Source:  Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, USDA, 6/24/11

Over the past two years, USDA and our federal partners have focused on creating jobs and driving economic growth in rural communities.

At President Obama’s direction, we have built and modernized critical rural infrastructure – providing broadband Internet access to millions of rural Americans and improving roads, bridges and wastewater systems. We have expanded educational opportunities and made quality health care more affordable for rural families. This work is improving the quality-of-life and helping to create jobs in rural communities.

The manufacturing sector is one of the biggest employers in rural America, providing more than 2.5 million good-paying jobs for families and serving as the backbone of communities across the country. But manufacturing was particularly hard hit in the recent recession. So our efforts in rural America are also looking to promote innovation and strengthen the rural manufacturing sector.

We are looking to promote production of biofuels using advanced technologies to create manufacturing jobs building and operating new facilities, and we are supporting jobs in the ongoing production of renewable energy. Our work to expand access to broadband Internet has the potential to bring new, lean, small manufacturers to rural communities – particularly those with a strong, educated work force and a good standard of living.

And the Obama administration’s efforts are paying off. Nationwide, since the beginning of 2010, manufacturing has added almost a quarter of a million jobs – the best period of manufacturing job growth in over a decade. And in rural communities, we have seen a more than 5% increase in manufacturing jobs in the past year.

To continue this progress, the Obama administration is supporting efforts to train and prepare our workforce to compete for manufacturing jobs across the nation. We are working to strengthen our nation’s community colleges, and help them credential students for these jobs.   

We understand what it takes to build a stronger economy. We must invest in the research and technology that will lead to new ideas and new industries of the future. We must manufacture new products right here in America.

Above all, we must train and educate Americans to out-compete workers from other countries. This will strengthen the economy, strengthen the middle class and allow us to win the future.

We know what happens when we believe in the strength and determination of the American people. It’s what happened in Detroit and surrounding with the resurgence and turnaround of the auto industry. They’re hiring again, adding second shifts and rebuilding their communities. And rural America can see the same progress.

Promoting a revitalized manufacturing sector in rural America will not only put folks back to work, it’s critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy.