04/11/07 Idaho Rural Development funding

USDA has handed out more than 70 billion dollars in grants, loans and loan guarantees since 2001 for Rural Development. It turns out that more than half of that money went to metropolitan regions or communities within easy commuting distance of a midsize city; 30 billion to metropolitan areas with populations of 50 thousand or more. According to Idaho State Director for Rural Development Mike Field the numbers can be deceiving because many small rural communities are actually counted in metro areas like Boise. FIELD "If they have 25 percent of their population that commutes to a large area for jobs then they're considered part of the metropolitan area so Grandview probably is not but I know Marsing and Homedale are. That broader circle that surrounds a metropolitan area usually within 45 to an hour worth of driving will put you in a metropolitan area if there's enough people in that community that drive to a metropolitan area to work" Idaho gets about 110 million dollars per year in Rural Development funds but Field says fewer grants are being made, fewer direct dollars are available and that's why option three gets all the attention. FIELD "We guarantee a bank's loan to an individual or to a community or to a business in a rural area so that the bank can take the risk to loan to that person." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott