Biden unveils rural policy plan that aims to help farmers, strengthen ACA, bring green jobs, and fund broadband

Former Vice President Joe Biden, so far the leading Democratic presidential candidates in polls, has announced a plan for rural America that "includes investment in clean energy, payments to farmers to protect the environment and creating low-carbon manufacturing jobs in rural communities," Stephen Gruber-Miller and Robin Opsahl report for the Des Moines Register. "The rural plan builds on Biden's climate plan and the health-care plan he released Monday, which would involve adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act so people can buy into government health insurance."

Biden made the announcement Tuesday in Manning, Iowa, telling the crowd of about 230, "Rural communities power the nation. They feed our bodies. They fuel our engines. They are the stewards who protect our lands." Gruber-Miller and Opsahl report that the plan would:

• Double the maximum microloan available to new and beginning farmers to $100,000
• Foster development of regional food systems by working with small- and mid-sized farmers to deliver fresh produce and other products to schools, hospitals and other institutions
• Increase research funding for land-grant universities to create new technologies and seeds that are owned by the public
• Increase payments to farmers for practices that protect the environment so the American agriculture sector reaches net-zero emissions
• Strengthen antitrust enforcement through the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act to help farmers and ranchers who are being hurt by market concentration
• Expand bio-manufacturing to create a low-carbon manufacturing sector in every state in the country, including bringing manufacturing jobs to rural areas
• Invest $400 billion in clean energy and research and deployment, including researching next-generation cellulosic biofuels
• Invest in wind and solar energy to meet a goal of a 100 percent clean-energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier
• Invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure and triple broadband grant funding, which Biden's plan says has the potential to create more than 250,000 new jobs"

The Rural Blog reports major statements by presidential candidates about rural policy.