2018 Farm Bill-simplifying rural development
Over the years, rural development programs have multiplied and morphed
to the point where it’s difficult for farmers, small businesses, entrepreneurs
and rural communities to determine which programs are appropriate for the
projects they need help with. The 2018 Farm Bill offers a great opportunity to
consolidate and simplify programs to improve transparency and make them more
user-friendly as well as easier to administer.
The USDA’s Rural Development offices run programs that help improve the
economy and quality of life in rural America through grants and loan guarantees
for essential services such as housing, economic development, health care,
first responder services and equipment and water, electric and communications
infrastructure. In 2015, Rural Development invested nearly $30 billion in more
than 170,000 projects nationwide. That includes loans for single family
dwellings as well multi-family buildings. Funds also went to build nearly 1,000
health care centers, schools, libraries and public safety facilities and bring
the Internet to nearly 280,000 homes, businesses and public facilities.
That’s a lot of help for rural communities and families. The problem is
not that the money is not well spent, but that it’s hard for folks to know
which program best fits their situation since the programs overlap. Each was
created, over the course of a number of farm bills, to fill a gap or cover a
pet project of a Representative or a Senator or meet the wishes of a special
interest group. It’s time to make sense out of the multitude of programs and
revamp them in a way that works better for everyone involved.
We’ve found in our consulting business that organizations sometimes find
it necessary to call in people to help them sort things out. And if they apply
to one program that wasn’t exactly right, then they need assistance to identify
a program that’s a better fit and reformat their information for the new
application. Whether it’s building an ethanol plant or a digester, several
different rural development programs might be appropriate. The Advanced Biofuel
Payment Program, the Repowering Assistance Program and the Biorefinery,
Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program all
sound similar. These groups really shouldn’t need to hire a consultant to sort
through the programs and the applications.
Fewer programs with broader categories would make things much clearer
for applicants. We need to get away from requiring the people served by rural
development programs to fill out multiple applications. Apply once and get a clear
yes or a no.
We know simplifying and consolidating programs can be an effective
approach because of the effort in the 2014 Farm Bill to combine conservation
programs to make them easier to understand and apply for as well as administer.
The Congress worked together to take nearly two dozen conservation programs and
boiled them down to four to six, depending on how you count, without a hiccup. Now
conservation programs are more straightforward and easier to implement.
I think we can do the same in the next farm bill for rural development.
In fact, last time around the Senate Agriculture Committee wanted to move in
this direction, but the House wouldn’t go along. Let’s give consolidation and
simplification another try. It makes sense for rural America, for the taxpayers
and for the program administrators as well.
About the author: Bruce I.
Knight, Principal, Strategic Conservation Solutions, was the Under Secretary
for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, Knight served as Chief of Natural
Resources Conservation Service. The South Dakota native worked on Capitol Hill
for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Fred Grandy, Iowa, and Sen. James
Abdnor, South Dakota. In addition, Knight served as vice president for public
policy for the National Corn Growers Association and also worked for the
National Association of Wheat Growers. A third-generation rancher and farmer
and lifelong conservationist, Knight operates a diversified grain and cattle
operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems
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