This month we are proud to present a special newsletter reporting on the Center for Rural Affairs' accomplishments over the last year. You'll find the annual report articles further down the page, below the March news items just below. Your comments and feedback are welcome. Contact Marie Powell, mariep@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1011.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is hosting its first Rural Summit in Anaheim, California on May 20, 2008. The Summit will focus on building connections between those working in microenterprise development, rural economic and community development, buy local efforts, Main Street revitalization, cultural and heritage initiatives, sustainable tourism, green and agricultural businesses, and others working to transform economic opportunity in Rural America.

On Jan. 28 and 29, beginning farmers and ranchers from California, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Iowa, and Montana were in Washington DC to take part in a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Fly-in.

The event was designed to influence members of the 2008 farm bill conference committee to support two important beginning farmer programs in the final farm bill. These programs are the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program.

The 2008 round of Value-Added Producer Grants (VAPG) is now underway. According to USDA Rural Development, a total of $18,400,000 will be awarded this year. The VAPG program aims to help eligible farmers and ranchers (as an individual or as a group) develop and pursue viable marketing opportunities. This year, the cap for planning grants is $100,000; and for working capital grants the cap is $300,000. Due date for these grants is March 31, 2008.

Coming March 25-27, 2008, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, MO, SARE’s 20th Anniversary New American Farm conference will feature 20 years of groundbreaking SARE-funded research, experience, and innovations in sustainable agriculture.

The public is invited to the Minden Opera House in Minden, NE on Saturday evening, March 29, 2008 for a live and silent art auction. After a 2007 full of communities and artists creating pieces and events worth touring, the Center for Rural Affairs' Winds of Life project is hosting an auction of some of these items, especially outdoor windmill sculptures.

Over 550 people attended the Center for Rural Affair's second annual entrepreneurial conference, MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success. The conference took place at the New World Inn located in Columbus, Nebraska.

The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. - Ecclesiastes 1:5

The Center for Rural Affairs is helping give rise to a new day in the communities of rural America. We don’t work alone. The Center is part of rural America, and rural people are essential partners in our work. Our role is to provide vision for the future, to lead with persistence in the face of challenges that dim the hope of the fainthearted.

Our vision looks to the future as it draws on our past. Farms, businesses, and communities must change to thrive. But our values must remain constant. They are the unchanging markers that guide us in shaping a future that serves the common good.

In 2007 the Center led the fight for farm program payment limits reform, arguing that farm program money is better spent supporting beginning farmers, protecting our natural resources, and encouraging rural small business development. Support for rural small business development became one linchpin of our argument. It was not the only thing we fought for, but it was an issue that many new allies coalesced around.

Many agriculturally-based rural communities have suffered a precipitous loss of small businesses that serve their communities. Small businesses are vital to their future success. They are our grocery stores, hardware stores, local retail, and local service businesses. When we work to strengthen these businesses, all of rural America benefits.

Through the efforts of various farm bill coalitions, hundreds of letters poured into Congressional offices this past year. We are proud to share one written on behalf of rural microenterprise assistance.

Since its start in 2002, the Center’s Rural Research and Analysis Program has become a nationally recognized source of data, materials, and exploration on issues of importance to rural people and rural places. In the program’s five years, we have highlighted promising practices in rural communities, illuminated strengths and weaknesses in current and proposed policy, and stressed the impacts of current and proposed policy on rural people. Two recent activities demonstrate our growth and reach.

The Center’s Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP) works with startup and existing small businesses with five or fewer employees. The largest full-service microenterprise development program in the state, REAP strives to serve all of the Nebraska’s rural areas with business management training, networking, one-on-one technical assistance, and small loans.

The past year was an exceptional one for REAP in reaching rural entrepreneurs and placing micro loans. The services offered also continued to grow and expand through the Women’s Business Center and the Hispanic Business Center.

The Center for Rural Affairs helped 11 small rural communities with their community development efforts last year and 39 since we began offering these services. Over the years, we have learned 5 critical ingredients to help communities build their own capacity to survive the forces arrayed against them.

In 2006, the Center helped with five proposals, and all five were funded. In 2007, Center staff helped five producers with their grant proposals, and four of them were funded.

The Center for Rural Affairs developed the first-ever national linking program for beginning and retiring farmers and ranchers. Land Link began in 1990 and since has been replicated in at least 20 states and in Japan, Australia, and Canada.