The 2010 sign-up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program Organic Initiative is underway. The cut-off for ranking 2010 applications is Friday, March 12, 2010.

USDA issued proposed rules for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program for public comment late last fall. The Center for Rural Affairs submitted detailed comments on the proposed rules. We were also joined by more than 40 other rural organizations on a joint letter to USDA commenting on the rules.

From ground meat to fresh spinach, there have been an unusual number of food safety scares in the past year. Because of this, Congress is considering legislation to make our food safer.

This past year was a challenge. We had an economic downturn like most of us had never seen. On the other hand, there was more work to do than ever. A new administration with new direction needed input from conservation to economic development.

As health reform legislation continues to take shape, people are beginning to ask when new provisions and programs will go into place. Some changes will take place quickly, but other changes will take several years to go into effect.

New research from the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center demonstrates the challenge in addressing the treatment of chronic conditions that lead to greater costs and poorer health outcomes in rural areas. The larger number of uninsured in rural areas makes this a major issue for rural people, families and communities.

Emails released by computer hackers have revealed that several researchers who believe humans are contributing to climate change sought to block the opposing view from being published and downplayed data that did not fit their own view. Unfortunately, the emails do not demonstrate that there is no need to address climate change.

How will global climate change affect you? The report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States offers some answers to those living here. Authors of the report assess impacts on energy, water, agriculture and health.

Rural America has a profound need for true leadership – that embodies morality, wisdom, courage and commitment to the common good.

Four North Carolina hog companies declared bankruptcy in 2009, thanks in part to higher grain prices and the emergence of H1N1. Coharie, largest of the four, was run by former U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth’s daughter, employed 170, and contracted with more than 100 Sampson County farmers to finish hogs. Coastal Plains Pork and Perfect Pig, both in Sampson County, and Bunting Swine of Edgecombe County closed in 2009 as well.

Nationwide: With veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan returning from war in large numbers, the Farmer Veteran Coalition is busy providing veterans interested in agriculture with employment, training, and places to heal on America’s farms.

In 1990, the Center for Rural Affairs launched Land Link, the first program to match retiring farmers and ranchers with like-minded beginners. Today Land Link is one of 20 matching programs in the U.S., and the Achilles heel of every one is landowner recruitment. How do you recruit enough landowners to match the avalanche of interest from beginning farmers and ranchers?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has opened a help-desk for operators of small and very small meat, poultry and processed egg products plants. It will also provide assistance to state and local food regulatory agencies.

Four years ago I wrote an article for this newsletter exploring the question, “What would it look like if rural really mattered?” (www.cfra.org/newsletter/2006_01.htm). Periodically I have returned to explore that theme. As a new decade dawns, it seems time to turn that question on its head and talk about how we ensure that rural America really does matter.

I never cease to be amazed at the power of networking, not only for individuals but for small businesses as well – and ultimately what that means for rural community development. The more we can do to support small business growth in rural communities, the better the outcome for our communities.