January 2010

José Otero-García, USDA Rural Development State Director, and Juan Ortiz, Farm Service Director, Sponsored a Presidential Roundtable Forum on job creation for Puerto Rico. The roundtable follows the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth that President Obama hosted at the White House on December 3, 2009.

At an event at the National Museum of American History on Thursday, Kevin Concannon,Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, signed a gift of transfer donating a collection of historic food coupons, proof sheets, early artist designs, printers plates and sample Electronic Benefit Transfer cards showcasing nearly 40 years (1960 – 2009) of the Food Stamp Program (FSP).</p

USDA Rural Development State Director Patty Clark and Kansas FSA State Executive Director Adrian Polansky hosted a roundtable on job creation and economic growth in association with the 2010 Kansas Workforce Summit in Topeka. The “Rural Jobs Roundtable” was a special session at the summit and a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama.

Panels of economic experts, elected officials, community leaders and state agencies presented information in conjunction with Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) for a jointly hosted USDA Forum on Jobs & Economic Growth on January 21. The forum was held in Albany, a community with a 14 percent unemployment rate, well above the national rate.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus at the Pentagon this morning to sign a key Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to encourage the development of advanced biofuels and other renewable energy systems.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sponsored a Presidential Roundtable Forum on job creation for South Carolina at Clemson Research and Education Center in Columbia today, bringing together about 60 community leaders to brainstorm solutions to high unemployment numbers and the impact on rural areas.

Don’t cut education and don’t cut technology! That was one of the main messages coming out of a lively discussion at a Jobs Forum in Boulder City, Nevada on January 14. The forum was sponsored by the Nevada offices of USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency.

“They want our Idaho onions” commented panelist Margie Watson, referencing exporting onions to Dubai for the blooming colossal onion for a steakhouse in Dubai, “but the paperwork is staggering” further discussing the challenges if the load of produce has to stop anywhere before it gets to its destination.

Rural Development and Farm Service Agency staff in Arkansas joined forces to conduct two Jobs Forums across the State.  These Forums were a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama.

With unemployment rates above ten percent across the region, families and businesses in West Tennessee are especially hard hit by the economic downturn. Last Thursday, business and other community leaders met federal, state and local economic development officials at the University of Tennessee Extension Experiment Station in Jackson to discuss what can be done to speed recovery and create long-term economic stability across the state.