of SNAP participants are children, the elderly, or people with disabilities.
• Over 91 percent of SNAP benefits go to households with income below the poverty line, and 55 percent go to households with income of less than half of the poverty line (about $9,500 for a family of three).
• Most SNAP recipients who can work do so. Among SNAP households with at least one working-age, non-disabled adult, more than half work – and more than 80% work in the year before or after receiving SNAP.

Administrative costs for the program are very low: about 95 percent of federal spending on SNAP goes directly to helping eligible households purchase food.

In addition to helping American families during tough economic times, SNAP provides a fiscal boost to the economy during economic downturns.

• The independent Congressional Budget Office estimates that every SNAP dollar generates up to $1.80 in economic activity.
• Every $5 in SNAP benefits generates as much as $9 of economic activity for the over 230,000 retail food outlets – supermarkets, grocers and farmers' markets – that participate in the program

In addition, reforming our largest international food aid program would provide a much greater impact without additional budgetary resources, helping up to 4 million more people each year in emergency food crises abroad.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Provide A Safety Net For Producers To Manage Risk

The Farm Bill represents a key opportunity to further reform and improve farm programs to provide assistance to those that need it and to restore much needed disaster funding for livestock producers, while also providing deficit reduction for the American taxpayer.

While crop insurance is a critical component of the farm safety net, the Government's cost of providing crop insurance has increased dramatically over the past decade as the subsidies for crop insurance and the prices of commodities have increased.

• In 2012, farmers paid about $4.3 billion to insure almost 282 million acres through the Federal crop insurance program.
• Elimination of direct farm subsidies, as proposed by the Administration, would save taxpayers $5 billion per year.
• The Farm Bill also is an opportunity to reform adjusted gross income limit provisions to prevent producers that do not need assistance from receiving aid.

Due to Congressional inaction on the Farm Bill, some of the programs that could have helped mitigate the impacts of the severe drought conditions in 2012 and more recently during the South Dakota blizzard this past October are expired or currently have no funding – particularly safety net programs for livestock producers.

• In 2012, had Congress acted to reauthorize the Farm Bill, the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) payments alone could have totaled between $500-$600 million, double the 2011 levels. A new Farm Bill would retroactively extend LFP payments to producers to cover those losses.
• Continued delay of the Farm Bill not only leaves these producers on their own to cover their losses from the 2012 drought, but also renders essential programs unavailable to USDA in its work to provide assistance for new disasters, such as the October blizzard in South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming, which killed a large number of livestock.
• Because Congress has not acted to reauthorize the Farm Bill, USDA is unable to assist producers and can only ask producers to keep accurate records for when a Farm Bill reauthorizes the LIP program.

Lack of action on a Farm Bill ultimately would result in the U.S. reverting back to dairy policy from the New Deal era, leading to the potential for milk prices to double for domestic consumers. This also would carry significant cost for the federal government of at least $12 billion per year.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Enhance Conservation

• The future of food and fiber production in the U.S. depends upon the availability of productive farm and ranch land and abundance of healthy natural resources. Towards this end, the Farm Bill represents the nation's largest investment supporting the voluntary and successful conservation, restoration and management of America's working lands.
• Conservation compliance and sound conservation practices to commodity programs has been a successful tool in reducing soil erosion by more than 40 percent and preventing impairment of natural resources.
• A comprehensive Farm Bill will improve, simplify, and strengthen key land conservation, protection, and wildlife habitat enhancement. The Farm Bill authorizes or makes changes to:
• Working-land programs that provide technical and financial assistance to farmers who install or maintain conservation practices on land in production. These programs have enrolled 60 million acres of agricultural and non-industrial private forestland (through the Conservation Stewardship Program) and obligated nearly $1 billion in financial assistance for over 44,000 active and completed contracts (Environmental Quality Incentives Program).
• Comprehensive conservation and habitat programs that help farmers, ranchers and private landowners protect and conserve environmentally sensitive land and produce wildlife habitat from agricultural production in exchange for rental or easement payments.
• Agricultural land acquisition programs like the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, which provide assistance to cooperating partners to purchase land rights, helping sustain the ranching and farming way of life and their surrounding rural communities.
• Linking crop insurance participation to conservation compliance, as supported by the Administration, could bring an additional 17 million acres into compliance practices, and ensure an additional 141 million acres remain in a conservation practices.
• A comprehensive Farm Bill also supports the restoration of our nation's forests and ecosystems, for example by authorizing critical forest management tools, and providing funding for local governments to install high-efficiency, biomass-fueled heating systems that reduce energy costs, support rural income and employment opportunities, and address the risks of severe wildfire.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Promote Markets At Home And Abroad While Meeting Our Global Trade Commitments

The agriculture sector and farm exports have been one of the brightest points for the U.S. economy.

• The current value of U.S. exports is more than $140 billion, with the past five years representing the highest agriculture sales levels in the nation's history.
• U.S. agricultural exports have out-paced U.S. agricultural imports since 1960, generating a surplus in U.S. agricultural trade.

Trade promotion provisions in a new Farm Bill and continued commitment to developing markets at home and abroad will be key to maintaining strong farm incomes over the next 5 years.

• The Farm Bill authorized USDA's trade promotion efforts, which are estimated to generate a return of $35 in economic benefits for every one dollar invested. These programs help approximately 70 U.S. agricultural producer organizations, each representing hundreds or thousands of producers, expand commercial export markets for their goods abroad.
• The Farm Bill also facilitates export financing of U.S. agricultural exports, which helped generate sales of more than $4.1 billion of U.S. agricultural exports in 2012 – including high-valued products like port, forest products, almonds, fish and fresh fruit.

A comprehensive Farm Bill will support the growth of global and domestic organic market opportunities by providing critical data, research and program supports for organic farming, sales of which doubled from 2002-2012. These investments also provide valuable information about drought-resistant and soil-conserving practices, which benefit all U.S. agriculture

Farm Bill-authorized programs support the development of physical infrastructure and technical assistance to locally-based organizations engaged in marketing, food safety and production research and training. Between 2009 and 2012, USDA supported over 2,600 projects nationwide to build new market opportunities in local and regional foods.

Passage of comprehensive Farm Bill also is necessary to resolve the Brazil WTO dispute, which if not resolved is likely to result in trade retaliation against the United States.

A Comprehensive Farm Bill Will Promote Innovation And Productivity By Supporting Key Research Initiatives

Agricultural research and development generates high payoffs for farmers and the public: research shows that investing in agricultural R&D generates social rates of return of 20-60% annually.

• Between 1948 to 2011, U.S. agricultural output grew at an average annual rate of 1.5 percent, and total farm production more than doubled– with innovation-driven productivity growth accounting for most of this growth.
• Research programs today address a broad array of problems facing U.S. agriculture including food supply and security, bio-energy development, increased climate variability, plant and animal health, water availability and quality, food safety, and nutrition and childhood obesity.

A comprehensive Farm Bill provides the opportunity to recommit to targeted public sector investments in agricultural R&D, as supported by groups across the spectrum including the American Enterprise Institute and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

• The Farm Bill supports competitive grants programs as well as funds research, education, and extension activities that provide science-based solutions to address major agricultural challenges of national, regional, and multi- state importance.
• With the help of one such grant, University of Illinois scientists combined ultrasound and chlorine washing treatments to reduce the number of E. coli 0157:H7 in spinach to 99.99 percent.
• Another funded projected produced power and chemical products from an existing pulp and paper mill, protecting at least 100 jobs in North and South Carolina.

The Farm Bill would also help identify priority areas for new and continuing USDA research. A comprehensive bill specifically would support the study of Colony Collapse Disorder, which threatens the health of honey bees and the economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations in the United States.

USDA Works to Rebuild US Economy

Here is this week's column by Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack:

This past week, President Obama laid out a vision for America’s economic future.

Since day one, the Obama Administration has been focused on our nation’s economic recovery, and over recent years we’ve seen positive signs of growth.

Businesses have created more than 7 million new jobs during the past 40 months. The housing market is coming back. Led by the tremendous productivity of America’s farmers and ranchers, our nation’s exports are growing.

But we also know that much remains to be done, and there’s no excuse for letting up. The President is squarely focused on building a strong middle class. He is committed to ensuring that every American has the opportunity to secure a good job, a quality education, a dependable place to call home, a secure path to retirement and affordable health care with decent benefits.

Those opportunities are just as important for folks who call rural America home. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we have laid out a vision to rebuild the rural economy and create a strong middle class in rural America. In recent years we’ve expanded markets for agriculture and rural business, while laying the groundwork for new growth in the coming generation.

With Washington suffering from too much gridlock today, President Obama pledged that he’ll do everything within his executive power to keep making progress. At USDA we’ll continue our own efforts, building on the record results we’ve achieved in recent years.

Meanwhile we will continue to work with Congress to break the gridlock and accomplish big things. For rural America, Congress must act as soon as possible to pass a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill, which is crucial for USDA’s efforts to grow the rural economy and provide new income in rural communities.

Additionally, by fixing America’s broken immigration system, Congress can strengthen American agriculture, grow the rural economy, and create a common-sense system that works for farmers and farm workers alike.

Over the coming months, President Obama will continue to discuss his vision for a strong middle class. He’ll outline steps that can be taken by the administration, by Congress and by other partners to help grow the economy. Folks in our small towns and rural communities can help lead the way on that effort, and USDA will stand with rural America every step of the way.

Benefits of a Climate Action Plan for Rural America

U.S. Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack's weekly column:

This past week, folks across the nation have come together with family and friends to celebrate America’s independence – and millions are enjoying the great outdoors.

That’s why this is an appropriate time to remember that we must protect America’s natural treasures for generations to come. A changing climate poses new threats to this goal – from an increased risk of severe wildfire, to more intense storms, to worse problems from invasive pests.

Last week, President Obama outlined a Climate Action Plan to responsibly cut carbon pollution, slow the effects of climate change and put us on track to a cleaner environment.

We’ve already started making progress toward these goals. Carbon pollution from the energy sector fell to the lowest level in two decades last year, thanks in part to renewable energy from rural America.

But we can and must do more. The President’s plan will apply new efficiency standards for energy creation. It will expand permits for renewable energy, like wind and solar, on public lands – while supporting the creation of biofuel across the countryside. It also calls for partnership with the auto industry to develop cleaner vehicles that will save folks money.

Even with these steps, we know that climate change can’t be reversed overnight. That’s why the President’s plan will help America prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. For us at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that includes helping farmers, ranchers and producers adapt to new challenges and create modern solutions.

In recent weeks, USDA has announced the creation of seven new “regional climate hubs” to provide farmers and ranchers with regionally-appropriate information to adapt to climate change. To help researchers and scientists, we’ve opened up data from the largest soil carbon survey ever undertaken, the Rapid Carbon Assessment. And through our online “COMET-FARM” tool, farmers and ranchers can see how conservation practices can help their operation, while protecting the environment.

Additional information about all of these efforts is available at www.usda.gov/climatesolutions.

Rural Americans have a long history of innovation, and a strong commitment to conservation. These efforts are more important than ever as we face the challenges posed by a changing climate. At USDA, we’ll support producers in adapting to new threats, while helping rural America innovate to lead the world against this modern challenge.