north dakota

Two women have been helping make an environmental impact in Stark County, North Dakota for nearly two decades. Lyla Schulz, 91, and Jean Herauf, 90, have each volunteered over 1,000 hours doing routine office work to allow conservationists with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to spend more time working directly with farmers and ranchers.

After a long, blizzard-filled winter, Earth Day was celebrated April 29 in Lidgerwood, North Dakota.  USDA Rural Development delivered the latest in a number of loans and grants to help offset the cost of a $1.58 million project to provide safe drinking water to the city.  Lidgerwood’s leaders first learned of arsenic in their water supply twenty-three years ago.  After a number of other methods failed to solve the problem, the city eventually joined a regional rural water district.  Rural Development North Dakota State Director, Jasper Schneider said the USDA is proud to partner with the city and other funding sources to make safe and reliable water a reality for its 700 citizens.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan was invited to address the participants at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s 30^th Annual Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, earlier this week.  During the presentation, the Deputy Secretary highlighted the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food effort.  She outlined the critical connection between farmers and consumers and the importance of local and regional food systems to increase economic opportunity in rural America. In addition, Deputy Secretary Merrigan informed the audience that 50 percent of U.S. Department of Agriculture employees will be eligible for retirement by 2013.  It is anticipated that many job opportunities and possibilities will become available.  Therefore, USDA will be seeking college graduates with a variety of educational backgrounds to replenish its’ workforce.

Earlier this month, acting USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Doug O’Brien heard one testimonial after another from a variety of people who thanked the federal government for providing funding and services to a portion of western North Dakota that was hard hit by outmigration two decades ago.

The area has been designated one of seven “Great Regions” in the nation by USDA Rural Development.  However, sixteen years prior it was named a Rural Economic Area Partnership or a “REAP” pilot project by then-Senator Byron Dorgan.  On February 16, a celebration was held in Dickinson that attracted the non-profit’s board members, community leaders, business owners, and USDA personnel who provided technical assistance over the years.

USDA Rural Development State Director Jasper Schneider, and staff, recently toured seven rural communities in southwestern North Dakota as part of USDA’s ongoing commitment to rural communities.  Schneider participated in conversations with community leaders to identify ways Rural Development programs can most effectively work to improve the quality of life and increase economic opportunity in the region.

Today, November 18, 210, Basin Electric Power Cooperative based in Bismarck, ND, will receive a USDA Rural Development Rural Utilities loan guarantee for $153,396,000 for two wind projects in Mina, ND.  Together these projects will provide 120 MW of renewable electricity.  Combined with Basin’s previous wind investments, they are expected to represent over 600 MW of wind generation – enough to power the average annual needs of 175,000 homes.

Earlier this week I was honored to participate in an event here at USDA that marked National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.  Billy Mills, 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist addressed a capacity audience, sharing his life story and observations about how America and the world’s diversity can be a force, not to drive us apart, but to bring us together.

What better way to celebrate National School Lunch Week than visiting winners of our USDA HealthierUS School Challenge! It was an honor to visit North Dakota and Texas schools that are going the extra mile to help children adopt healthier lifestyles. Our winners, the Phoenix, Brenham, and Krause elementary schools, respectively achieved Gold of Distinction and Gold status by providing students safe, nutritious, and healthy meals, in addition to plenty of on-site physical activity.

Born in the first half of the 20^th century, rural electric cooperatives drove the monumental effort to bring electricity to remote areas of the country where investor-owned utilities could not make a profit.  Owned by their members and not-for-profit organizations, rural electric cooperatives have been providing safe, reliable and affordable electric power for 75 years.

When Taylor Grabanksi, a 23-year-old beginning farmer in Walsh County, North Dakota, heard about the Farm Service Agency’s Transition Incentive Program (TIP) he knew this was a program he wanted to check out.