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Strategies to Revitalize Rural America The Senate version of the 2002 farm bill provided new funding for such programs in rural communities, but it was dropped in the final version. It is urgently needed. The final farm bill did authorize a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Authority to support re- search, education, and linking programs to assist beginning farmers and ranchers. But though the program was authorized, it was provided no money to operate. One new program that did get farm bill funding is the Value Added Agricultural Grants program. It received $250 million to establish new value -added initiatives, high value marketing initiatives, and cooperatives that strengthen small and mid -size farms and increase the rural share of food system profit. That $250 million will do far more to create a future for family farming and ranching than it would do in farm program payments. The farm bill also provides financing for rural community investments in high speed Internet access. That is a start, but more policy initiatives will be needed. To succeed, rural small businesses must have quality Inter- net service to link them to the regional and national economy. Integrating Community Revitalization into Existing Policy A national rural policy must ensure that all relevant areas of policy are consciously designed to strengthen rural communities. There will not be enough money to solve the problem through new rural development programs if the rest of federal policy ignores or undermines rural America. Farm policy demonstrates the wrong approach. It is implicitly a policy to depopulate rural America and un- dermine rural communities. Its bias toward consolidating farming into big- units, its structuring of farm payments in a manner that causes them to accrue to often distant landowners instead of local farm operators, and the emphasis in its research programs on approaches that shift food system profit out of agricultural communities and into metropolitan- based input suppliers have all contributed to rural decline. One step in creating a national rural policy is to fix farm policy so it helps rather than hurts rural communi- ties. Key steps include: • farm payment caps, • establishing a competition policy that provides fair market access to family farmers and ranchers, • expansion of value -added programs that enable producers to capture a fair share of food system profit, and • awarding federal applied agricultural research grants based in part on whether the research would strengthen or weaken rural communities. Conservation and Rural Development Rural development can likewise be incorporated in conservation policy. The rural communities that are thriv- ing are those with environmental assets — lakes and mountains. They are thriving because people want to live there, and when they do, they strengthen the local economy by starting businesses or spending retirement income. Page 2