Rural economies program defended

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack threw more fuel Monday into a simmering spat with the House Agriculture Committee's top Republican, who has criticized federal programs aimed at boosting rural economies.

At a luncheon with agriculture reporters, Mr. Vilsack tartly dismissed as "nonsense" the contention by Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to turn farm communities into "bedroom communities" through its mix of non-farming programs such as rural broadband and alternative energy production.

In a spirited defense of the USDA's rural development programs, Mr. Vilsack said his department's priorities go beyond farm payments and other programs aimed directly at agricultural production.

Failing to diversify the USDA's focus, Mr. Vilsack said, risks continuing the long decline in rural economies, where high poverty is more prevalent now than in suburban and urban communities.

"It is about the renaissance of the rural economy," Mr. Vilsack said, adding that the county with the second-highest poverty rate in the United States is in Mr. Lucas's rural district.

"It's not about bedroom communities. It's about opportunity," Mr. Vilsack said.

Pointing to statistics about rural poverty and the advancing age of farmers, who now average close to 60 years old, Mr. Vilsack said, "If all we do is focus on what we've been focusing on, all we're going to see is more of these charts."

He even grew somewhat bothered by journalists' questions, which initially focused on crop programs, trade and other traditional farm policy issues, saying agriculture reporters, too, need to take a broader approach to rural priorities — or risk losing their audiences as rural America declines.

Mr. Lucas raised the issue at an Agriculture Committee hearing last week, spurred by Mr. Vilsack's opening statement regarding the five-year farm bill that sets farm and food policies; the statement did not mention agricultural production.

Mr. Lucas may receive an opportunity to continue the discussion today, when he is one of the featured speakers at the annual meeting of the North American Agricultural Journalists organization.