United States Department of Agriculture: Rural Development

by: Iola Bonggay

I've always wondered how small towns and cities operate. I've always been fascinated by tightly-knitted communities and places where everyone just seems to know everyone.

The United States Government, I suppose, gives great importance to these kind of areas as well. In fact, they find these communities so significant that they decided to build an independent agency that strategically designed to cater to their unique needs and interests.

Of course, I am referring to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency, which is more commonly known as USDA RD.

USDA Rural Development is an agency that is operating under the United States Department of Agriculture. The primary goal of the USDA RD is to assist in the improvement of the economy and quality of life in rural areas located in the United States.

The agency was established under the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994 and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act.

The USDA RD's efforts are geared towards the improvement and further development of rural life in general. It has programs that are intended for supporting fundamental public services and facilities such as water and sewage systems, health clinics, housing services, electric and telephone services, and emergency saving facilities.

  (continued...)

United States Department of Agriculture: Rural Development
  Page 2

About The Author Iola Bonggay is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. She also maintains Websites providing resources on education grant money and civic engagement grants.

Additional Resources

category - Applying for a Grant

Applying for a Grant - Where and How
Applying for a grant used to be a difficult and tedious process. The applications were long and often difficult to obtain. Even worse, loans used to be difficult to locate. Unless you were extremely ...

---

National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences
NASA has recently established the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) program for the year 2011, which encourages interested institutions to submit proposals that involve ground-based research and technology investigations that seek to comprehend naturally occurring phenomena, both in the Earth and in space.

---

Origin-Destination Database of Border Traffic Flows for Transportation Planning
The Federal Highway Administration has recently announced a cooperative agreement entitled, Origin-Destination Database of Border Traffic Flows for Transportation Planning, to support Ontario's Ministry of Transportation in conducting training workshops focused on data collection, and the process of understanding and maximizing the use of the data collected.

---

Department of Agriculture: Value Added Producer Grants
The Value-Added Producer Grants program is geared towards helping the Independent Producers of Agricultural Commodities, Agriculture Producer Groups, Farmer and Rancher Cooperatives, and Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Ventures in developing techniques that would create marketing opportunities and establish business plans involving viable marketing opportunities that involve the production of bio-based products from agricultural commodities.

---