USDA Multimedia by Lance Cheung
USDA teamed with rural cooperatives, nonprofit and public agencies, and for-profit utility companies to bring to rural America the modern amenities – electricity, telecommunications, water, and waste disposal services – that had come to be taken for granted in American cities. True to its roots, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) works to raise the standard of living in rural America, where residents in remote areas generally have more difficulty acquiring or maintaining these amenities. Today, RUS’s public-private partnerships generate billions of dollars in rural infrastructure development, keeping technology up to date and establishing new and vital services such as telemedicine and distance learning. One of the most significant rural development initiatives in recent years has been the telecommunications program, which provides loans and grants specifically targeted to the deployment of high-speed broadband service in small towns and communities. The USDA views broadband access not as a mere
A hydraulic-powered arm pushes a compressed hay bale at Heidel Hollow Farms in Germansville, Pa. USDA financial assistance made it possible to replace the hay compactor’s diesel engines with clean, low-maintenance, low-operating-cost electric motors as well as install a solar array that provides up to 70 percent of the farm’s electrical needs.
convenience, but as an essential tool for growing rural communities through the creation and retention of businesses and jobs, and for accessing essential services such as health care and education in remote areas. In most programs, matching funds from participants leverage the government investment. The department has expanded its telecommunications loan and grant programs, bringing new or improved service to nearly 7 million residents,
364,000 rural businesses, and 32,000 community facilities over the last three years. These programs have created or saved 25,000 jobs and expanded access to educational and cultural resources, state-of-theart health care, and the global market for goods and services. RUS has particularly emphasized opportunities for distance learning (servicing 1,440 schools) and telemedicine (3,925 health care facilities). For rural communities of 10,000 people or fewer, RUS administers a number of loans, grants, and loan guarantees for drinking water, sanitary sewer, and solid waste and storm drainage facilities. Often these are direct or guaranteed loans for the construction of new facilities or the improvement of existing ones. In December 2010, for example, Rural Development loaned $109,000 to the village of Uehling, Neb., to help it disconnect from its aging water treatment plant, which no longer met the applicable standards. With the loan, Uehling was able to connect to a local regional water system,
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
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