rural

At a Town Hall meeting in Burlington, Vermont, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of Vermont Renewable Energy Company for a USDA Rural Development Business and Industry Loan Guarantee for a $10 million loan given by Community National Bank. The funds will be used to provide essential capital to establish a new pellet processing plant at the former furniture manufacturing facility in Island Pond, Vermont.

Over 100 people gathered in St.

The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Farm Service Agency in Louisiana hosted a Jobs and Economic Growth Roundtable in Alexandria, bringing together more than 30 community leaders, business owners, and residents from across the state to discuss what is needed to create jobs and economic development in rural Louisiana.</

Ideas ranging from opening a beef slaughterhouse to attracting more investment in renewable energy came from the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth co-sponsored by USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency at Western Nevada College in Carson City, Nevada.  Nearly 100 people braved snow and cold on Thursday, January 21, to listen and share their ideas.

About 60 people representing business, banking, government, Native American Tribes, and general citizenry throughout western Washington, attended a public forum on jobs and economic growth on the evening of Jan. 26, at the Cowlitz Regional Conference Center in Longview, Washington.

Despite unexpected snowfall and cold temperatures, more than 50 people participated in a forum on jobs creation in Kentucky on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University on Tuesday.

Today, the White House launched an interactive online feature with video reports from members of President Obama’s Cabinet.  In his message, Secretary Vilsack addresses the USDA’s accomplishments from 2009, and also talks about how we plan to make life better Americans in the year ahead. To see the Secretary’s statement, click here.

Ohio’s difficult economic conditions, coupled with a genuine desire to create more statewide employment opportunities, prompted more than 120 Ohioans to participate in the state’s January 21, 2010 Jobs Forum.

Panels of economic experts, elected officials, community leaders and state agencies presented information in conjunction with Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) for a jointly hosted USDA Forum on Jobs & Economic Growth on January 21. The forum was held in Albany, a community with a 14 percent unemployment rate, well above the national rate.

With unemployment rates above ten percent across the region, families and businesses in West Tennessee are especially hard hit by the economic downturn. Last Thursday, business and other community leaders met federal, state and local economic development officials at the University of Tennessee Extension Experiment Station in Jackson to discuss what can be done to speed recovery and create long-term economic stability across the state.