US agriculture: Diverse and vibrant

One hundred and fifty years ago, when he created the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Abraham Lincoln could not have envisioned an agricultural industry as diverse and vibrant as ours is today. With support from USDA, our farmers and ranchers are seeing record incomes and record agricultural exports. Food businesses are thriving. And strong enterprises are developing at the local level, building local and regional foods into a multibillion-dollar industry that is one of the fastest-growing segments of agriculture.

Local and regional food is only one small part of our work at USDA, but in recent days, it has received some special attention. One week ago, we announced the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass, an interactive Web-based document and map that highlights USDA support for local and regional food projects. It looks at case studies of farmers, ranchers, businesses and communities using this new segment of agriculture to create jobs and economic growth.

The compass charts the tremendous progress of regional food enterprise development in just the last two and a half years. In 2009, I launched the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (KYF) initiative, a management effort to coordinate USDA’s support for local and regional food systems across our many agencies. KYF is the public face of our commitment to help agricultural operations of all sizes take advantage of these new opportunities, meet the growing demand for local and regional food and succeed in America’s diverse marketplace.

Since then, nearly 4,500 hoop houses have been developed on farms across the country with support from USDA. These structures function as temporary greenhouses, helping farmers extend their growing seasons to sell produce into local markets during the colder months.

We’ve also supported the growth of farmers markets. In addition to supporting the bottom line for producers, these are places where Americans can learn about farming, and the important role it plays in their lives — even if they live in a big city. To help producers serve larger institutional customers such as schools and hospitals, USDA has helped fund new regional infrastructure such as cold storage warehouses, commercial kitchens and local slaughter facilities.

The KYF initiative is also having an impact on the future of farming and agriculture. Our support for local and regional food is helping recruit and retain a new generation of farmers and ranchers. Many young and beginning farmers start out in local markets. Some stay there, and some scale up.

Local and regional food systems are about opportunity — the opportunity for our country’s farmers, ranchers and growers to meet growing customer demand, the opportunity for entrepreneurs to create jobs at small businesses such as local food processors, distributors, food hubs and markets.

The KYF initiative was also an opportunity for USDA to better coordinate the work of agencies with a hand in local and regional food systems development. For example, through KYF, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, Agricultural Marketing Service and Rural Development agencies worked together to expand the number of farmers markets that accept electronic benefits cards for nutrition programs such as SNAP (food stamps). We streamlined the vendor application process for markets and agencies within their respective authorities to fund the technology that processes the benefits. The number of farmers markets that accept electronic nutrition benefits grew by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2011, creating new income opportunities for producers serving these markets. 

In the years to come, I am confident that we’ll continue to see these new local and regional markets expand along with our strong national and export markets. Local and regional food systems will play an important role in revitalizing America’s rural communities by spurring job growth, keeping more wealth in the local economy and keeping more farmers on their land. It is work we all can be proud of.

Vilsack is secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served as governor of Iowa.

More from The Hill's Special Report on Agriculture:
♦ Sen. Stabenow: Growth for agriculture critical for creating jobs
♦ Rep. Lucas: In difficult times, we need balanced farm bill
♦ Rev. Beckmann: Strengthen role in aiding famine victims
♦ Marsom: Wise farm-bill investments could boost economy, health