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SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION BY USDA 



1 . Re-examine the current use of $1 45M in Rural Rehabilitation Corporation Trust Funds to 

 assist low income rural people. Encourage national revision of existing "use agreements" 

 to enable states to establish innovative revolving loan and grants programs for new style 

 rural economic development. Special attention should be given to the State of Minnesota 

 which amended its Rural Rehabilitation Corporation Trust Fund "use agreement" in 1 989 

 and has since leveraged its initial $6M principal into a $30M community based 

 public/private partnership model that has helped to build 700 rural industries and small 

 businesses, created 3,700 jobs in communities with populations of 2,500 - 10,000 people 

 and leveraged another $87M in additional private investments over the past four years. 



2. Implement and enforce the recommendations of the 1982 Report of the U.S. Civil Rights 

 Commission entitled The Decline of Black Farming in America," and the July 25, 1990 

 report of the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Operations, with 

 regard to equitable treatment of Black and other farmers of color by the Farmers Home 

 Administration(FmHA) and other USDA agencies. 



3. Fully fund Section 2501 of the 1990 Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade (FACT) 

 Act providing for a $1 million "Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance Program." 



4. Fully implement the sustainable agriculture, integrated farm management, water quality 

 and soil conservation programs specified in the 1990 Food Agriculture, Conservation and 

 Trade Act. 



5. Fully fund Section 2347 of the 1990 FACT Act to provide $50 million annually for Rural 

 Cooperative and Technology Centers. This would provide the applied research, training 

 and development infrastructure to assist communities to plan and activate their own self- 

 help development cooperatives and credit union strategies. 



6. Expand the Farm Ownership and Operating Loan programs and enforce the targeting of 

 FmHA farm ownership and operating loans to Black and other farmers of color to redress 

 past patterns of discrimination. 



7. Research and study the most effective ways to utilize USDA agencies and programs to 

 assist rural families and family farmers. Research is needed on diversification of crops, 

 marketing, cooperatives, added value processing, new product development, international 

 trade and in other areas in context of sustainable and renewable production practices. 

 Many meaningful studies of USDA activities in agriculture and rural development were 

 authorized in the 1990 FACT Act but never implemented for budgetary and staff reasons. 

 This list of studies and reports should be catalogued, analyzed and placed in priority order 

 for implementation by the Clinton-Gore Administration. 



8. Encourage USDA to participate in new inter-agency initiatives to establish a leadership 

 and training program for rural youth and adults in economic and community development, 

 job creation, civic participation, literacy, entrepreneurial and technical training in 

 cooperation with the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education, the 



