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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Friday, April 04, 2025
Years of a sluggish farm economy and an unfolding global pandemic have not slowed ag and rural stakeholder dollars from flowing to political candidates seeking federal office in the 2020 election.
Federal dollars have been a major catalyst in advancing renewable power, but industry officials say that government support going forward could be affected by proposed federal regulatory revisions and possible action in Congress.
With solar and wind power systems getting cheaper and coal prices steadily rising, America's rural areas are, often with the help of grants, loans, and tax breaks, getting in step with the global pursuit of renewable power.
USDA’s new program to expand broadband service in rural America is getting a fresh infusion of cash even as the department has delayed the application process for the first round of grants and loans that appear to be in high demand.
The federal government is making billions of dollars available to expand rural broadband service, but just who is going to spend that money is up for debate.
A USDA savings account for rural electric and telephone cooperatives that allows them to earn substantially more interest than they could from private bankers has become a major source of potential funding for a new farm bill.
Agriculture, food, forestry and renewable energy political action committee donations in the 2018 election cycle remains skewed heavily in favor of the Republican Party, but in the Senate, two incumbent Democrats are reaping the most contributions.
The omnibus funding bill for 2018 that President Donald Trump signed into law last week specifically acknowledges “the importance of the deployment of wireless broadband services in rural areas of the United States.”
Expanding broadband internet to rural America won’t be easy or cheap. But if Microsoft is right, the rural/urban broadband gap could be eliminated within five years.
