Tom Vilsack: Leading 'an Everyday, Every-Way' USDA

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to make one thing clear, and it's that his agency is not all about farming all the time. Rather, the USDA touches on just about every critical issue affecting the United States and the globe -- including broadband deployment: "As we go out to rural communities, we are talking to them about the stimulus program, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act and what it is basically helping to do in rural America. We talk about the fact that there are resources for broadband, expansion of broadband. There are resources for new housing opportunities, resources to deal with wastewater and water treatment issues, which are important in rural communities, as well as resources to help build everything from libraries and day care centers and fire stations to helping to equip the local police department with new squad cars--basically everything that can help build a strong, vibrant rural community. And the reason that's important to America's farmers and ranchers is that we now see a substantial percentage of those farmers and ranchers needing off-farm income in order to be able to maintain the farm. And so when you build strong rural communities, you create job opportunities for the operators, the farmers and ranchers themselves or their spouses."