2010

Bend, Oregon – Panels of economic experts, elected officials, community leaders and state agencies once again 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 28.

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan visited with the  students, faculty and administrators at the University of New Hampshire as part of USDA’s ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ college tour.

Deputy Secretary Merrigan had the opportunity to learn about current research efforts from staff at UNH’s College of Life Sciences and Agriculture including research on strawberry genomics conducted by Thomas M. Davis, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences.

Over 250 attended the Broadband Workshop on Ground Hog Day (Feb.

On a Friday filled with forecasts of freezing rain and snow advisories, more than 170 attendees became an overflow crowd at John A.

The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Farm Service Agency in Louisiana hosted a Jobs and Economic Growth Roundtable in Alexandria, bringing together more than 30 community leaders, business owners, and residents from across the state to discuss what is needed to create jobs and economic development in rural Louisiana.</

It is difficult for most people to comprehend the distances and diversity we face here in California.  For example: the distance from Smith River, in the Northwest corner of California, to Winterhaven, in the Southeast corner, is the same distance as it is from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

Ideas ranging from opening a beef slaughterhouse to attracting more investment in renewable energy came from the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth co-sponsored by USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency at Western Nevada College in Carson City, Nevada.  Nearly 100 people braved snow and cold on Thursday, January 21, to listen and share their ideas.

It was my pleasure as State Director of USDA Rural Development in Nevada to welcome officials from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (a part of Rural Development) to Reno earlier this week to discuss exciting opportunities to extend broadband to unserved and underserved parts of the United States.

Things were “rolling” at Park Lanes in Newton, Illinois Thursday morning for Rural Development’s Road Show.  This was our fifth Road Show where we shared how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) can help do what’s needed in rural communities.  This time we met with “scores” of our east central Illinois neighbors at a restaurant and bowling alley where everyone “spared” no time in asking questions.

About 60 people representing business, banking, government, Native American Tribes, and general citizenry throughout western Washington, attended a public forum on jobs and economic growth on the evening of Jan. 26, at the Cowlitz Regional Conference Center in Longview, Washington.