What Ohio’s data-center boom means for the state’s rural communities
In FERN's latest story, produced with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Mya Frazier explores the damage—physical, economic, and emotional—done to Ohio's rural communities by the explosion of data centers and the electricity generation needed to power those centers.
Three-way Democratic race at House Agriculture Committee
Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig launched a campaign on Monday to be elected the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee, joining two other candidates, California Rep. Jim Costa and Georgia Rep. David Scott, currently the ranking member. Costa and Craig say they will defend SNAP and climate funding in the new farm bill and carry a Democratic message to rural America, a weak spot for the party.
Rural landslide is part of ‘historic realignment’ in Trump victory
President Trump rolled up 63 percent of the vote in rural America, a larger margin than in 2016, on the way to winning a second term in the White House on Tuesday. Farm groups offered to work with him on Wednesday to pass the new farm bill, now 14 months overdue, and to bring high costs under control.
Power cooperative gets $2.5 billion in USDA funding for clean energy
A power cooperative based in the Denver suburbs that supplies electricity to more than a million consumers in the West will receive $2.5 billion in USDA grants and loans for a mammoth solar, wind, and battery energy project, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce on Friday.
Tim Walz knows rural America. J.D. Vance, not so much.
In FERN's latest story, published with The New York Times, senior editor Ted Genoways unpacks the GOP's hollow embrace of rural America over the last quarter century and makes the case that Tim Walz can help Democrats win back some farm country voters.
Poll: ‘Walz is more country than Vance’
Americans generally find Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be more “authentic” than Ohio Sen. JD Vance, according to an Axios Vibes poll about the Democratic and Republican nominees for vice president released on Wednesday. And by 41 percent to 35 percent, they say Walz, the Democrat, understands the issues affecting rural and small-town America better than Vance, the Republican.
Disease is factor in higher death rate in rural America
While the U.S. mortality rate is lower than in the 1960s, the urban rate has declined more rapidly than the rural rate, especially in the past generation. Three USDA analysts said a notable factor was a higher death rate from disease among working-age people in rural America.
Rural Iowa was important but not decisive for Trump, says analysis
Former president Donald Trump won 60 percent of the rural vote in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, well above his statewide total of 51 percent. But his victory Monday in the first-in-the-nation test of voter support for presidential candidates was built on the vote in towns, where most Iowans live, said a Daily Yonder analysis.
After years of losses, rural population is growing slowly
Rural America, home to one in seven Americans, “is growing again after a decade of overall population loss” and is now home to 46 million people, said the USDA’s “Rural America at a Glance” report on Wednesday. Rural employment has recovered from the job losses of the pandemic, and 1 percent of rural workers hold clean energy jobs, about the same number as are employed in fossil fuels.
Biden to announce $5 billion in funding for land stewardship and rural development
President Biden will open his administration’s “investing in rural America” blitz on a Minnesota farm on Wednesday with the announcement of $5 billion in funding for soil and water conservation, rural infrastructure, and economic development. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the $1.7 billion allotted for stewardship was the largest single-year injection of money ever into USDA conservation programs.
Biden to launch two-week “investing in rural America” blitz
After three rounds of promoting Bidenomics this fall, President Biden will launch an “investing in rural America” blitz at a farm in southern Minnesota on Wednesday to call attention to the billions of dollars being spent on rural development and agricultural projects. Rural voters …
Rural poverty rate is stable, says Census Bureau
Household income edged downward in rural America in 2022, but the poverty rate held steady at 15 percent, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Median household income in rural America was more than $21,000 lower than in metropolitan areas, helping to explain why rural poverty rates are higher than the U.S. average.
Grants will help small and rural schools improve meals
Some 264 school districts across the nation will receive up to $150,000 apiece for projects to improve the nutritional quality of the meals served in small and rural schools, said the USDA on Monday. Nearly $30 million will be distributed through the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small.
Cost-share grants for rural renewable energy
The USDA will award up to $1 billion in grants to help farmers and rural small businesses install renewable energy systems or make energy-efficiency improvements to their property, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Rural America is growing older faster than urban America
For the first time, more than one in five rural Americans is over the age of 65, said the Agriculture Department on Tuesday, and rural America is aging more rapidly than the rest of the country. The rural workforce is shrinking in number but becoming more racially diverse.
Broadband projects nationwide get $759 million in USDA funds
In the biggest USDA broadband announcement of the year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday that 49 projects will receive $759 million to bring high-speed internet access to rural communities from North Carolina to California. With the new funding, the USDA has awarded $1.6 billion through the third round of ReConnect grants and loans this year.
Rural broadband projects get $500 million in USDA funding
The Biden administration announced a half a billion dollars in grants and loans for high-speed internet projects in rural areas from Alaska to Alabama on Thursday, with more awards expected soon. The 2021 infrastructure bill set aside billions of dollars for broadband access, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “We now have, genuinely, an opportunity to cover all of rural America.”
Survey: Farmers’ outlook improves, but higher input costs loom as major concern
U.S. commodity growers are feeling a little better about their prospects for the coming year than they were last month, but a number of major concerns persist and overall farmer sentiment remains far gloomier than a year ago, according to the Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer for August.