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Rural: Reinvesting in Rural North Carolina

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The United States has a wealth of resources, and in rural North Carolina, we must recognize the role of the agricultural, forestry and fiber industries, which contributes $70.8 billion of the $375 billion state gross product. Kay Hagan knows our rural communities have been a vibrant, important part of North Carolina’s history, and should increasingly fill a role as part of our future. We can take advantage of the diverse resources available in our rural communities to feed the world, provide clean energy throughout the country, contribute to the state’s economy and offer a high quality of life to North Carolinians throughout the state. Kay Hagan will provide the kind of leadership North Carolina needs to strengthen its rural communities and ensure that these industries remain a mainstay in our state’s agricultural, energy and technology futures. [North Carolina State University Agriculture Industry fact sheet]

KEY RURAL POLICY PRINCIPLES

Kay grounds her rural policy framework around three basic ideas. She will work hard to:

• • Ensure Agricultural Productivity: For decades, America has been the leading agricultural nation, far out-producing all other countries and creating innovative agricultural technologies. Kay will fight to maintain this strength and to ensure that it is sustained by competitive businesses and strong family farms. She will seek to lead the country down a path where we encourage new farmers and help them gain knowledge of and access to the resources they need to be successful.
• • Create a Clean Energy Future: America is about to engage in a massive revolution in the energy sector that undergirds our economic growth. Our energy future lies not underground in coal mines or Arabian oil fields but instead will be based upon the wind, sunlight, crops and other resources that can be found in plentiful supply here in North Carolina. Kay will ensure that rural America is at the forefront of this revolution and ready to take advantage of the hundreds of thousands of jobs that will come with it.
• • Promote Rural Competitiveness: Kay will promote rural competitiveness by fighting hard to increase rural quality of life, particularly in education and health care, and to foster a competitive environment built upon the 21st Century broadband infrastructure that is necessary to succeed in the globalized world. Expanding technology in rural areas will have the additional benefit of ensuring that we are able to train a first-class workforce throughout the country and create good-paying, high quality jobs separate from urban centers.

Just as Kay has done in the state Senate, she knows that we need to invest in the right priorities and make tough decisions to produce the best results. She is focused on cutting waste in the federal government so we have the flexibility to shift those funds into programs that will benefit rural America. One possible area that will help achieve these goals is to combine the Foreign Agricultural Service with the State Department, which could save up to $364 million over 10 years. [Democratic Leadership Council budget plan]

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY

Supporting our agricultural sector is about feeding North Carolina, the country and the world, but also about preserving an American way of life and traditional America values like hard work and innovation. Kay will work hard to preserve this vital sector and fight to ensure that farmers across the country have all the tools they need to succeed in a globalized world.

Increase Investment in Agricultural R&D
American farmers, engineers, and scientists need our support to ensure that our country remains at the top in a highly competitive global economy. We need to double spending on agricultural research to keep ahead of the global marketplace. Kay is supportive of funds to increase research and development, as well as agriculture research stations at North Carolina State University and at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical Institute (A&T). In addition, she will seek continued funding to reduce disparities to balance the services offered by both of these schools. Federal support is vital to providing farmers with the tools they need to help feed the world and with Kay in the U.S. Senate, farmers will have the support they need.

Maintain the Safety Net for Small Farmers
Agriculture is an inherently risky business. Unpredictable weather and volatile commodity markets are just some of the challenges farm families face every day. To preserve a vibrant agricultural industry that includes both small and large producers, we need to have a strong safety net. Kay will continue to support many of the vital programs enacted in the 2008 Farm Bill to support farmers, particularly crop insurance and disaster assistance programs and continued assistance in case of low commodity prices, and Kay will ensure that these programs are benefiting North Carolina’s farmers. She will also seek to ensure that we have struck a balance between protecting farmers and their production contracts, while still ensuring that we maintain a sound business environment. Kay will work with government agencies to spread the word and educate farmers in need of assistance who may not know about programs that already exist to help them. Kay will seek to target this assistance to the farmers who need them most, and she will close loopholes so no one is able to take unfair advantage of this generous government support.

Encourage New Farmers
Farming is a vocation that requires a lifetime of commitment and hard work. The average age of North Carolina farmers is 56 years, and if the state’s agriculture industry is to remain strong, we need to invest in the next generation. Kay will encourage our nation’s youth to consider farming and to engage in one of the noblest occupations. She will continue support for programs such as the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program, and she will provide necessary leadership in educating her constituents about those programs.

Kay will support tax incentives and student loan forgiveness programs that aid new farmers, and she will support agricultural universities like North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T so they have the resources to give new farmers the knowledge they need to succeed. [Associated Press, 7/2/07]

Encourage Farmer Innovation
Agriculture has been a necessary and vital industry since ancient times. Kay will encourage farmers to take part in the latest trends in technology and business, and she will promote public-private partnerships involving agricultural organizations, the FFA and 4-H to help educate our farmers on innovative business and marketing strategies. The tobacco buyout should offer an opportunity for North Carolina farmers to transition to new, value-added, diversified agriculture enterprises. Kay is committed to making sure farmers are adjusting to these new realities and taking advantage of the new opportunities out there.

Support Conservation, Sustainability and Local Food Programs
Our nation’s farmers possess a deep knowledge of nature, and are often the best stewards of our land as they are on the front lines of preserving critical air and water quality in rural communities. Kay will continue to support and expand conservation programs that reward our farmers for engaging in sustainable practices. She believes we should continue to invest in water treatment in rural areas, especially near large animal farms, and we should research ways to reduce smells and use waste as an energy source. Kay will promote organic and sustainable agricultural programs by decreasing compliance costs and bureaucratic red tape. She will also promote farmer’s markets and local food systems so North Carolinians can have access to local and healthy foods while expanding markets for farmers and ensure a greater share of the consumer dollar flows back into our rural communities.

Promote Accountable Trade
We need to make sure that North Carolina farmers are competing on the same playing field as those from other countries, so Kay will promote Accountable Trade practices to ensure that our trade agreements are written and enforced to benefit North Carolinians, including enforceable labor and environmental standards. North Carolina farmers stand to benefit significantly from well-written trade deals that protect American jobs because more than 95% of the world’s population lives outside of the United States, and North Carolina farmers can help meet some of the global food demand. As demand for North Carolina products like poultry, pork and sweet potatoes is growing, Kay believes that efforts should be made to
encourage other countries to reduce their high tariff rates so North Carolina farmers can send their goods overseas. [US Census, World Population Information, viewed July 2008]

Make Taxes Fair for Farmers
Taxes that were designed to target wealthy corporate barons have also unintentionally harmed our nation’s family farmers. Kay supports making our tax code fairer by indexing all exemptions in the tax code for inflation, including exemptions for the estate and federal gift taxes, which would lower farmers’ tax burdens as inflation increases.

CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

Our country is on the cusp of an energy revolution. Rural North Carolinians are especially hard hit by skyrocketing gas prices, and particularly North Carolina farmers who use gas to fuel combines and other machinery on a daily basis. North Carolina farmers also stand to be one of the biggest contributors to our energy future because more than anywhere else, the future of America’s energy will be found in rural America. Kay will work hard to ensure that North Carolina is at the forefront of this revolution, taking advantage of our strong research universities, our agricultural and forestry bases and our manufacturing facilities to quickly transition away from our dependence on oil. A study released in October 2007 showed that North Carolina could net 300,000 more jobs by 2020 by implementing energy-efficiency programs and producing more renewable energy. [Associated Press, 10/24/07]

Increase Investments in Energy R&D
The future of American energy lies in solar, wind, hydro and biofuels, but for these new technologies to develop and be competitive, we need to support the entrepreneurs who are creating them. The private sector is well on its way towards bringing these technologies to the market sometime in the future but the future will arrive much sooner if government policies foster new energy solutions rather than continue subsidizing our dependence on foreign oil. Kay will fight to support the technologies that will help us free our economy from fossil fuels, break our dependence on oil, defeat climate change and revitalize rural communities by creating a green economy and high-quality, good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. North Carolina will be poised to take advantage of this support with its world-class research universities and rich agricultural resources.

Support Next Generation Biofuels
Corn ethanol is currently providing millions of gallons of fuels but it will not be the future of North Carolina’s contributions to our energy needs. The next generation of biofuels – including cellulosic ethanol from North Carolina timber, industrial sweet potatoes or switchgrass – has the potential to bring all the benefits of biofuels at a greater scale and will give North Carolina the opportunity to participate in the clean, green revolution. Kay will fight for the development of cellulosic technologies by supporting an increase in R&D funds and a stronger renewable fuels standard that takes into account the overall carbon emissions over the lifecycle of the fuel, as well as incentives for flex-fuel ready automobiles and biofuel fueling stations. This will help to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our dependence on foreign oil while providing a great economic opportunity for America’s rural population. Kay supported a $5 million appropriation for a Biofuel Center in North Carolina to ensure that at least ten percent of liquid fuel sold in the state will have been grown and produced in state by 2017 and she will continue the fight in Washington.

Develop Alternative Energy
Currently, renewable energies are forced to compete with heavily subsidized sources such as oil and natural gas. To help new technologies for renewable sources reach maturity, we need to increase incentives for renewable energy to level the playing field. Kay supported the state law that required 12.5 percent of North Carolina’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2021, and she would have supported one of the provisions that was stripped out of the 2007 federal energy bill which would have required 15 percent of our nation’s energy supply to come from renewable sources by 2020. Furthermore, Kay supports renewing the renewable energy Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit to ensure that renewable energy businesses have a long-term incentive to invest in rural America.

Promote Energy Efficiency
Rural North Carolinians and farmers are being pressed hard by the massive increases in fuel prices due to the amount that they must travel and the amount of petroleum they consume to run their businesses. Kay will work to extend and expand tax credits for businesses and individual homeowners who make energy efficiency improvements to their properties.

Take on the Climate Change Challenge
Our nation must confront the challenge of Climate Change, which is one of the world’s greatest problems. By creating an effective carbon cap and trade program, we can support the development of innovative clean technologies and reduce our carbon footprint. Farmers involved in conservation programs stand to benefit greatly from the accumulation of carbon credits, and we should encourage and support those who need extra time to conform. Kay will work diligently to ensure that the Senate enacts a forward-thinking program that tackles climate change head on.

ENHANCE RURAL COMMUNITIES

Kay wants to help make North Carolina’s rural communities a great place to live and a great place to work. According to the Rural Policy Research Institute, North Carolina’s urban population is outpacing rural population growth, and many rural counties, especially in the northeastern corner of the state, are experiencing consistent levels of poverty and loss of population. Kay will fight to ensure that all of our rural areas have a high quality of life and a competitive business environment so rural North Carolina can be vibrant and an engine of growth in the 21st Century. [Rural Policy Research Institute, June 2006]

Broadband
The revolution in information technologies is only beginning and it has the potential to knit together rural and urban economies in new ways. With the roll-out of high-speed broadband technologies, a rural community’s current disadvantages – a small population and a great distance from large employers – have the potential to disappear. Broadband is to the 21st Century what interstates and railroads were in prior centuries: the backbone of the economy, with access determining whether a community grows or shrinks. The dynamics of the knowledge economy mean that anyone can work from anywhere as long as they have access to a high-speed telecommunications infrastructure. High-tech workers will no longer have to leave the countryside in order to find high tech jobs. And high-tech companies will no longer have an incentive to locate their companies and facilities in big cities, where land is expensive, as they will have access to employees all across the world.

In June 2008 North Carolina’s e-NC came out with a ground-breaking report called “Capturing the Promise of Broadband for North Carolina and America,” which enumerated the multitude of economic and quality of life benefits to broadband. The report stated, “Broadband is not simply a consumer service or good, like cable television or an XBox. Rather, it is also a distribution system…Broadband will increasingly become integrated into virtually everything that we do at work, at home, and at play. From economic development to entertainment, from education to health care, from environmental sustainability to public safety and homeland security, from our smallest hamlets to our largest cities, from our young people to our senior citizens, almost everything and everyone will come to depend directly or indirectly on affordable and ubiquitous access to broadband.” [e-NC, June 2008]

The rest of the world has realized this and has begun rolling out broadband on a massive scale. The U.S., once the undisputed world leader in broadband technology, has fallen to 15th place in broadband accessibility rankings under Elizabeth Dole and the Bush Administration. Kay realizes the necessity of a bold vision on broadband so that rural America can move ahead and the United States can keep from being left behind. She wants all Americans to have access to affordable 100 Mbps (megabits per second) broadband bandwidth capacity by 2015, and she believes steps should be taken to increase that to 1 Gbps (Gigabits per second) in as many communities as possible. She will fight for the enactment of this goal by supporting the necessary legislation that will provide our nation with the information and action plans it needs to move forward and give notice to the rest of the world that the United States intends to regain its position of leadership in this vital technology.

Health Care
Rural America is suffering from rising healthcare costs as is the rest of the nation, but rural communities are also suffering from insufficient or declining numbers of care providers, health care centers and safe and reliable prescription drug services.

Sufficient Health Care Providers: Kay supports improving education to boost the number of qualified applicants, and she will push to improve the quality and availability of nursing programs. Furthermore, Kay will address the dire shortages of healthcare personnel in rural communities by fighting for tax breaks and student loan forgiveness programs for health workers who move to rural areas. Another problem in rural areas is that many emergency medical personnel serve on a volunteer basis and have trouble keeping up with the continuing education requirements due to time, funding and transportation concerns. These providers are also strained more than in areas where there are more personnel, and they burn out easier. Kay will work to find innovative solutions to increase retention rates through mechanisms such as cooperative and flexible education, and by rewarding employers who allow their employees to volunteer as emergency medical personnel. [North Carolina Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, May 2008]

Increase Availability Of Safe, Affordable Prescription Drugs: Kay will push to reduce overall health care costs in several ways, such as implementing electronic medical records, eliminating the extraordinary waste in the system and allowing the government to negotiate for lower drug costs for Medicare recipients. However, rural areas have other specific concerns. A report done in July 2008 showed that an unintended consequence following the implementation of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit was the decline of independently owned pharmacies in rural America, including 158 closures over two years where the pharmacy was the only one serving its community and no pharmacy replaced it. Kay will encourage public-private partnerships to extend the healthcare supply chain to rural communities. Lack of access to technology has also been a hindrance in ensuring safe medication practices, and through her support of increasing high-speed broadband, Kay will promote the development of telemedicine so even those areas that are farthest away from medical professionals will always be able to access quality care and diagnostic services. [RUPRI Center for Health Policy Analysis, “Evidence-Based Safe Medication Practices in Small Rural Hospitals,” April 2008; “Independently Owned Pharmacy Closures in Rural America,” Klepser, Xu, Ullrich and Mueller, published July 2008]

Collaborate To Bring Care To Patients And Reduce Costs: Rural communities also face other specific challenges in terms of getting patients the care they need when they need it. Kay believes that communities working together can improve services for all. Small businesses should have new options for buying insurance together, which can save costs for employers and employees. Further, long distances between the patients and the care providers can prohibit timely care, and where incomes are lower, as is often the case in rural areas, patients have trouble accessing transportation. Kay will push for new funding mechanisms to make capital investments and increase the availability of quality health care centers that are closer to the patients, including regional systems where care providers travel between small, local centers. Rural health centers can coordinate with specialists to have a regularly scheduled visits for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, and they can arrange carpools or shuttles to help those who have trouble finding transportation. The federal government should study which solutions have been most effective in certain areas and find ways to encourage those practices, both through funding mechanisms but also by educating other rural health care providers about best practices. [Rural Policy Research Institute, July 2006]

Education and Economy
Education is a cornerstone of North Carolina’s economy and way of life, and our university system is one of the crown jewels of America’s education system. Kay wants to make sure the government is doing more at all levels of education, from providing a strong foundation by strengthening early education, to increasing access to higher education with student loan assistance and keeping tuition costs under control.

We need to be giving our children and our adults all the tools and opportunities they need to succeed in the 21st Century economy. Kay knows how important investments in education can be, and especially investments in rural education.
North Carolina’s graduation rate is notably lower among rural high schools than among high schools in urban areas, and the amount of people with college degrees is significantly higher among urban populations than rural populations. [North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Rural data bank, 7/25/08]

Promote Teaching: Kay will push for incentives to encourage more people to become teachers and more competitive salaries so good teachers will stay in the field. Furthermore, she will help rural areas address their teacher shortages by supporting student loan forgiveness programs and supporting mentoring programs that are proving vital to retaining teachers.

Focus On Impoverished Communities: Kay will work to bring funds to impoverished schools no matter the size of the community, and she will push for more support for schools in communities that have had to bear the brunt of significant job losses in the manufacturing, textile, furniture and timber industries.

Expand Workforce Development: Kay understands that communities with access to a variety of educational services have a better chance at building a strong economy, and employers are more likely to locate in an area with an educated workforce. Kay will work for federal support for the community colleges to expand educational opportunities in rural areas and to promote a community mentality that encourages education as an achievable, productive option. Kay will continue to support public-private partnerships that give community colleges the opportunity to train 21st Century workers for 21st Century jobs, and she will push for more programs that provide distance learning so that we can take advantage of
the benefits of high-speed broadband technologies.

Encourage Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs are one of the driving forces of the economy, and Kay will provide the kind of leadership to encourage more entrepreneurship in rural communities. She will work with local community leaders to develop new ideas for jobs that can benefit their communities, and to ensure that these leaders are aware of the public and private resources available to them to implement their ideas.

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