Not Just An Urban Issue

When you think of poverty do you automatically think inner city? If so, you’re not alone, most people do, but as Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has been telling people , “90% of the persistently poor counties are actually located in rural areas”. In 2010 the USDA launched the StrikeForce Initiative, a program to help local communities in poverty stricken rural areas. The program started with six states and now partners with more than 400 community based organizations. Recently the USDA added ten more states to the program. Interestingly, though the nation as a whole saw farm lending drop 10 percent between 2011 and 2012, Farm Service Agency loans in StrikeForce areas were up almost 10 percent in 2012 over 2011, program application by underserved producers last year increased by 82 percent in StrikeForce areas, and rural housing loans were up more than 110 percent in 2012. I’ve heard some people ask why we need to focus on rural rather than urban poverty. Simply put, one can’t survive without the other. It is rural ecosystems that provide us with the bulk of the goods that we as humans depend on for survival.