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USDA Invests $97 Million in Rural Broadband Infrastructure to Improve Service for 22,000 Subscribers in 11 States

Projects Will Provide High-Speed Communications Technology to Support Economic and Educational Opportunities

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2018 – Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $97 million in 12 projects (PDF, 104 KB) to provide or improve rural broadband service in 11 states.

“A person’s location should not determine whether he or she has access to modern communications infrastructure,” Secretary Perdue said. “That is why USDA is partnering with businesses and communities by investing in state-of-the-art broadband e-connectivity to remote and rural areas. These investments will expand access to educational, social and business opportunities for 22,000 subscribers to help grow their rural communities and America’s economy.”

USDA is making the investments through the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program and the Community Connect Grant Program. Below are a few examples of the investments USDA is making:

• Chibardun Telephone Cooperative, Inc. in Cameron, Wis., is receiving a $21.4 million loan to improve outside plant facilities in four (Almena, Cameron, Dallas and Ridgeland) of its six exchanges. It will construct 675 miles of fiber-to-the-premises and install associated electronics. It plans to build a fiber-to-the-home network capable of sustaining customer demands in broadband connectivity for the foreseeable future. Chibardun serves Barron and Dunn counties. Approximately 2,700 subscribers will receive improved service as a result of this loan.
• Osage Innovative Solutions, LLC in Tulsa, Okla., is receiving a $2.7 million grant to construct a hybrid fiber-to-the-premises and fixed wireless system in an unserved and economically depressed portion of the Osage Nation in Osage County. The company will offer speeds up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 10 Mbps upload to 139 households and 22 businesses. This project will give customers access to high-quality telecommunications services to improve economic, education and health care opportunities. Osage will provide a community center where residents can access the internet free of charge.
• The Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company, in Green City, is receiving a $13.7 million loan to convert six exchanges from copper plant to fiber-to-the-premises. It will construct nearly 500 route miles of fiber. Northeast Missouri expects to improve service to 1,063 subscribers.

The projects USDA is investing in today will help improve the quality of life in rural communities in Arizona, Iowa, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

These investments underscore USDA’s priority to promote rural economic development by centering around three principles: infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Investing in telecommunications infrastructure connects people to each other: businesses to customers, farmers to markets, and students to a world of knowledge.

In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. As proven by the report, e-connectivity is more than just connecting rural America to rest of the world. It is a vital tool for productivity, education, and health care. These investments will be key catalysts for facilitating rural prosperity through economic development and workforce readiness, and for improving quality of life.

To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

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3 Obstacles To Clear On The Road

To Immigration Reform

Immigration is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time, often dividing Republicans and Democrats as reform measures are discussed. 

Rather than build a wall along the border as President Donald Trump has suggested, a Mexican-American immigration attorney who’s a Trump supporter says for economic reasons alone, it’s time to put politics aside and build consensus for immigration reform.

“As a conservative and free-market proponent, I’m passionate about positive immigration reform because its economic benefits would be extraordinary,” says Jacob Monty, the author of The Sons of Wetbacks and founder of the law firm Monty & Ramirez LLP (www.monty ramirez law.com).

“Reforming our immigration system will ensure that businesses have access to those workers and that our economy thrives. 

Immigrants comprise about 25 million people in the American workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A Wall Street Journal article cited an assessment by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that concluded immigrants are integral to the nation’s economic growth. 

But with much of the immigration discussion focusing on the 11 million undocumented workers in the U.S., Monty says that’s a good place to start when dissecting the need for reform.  

“Our immigration system is fundamentally broken,” Monty says. “Millions of immigrants live in uncertainty and fear. Businesses are baffled by convoluted hiring practices.”

Monty lists the main obstacles he thinks need to be overcome in order to broker positive immigration reform:

• Codify DACA. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals provides a level of amnesty to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, but no clear path to citizenship. “Their continued undocumented status is shameful,” Monty says. “The parents of DACA kids did not come in the lawful way, but because of the failure of our immigration system to establish a viable guest worker program, there were no proper channels to enter the country.” One solution, Monty says, is to change the law so as to regularize the status of the 11 million illegal immigrants, over half of whom have been in the U.S. 10 or more years.

• Improve the vetting process. Monty points out the common national perception of illegal immigrants being associated with crime. An out-of-date vetting process, Monty says, is partly to blame. “Our vetting process is terrible,” Monty says. “The State Department issued their visas many years ago, but now they’ve overstayed their visas so we don’t know what’s happened to them since those visas were granted. Let’s fingerprint them and find out who they are, do background checks. That will make America safer.”
• Streamline the worker visa program. Immigrant labor’s importance to U.S. agriculture is well-documented. In 2017, changes to the agricultural worker visa cleared the House subcommittee. “Similar expanded visa programs are needed for highly-skilled immigrants, such as in the computer field,” Monty says. “Without them, America’s most profitable corporations could cease to function. Meanwhile, we need to push through visa changes that would provide a steady supply of agricultural workers, who are essential to the productivity and security of our food supply.”

 “I believe,” Monty says, “that the reasons for changing our immigration policy to accommodate the 11 million human beings here – people who have not committed major crimes, who are contributing to our economy and who are assimilating to American culture – are just as compelling as the conditions that motivated Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the fight for the civil rights of African-Americans.” 

About Jacob Monty

Jacob Monty is an immigration attorney and founder of the law firm Monty & Ramirez LLP (www.montyramirezlaw.com), located in Houston. He is the author of The Sons of Wetbacks. Monty has appeared on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC regarding immigration and has advised the New York Yankees on immigration matters for over a decade. He has held presidential and gubernatorial appointments to the University of Houston Board of Regents, the Texas Private Security Board, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, and the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump.

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Savage and Bartlett Complete Merger, Combine Supply Chain Strengths
in Agriculture, Energy and Chemical, and Environmental Sectors

SALT LAKE CITY and KANSAS CITY, Mo. (August 1, 2018)—Supply chain provider Savage Companies and grain and milling firm Bartlett and Company have completed the merger of their businesses to form a combined entity, Savage Enterprises. Together, Savage and Bartlett are a leading global provider of supply chain and industrial services spanning agriculture, energy and chemical, and environmental sectors, enabling Customers and Partners to feed the world, power our lives and sustain the planet.

“We’re excited to unite two exceptionally strong businesses with over 180 years of combined experience,” said Kirk Aubry, Savage Enterprises President and CEO. “We share a commitment to delivering for our Customers, Partners and Team Members around the world and we look forward to what we can achieve together.”

“While our longstanding customer relationships, innovation and hard work have yielded outstanding results for both companies, we’re better together and look forward to growing and succeeding for generations to come,” said Bill Fellows, Bartlett President and CEO. “We’ll continue to serve Customers as both Bartlett and Savage, and Team Members will work from their current locations. Our focus remains on delivering excellent service, safely and responsibly.”

The merger aligns two of the largest privately-held, family-owned companies in North American agricultural and energy supply chain markets, each with decades of experience providing transportation, logistics and materials management services. The combined businesses have nearly 4,800 Team Members with about 280 locations across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Established in 1946, Savage is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has experience working on six continents. Its expertise includes rail, truck and marine transportation; logistics; materials handling and other industrial and environmental services for industries including oil refinery, power generation, railroad, food and agriculture, oil and gas, mining, chemicals and petrochemicals, ports and terminals, and construction.

Founded in 1907, Bartlett, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a diverse agribusiness focused on the acquisition, storage, transportation, processing and merchandising of grain, and is a leading U.S. exporter of grain to Mexico. Bartlett Chairman James Hebenstreit will join the Board of Managers of Savage Enterprises and become its Vice Chairman. Fellows continues to lead Bartlett as President and CEO and will also join the Board.

For more information, visit www.savageservices.com and www.bartlettandco.com