GUEST COLUMN: Best days lie ahead for the rural economy

By: 
Julie Lassa
Special to NEW Media

I grew up on my family’s small dairy farm in central Wisconsin. It is there I learned the value of hard work and the importance of neighbors helping neighbors. These values led me to public service on the local town board and state legislature where I represented central Wisconsin residents. Under the leadership of President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, I am honored to continue working on ways to help rural residents and strengthen communities through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A couple of weeks ago, Biden used his first State of the Union address to talk about where our country has been and where we are going. The president mentioned a lot we can be proud of and even more to look forward to, especially in rural America. The country has faced deep challenges over the past year, and the people living in rural areas know this better than anyone.

Rural communities are resilient, and when rural America thrives, all America thrives.

That’s why the progress we have made in rural Wisconsin over the past year is a good sign for everyone. By investing in water infrastructure and broadband, rural business opportunities and the American food supply chain, USDA is helping communities build a foundation for sustained economic growth.

For example, the city of Chetek will replace a wastewater treatment plant, originally built in the 1950s, with help from the USDA’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program. I had the opportunity to tour the current plant with city officials to see and hear about the need for this project firsthand. The new plant will address several code violations, allow for future growth, and bring safer wastewater treatment to the city’s more than 2,200 residents.

A great example of how we’re helping to support Wisconsin’s food supply chain is by investing in ag producers and small businesses like Ed and Peggy Callahan, owners of Dream Apple Farm. I had the pleasure to visit their raspberry and apple orchard in Port Washington and see the work that goes into producing their products. I also visited their market store, DreamPort Harvest Market, to hear how they used a $49,500 Value-Added Producer Grant through USDA to expand their business and hire employees through marketing and sales of new products like jams, butters, breads and pies.

Additionally, through programs like the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program and the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, we’re answering the president’s call to create more resilient, diverse and secure supply chains. Promoting competition in the processing sector will lead to fairer prices for farmers, greater value for workers, and more affordable and healthier food produced closer to home for families.

These investments create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas. They help grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out like the president talked about. They contribute to a circular economy where the resources and wealth we build in rural Wisconsin, stay right here in our state.

This is just the beginning. In the State of the Union, Biden committed to build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, begin to replace poisonous lead pipes so every child — and every American — has clean water to drink at home and at school, and provide affordable high-speed internet for every American — urban, suburban, rural and tribal communities.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s plan for the economy is already producing historic wins, and there’s room for everyone to participate, no matter their zip code. That’s why we’re optimistic that our best days lie ahead.

By giving everyone a fair shot and providing equitable access to federal resources, we can do our part to carry out the president’s economic vision. That means making more things here at home, strengthening our supply chains and lowering costs for working families. It means giving people opportunities to make a good living without having to leave the communities they know and love.

For a lot of us, that means staying right here in rural Wisconsin.


Julie Lassa is the Wisconsin state director for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.