Release No. 0015.97 Backgrounder OVERVIEW On Jan. 17, 1997, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman launched the Clinton Administration's Fund for Rural America. The Fund unites the many rural development efforts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture into one strategy aimed at addressing the most pressing needs in rural America and improving the quality of life for our citizens there. The Fund will tackle the backlog in critical needs--safe drinking water, affordable housing, and quality health care and education. It will also take on new challenges -- from bringing rural America into the Information Age to using cutting-edge research to meet the biggest challenges facing agriculture and rural America in the 21st century. Thanks to the Fund for Rural America, children who live in remote areas will have access to a quality education through virtual classrooms.' Rural senior citizens will receive life-saving diagnoses from specialists in hospitals hundreds of miles away. The information superhighway will connect to the country road and further Vice President Gore's effort to give all our citizens the knowledge they need to succeed in a global, information-driven world. The Fund for Rural America will bring science to bear on real-world rural issues -- from conservation to hunger to farm profitability. And thanks to the fund, thousands of rural Americans without a roof over their heads and safe water to drink will soon have it. By applying tomorrow's technology and science to the challenges facing our rural areas today, the Fund for Rural America is a model of good government that will help usher in a new era of prosperity and abundance in our country communities. STRUCTURE The Fund, authorized under Section 793 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR), provides $100 million annually for the next three years. One third of the fund is dedicated to research, education and extension grants. These grants are awarded on a competitive basis and are not targeted to specific priorities. One third of the fund is dedicated to rural development and must be administered through existing rural development programs. One third of the fund is to be used at the agriculture secretary's discretion for either research, education and extension or rural development, or both. Secretary Glickman has designated $20.5 million for rural development, $10 million for USDA research priorities and $2.8 million for a new competitive grant research program to examine ways to improve delivery of agricultural knowledge to rural communities. I. Research, Education, and Extension Fund ($33.3 million annually) The research portion must be awarded on a competitive basis. The request for proposals will be issued this month in the Federal Register. Selections will be based on three objectives: International competitiveness, profitability and efficiency -- how to meet the challenges of the globalization of food, feed, and fiber markets; Environmental stewardship -- how to improve the stewardship of our natural resources in agriculture and forestry; and Rural community enhancement -- how to increase rural employment, boost farm profits, create new crops and advance rural communities. Priority will be given to projects that address all 3 objectives simultaneously. II. Rural Development Fund ($33.3 million annually) The rural development funds will be dispersed through the following four programs: (1) Single Family Housing Direct Loan Program. The Fund will finance the construction or rehabilitation of close to 3,000 single family homes for low-income rural residents who could not otherwise become homeowners. Funding: $17.7 million (2) Water 2000 Initiative. The Fund will pay for an estimated 36,000 families to receive safe drinking water. Funding: $9.1 million (3) Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants. The Fund will advance educational opportunities to more than 175,000 students and improve health care for 400,000 rural residents. Funding: $4.5 million (4) Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants. The fund will finance new housing units. Funding: $2 million III. Secretary's Discretionary Fund ($33.3 million annually) Rural Development ($20.5 million) Secretary Glickman will use a portion of his discretionary monies to increase funding for the Single Family Housing Direct Loan Program by $2.3 million and distance learning and telemedicine grants by $2 million. The remaining funds will be distributed among the following programs: (1) Socially Disadvantaged Outreach Program. Through partnerships with community based organizations and educational institutions, this program will provide training and technical assistance to more than 8,000 small farmers and ranchers in 23 states to help them operate a farm or ranch independently. Funding: $4.5 million (2) Beginning Farmer Loan Programs. The Fund will advance up to the full purchase price of a farm to 38 beginning farmers or it will provide down payment loans to 103 beginning farmers. Funding: $2 million (3) Value-Added, Cooperative Development Service/ Alternative Agricultural Research And Commercialization Corporation (AARC). Cooperative Development Services provide assistance in developing processing operations, for agricultural producers and existing cooperatives, that add value to crops or livestock. AARC, with FRA funds, will conduct an educational campaign for the private capital markets about the investment opportunities in AARC funded companies. It is estimated that the monies raised could translate into more than 1,000 new jobs in rural communities. Funding: $2.2 million (4) Rural Business Enterprise Grants, with FRA funds, will supply 15 grants to assist in the development of new businesses and save or create 772 jobs. Funding: $6.5 million (5) Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Communities Technical Assistance provides technical expertise to address community and economic development problems facing communities designated as Empowerment Zone/Enterprise communities. Funding: $1 million $12.8 million to Research, Education, and Extension Rather than simply allocating this amount into the research third, Glickman is earmarking this funding for research that addresses a limited number of Secretarial priorities. The following areas have been identified as priorities: Research, education, and extension to counter livestock concentration: A concerted research, education and extension effort is needed to give small and moderate-sized producers tools and knowledge to keep them competitive including low input or integrated production and management techniques as well as developing new markets and marketing strategies. Additional economic research to analyze concentration issues in livestock and poultry industries is also included in this effort. Food Safety: A program to focus on helping small establishments implement the new Hazard Analysis and Critical Point (HACCP)/Pathogen Reduction system through education, and technology transfer is needed. Research, education, and extension to identify and utilize phytonutrients with cancer-prevention potential in the design of functional foods for disease prevention: Further research is needed to understand theindependent and interactive effects of phytonutrients (plant-derived chemicals) and to identify additional protective components. Genetic engineering techniques make it possible to transfer, enhance or suppress specific genes from one plant species to another for the development of "functional foods." Functional foods refer to any modified food or food ingredient with the potential to provide a health benefit and to prevent against disease. Research, education, and extension to promote increased gleaning and food recovery to provide food for hungry and needy people: Current information and data are needed to target efforts at the source(s) of greatest food loss in order to facilitate an expansion in gleaning and food recovery activities. Methods to extend the shelf life of recovered food and food safety training for consumers and those involved in gleaning and food recovery programs are also needed. Telecommunications Research: America is moving from an industrial age to an information- or knowledge-based economy. Glickman has pledged to provide the same economic opportunity for those living in small towns and rural areas as for those living in cities. The ability of rural Americans to access and use rural and agriculturally based information is critical to ensuring equal opportunity for economic growth. To help achieve this goal, $2.8 million in competitive grants will be awarded through a separate request for proposals (RFP) for the following: - proposals to examine the needs, limitations, applicability, and use of existing and cutting-edge telecommunications technologies and systems in rural America; - proposals to examine the application of digital library technologies to further education of rural Americans and to improve dissemination of research results; and - proposals to examine the interaction among people, technology, and knowledge; create new and more user friendly applications of the information and the technology; and identify barriers to adoption and use by citizens of rural America. INFORMATION CONTACTS For more information on the FRA, contact Jim Newby at (202) 720-9365 on rural development programs, and Colien Hefferan at (202) 720-7441 on the competitive grants program for research, education, and extension activities. Once the RFP is published in the federal register, it will be available on the World Wide Web at http://www.reeusda.gov and/or by calling (202) 401-5048. After the RFP is issued, for information on the competitive grants program, contact Pat O'Brien at (202) 401-1761. January, 1997 # NOTE: USDA news releases and media advisories are available on the Internet. Access the USDA Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.usda.gov