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At USDA, we look every day to support America’s farmers and ranchers stay profitable, safe and successful in their work to provide this country with the reliable and affordable supply of food, fiber – and increasingly – fuel we need.  This week, National Farm Safety and Health Week, President Obama signed a proclamation reflecting the importance of America’s producers to the strength of our nation.

Read the full text of the proclamation here.

Last week, I visited the city of Pittsburgh to highlight the American Jobs Act and what it means for Pennsylvanians. This was a special trip for me because Pittsburgh is my hometown and I still have deep family ties there.

In Pittsburgh, I led a White House Business Council roundtable hosted by Point Park University. It was one of a series of meetings being held across the country to give senior Obama Administration officials an opportunity to hear directly from business leaders about their ideas on how to grow the economy. The roundtable also provided me an opportunity to discuss USDA programs and other federal resources that help businesses, residents and communities.

Cross posted from the White House blog:

This week, I served as keynote speaker for a special conference in Great Falls, Montana, convened by Rural Dynamics Incorporated.  The theme of the conference  was “Mobilizing Rural Communities” and included participants representing a host of private, public, and non-profit participants.  It has been less than three months since President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the first White House Rural Council.  The Great Falls conference provided an opportunity to connect with many great folks from the Northern Plains Region, who are working on a daily basis on local projects and local partnerships to further the economic development and vitality of rural areas.

The group was very interested to learn more about the work of the White House Rural Council.  We discussed President Obama’s priority of ensuring that rural areas have additional opportunities for economic investment and available working capital.  We also discussed the need for innovation in the areas of high-speed Internet, renewable energy opportunities, as well as enhancements in education and health care.  Topics involving natural resource-related business enterprises, public works, and forestry – all key focus areas for the White House Rural Council—were also discussed.

Last week, I visited the Port of Miami to see firsthand how job creators in this country are making, innovating and exporting ‘Made in America’ goods.

The port was busy with container ships on-loading goods for export.  But if the Port doesn’t make some changes to their infrastructure, they risk losing out on business from the new, larger container ships that will start flowing through the Panama Canal in 2014.

So they are beginning work on a major transportation tunnel and a deep-dredge project that will provide jobs for construction workers today, and keep the Port of Miami among the busiest in the nation.

Cross posted from the White House blog:

On Saturday, I visited the Port of Miami to see firsthand the success story of American agriculture and the jobs it is creating. Despite historic natural disasters, our agriculture business is booming.

There is no doubt that these have been tough times.  And it’s very tough for the many Americans who are looking for work.  So we’ve got to keep finding ways to help the unemployed in the short term and rebuild the middle class over the long term.

President Obama has focused on that challenge since his first day in office.  And it’s why he spoke to Congress to lay out the way forward to grow the economy and create jobs.

The American Jobs Act he proposed will have an immediate impact.  It contains common sense proposals that will create jobs now.  And it is based on bipartisan ideas that both Democrats and Republicans have supported in the past.  

I just went to the Capitol to hear the President address Congress about the way forward to grow the economy and create jobs.

There is no doubt that these have been tough times.  And it's very tough for the many Americans who are looking for work.  So we’ve got to keep finding ways to help the unemployed in the short term and rebuild the middle class over the long term.

The American Jobs Act that President Obama laid out this evening will have an immediate impact.  It will create jobs now.  And it is based on bipartisan ideas that both Democrats and Republicans have supported in the past.

In June, President Obama established the Rural Council, which is chaired by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.  As a result, numerous rural roundtables have been held and will continue to be held throughout the country.

Revitalizing rural America is a priority to this Administration.  The rural roundtables are an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input, identify challenges and make recommendations.

On my recent trip to the great state of Alabama, my USDA colleagues from Rural Development, Farm Services Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture supported me at a rural roundtable held in the community of Dothan.  We had excellent attendance and constructive input from community leaders attending.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to get out of Washington, DC and travel to small towns and farm towns in the heartland of the country. I sat down with small business owners, farmers and ranchers in Iowa; I had lunch with veterans in Cannon Falls, Minnesota; and I talked to plant workers at a seed distributor in Atkinson, Illinois.

Cross-posted from the White House blog.

Today, the President announced several important new initiatives to continue strengthening the rural economy and to create jobs in rural areas.

As part of the White House Rural Council’s efforts to improve federal government coordination on rural economic development, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have been focused on rural small business growth. And for good reason: Half the people who work in America either own or work for a small business, and two out of three new private sector jobs are created by small businesses.