Credit & Rural Development

Rural Development

Farmer cooperatives contribute directly to the financial and business health of the rural communities in which they and their members operate. Their activities, earnings, and patronage dividends directly support the rural American economy. Federal policies must continue providing rural communities with the tools necessary to sustain and promote economic well-being. Rural development and healthy communities are more than just economics. The driving force behind farmer cooperatives, farmers joining together to help each other solve important problems, often translates into the cooperative playing vital, non-economic roles in promoting the health of their communities.

Farm Credit

The Farm Credit System is a cooperatively-owned network of financial institutions established by Congress to serve as the reliable supplier of competitively priced credit to U.S. farmers, ranchers, agricultural cooperatives, rural utilities, and other rural businesses. The cooperative structure of the Farm Credit System ensures that profits are returned to customer-owners through patronage distributions or are used to support new, mission-related lending activities.

Transportation & Infrastructure

Improving our transportation network must be a national priority deserving urgent attention – sooner rather than later. Most of the U.S. transportation system is rural: 74 percent of bridges and 73 percent of roads. Capacity constraints, structurally deficient bridges, deteriorating roads, and locks and dams long past their expected useful life require our full attention as a nation.

Infrastructure investment goes beyond transportation. For example, broadband infrastructure is essential to keeping rural America connected to the world. Broadband represents the critical link that enables agricultural business, teleworking, distance learning, telemedicine and even relocation of businesses to rural areas. Yet millions of rural Americans lack access to even basic broadband speeds that are taken for granted in urban America today. Access to affordable high-speed internet is vital to ensure the future of rural communities and their economies.