Sara Wyant

There are several places where farmers, rural entrepreneurs and small-town business owners can seek help to create jobs and stimulate the economy in rural areas through farm bill programs, but the most prominent is US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development (RD) mission area. It’s an unsung and some would say underappreciated farm bill “hero” of sorts. With names like “Individual Water & Wastewater Grants,” “Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program,” and “Value-Added Producer Grants,” the offerings are not particularly sexy or flashy. But with more than a $216 billion loan portfolio, there’s plenty of potential. And rural leaders say there is plenty of need.

Shortly before President Donald Trump was inaugurated, leaders of over 200 organizations wrote that the “scope of the investment needed is staggering” across rural America. The letter states that “transportation infrastructure improvement is the most obvious need in rural communities,” but also highlights the “critical needs” that “exist in providing clean water for rural families, expanding broadband to connect rural communities to the outside world, and enhancing the ability to supply affordable, reliable and secure power for the rural economy.”