Rural economies

Lawmakers, policy people are already starting discussions prepping for the 2023 farm bill. One phrase we're likely to hear quite a lot, especially from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, is this Speaker2: Extraction economy, Speaker1: Extraction economy definition. Speaker2: We take things from the land and off the land. And unfortunately, rather than converting them and value adding them in and close to the rural areas where that natural resource is, they are transported long distances where they are value added in some other location where opportunities and jobs are created elsewhere. Speaker1: Vilsack told a House committee hearing he wants to replace that extraction economy Speaker2: With a circular Speaker1: Economy circular economy Speaker2: In which the wealth is created and stays in rural areas. Speaker1: So he's pushing for policies and programs to encourage more local food processing and bio based product manufacturing, for example. And he said he hopes to work with lawmakers Speaker2: To take a look at how we might be able to do a better job of maintaining and creating wealth in rural communities. Speaker1: Replacing the extraction economy with a circular one Speaker2: We learned during the pandemic that our system, our food system, was not as resilient as we hoped it would be. One of the ways of making it more resilient is to create local and regional opportunities. That's one of the reasons why we are focused on expanding processing capacity that creates local jobs, that allows that revenue and wealth that's created from processing to stay in the community.

Another example is obviously the bio based manufacturing biofuels is one example, but there are multitude of ways in which we can convert agricultural waste product into a wide variety of things beyond renewable energy and fuel to include chemicals, materials, fabrics and fibers, again creating opportunity for farmers and income sources, as well as rural jobs.