By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — When he announced the formation of the first White House Rural Council earlier this month, President Barack Obama pledged it would conduct an intensive listening tour of rural America.

It’s a safe bet that from farmers to finance executives, council members will hear some intriguing suggestions. It’s also likely they will receive a bit of a cold shoulder from some quarters, and perhaps suggestions to ease up on restrictions placed on rural America, as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA) gave it last week.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack will serve as the new council’s chair. When the council was announced, he said the group’s purpose in part was to help increase public-private partnerships in rural areas, free up more capital for investment in energy production and create more jobs.

In the coming months, he said, roundtable discussions will begin. A specific schedule of meetings should be released early next month, a USDA spokeswoman said.

“It’s … an opportunity for us to listen to the American public who live in rural communities about what their hopes and dreams and aspirations are, and how we might be able to do an even better job of meeting those hopes and dreams and aspirations,” Vilsack said.

Two key areas of opportunity, he said, are in energy production and broadband expansion, a key communication improvement lacking for nearly one-quarter of America.

“If we can figure out strategies for greater investment and higher innovation, I think we’re going to see an expansion of renewable fuels, for example,” Vilsack said.  “We’ve already seen the impact of 13 billion gallons of renewable fuel being produced in rural communities across the country today. As we increase that amount, we’re going to see more jobs, we’re going to see less reliance on foreign oil; we’re going to be able to stabilize gas prices.”

The NCBA, in a news release, stated it agrees with most of the goals set for the council, but it first wants to see less federal involvement in some areas now.

Colin Woodall, its vice president of government affairs, said the group has identified nearly 60 regulations for the period covering 2006-17 that it believes pose threats to the U.S. cattle industry. He said 65 percent of those regulations are linked to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“Too often, bureaucrats in Washington look outside the Beltway for an explanation of the shrinking numbers of farmers and ranchers,” Woodall said. “The unfortunate truth, however, is many times, they need to look no further than the confines of Washington, where many of the people who regulate our industry have never been on a farm.

“It’s perplexing that an administration that claims to care about rural America would impose so many costly regulations on the backbone of the rural economy.”