Xochitl Torres Small

USDA celebrated the first National Biobased Products Day on Wednesday to highlight the accomplishments of people and organizations working to improve sustainability.   “By setting aside March 8 as National Biobased Products Day, we honor the 20 years of progress the BioPreferred Program has achieved,” said USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres Small.   Congres...

Last week, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced he was nominating Xochitl Torres Small for the Ag department deputy secretary position that will soon be vacated.   “Under Secretary Torres Small who is currently operating our Rural Development missionary has done a terrific job of communicating the mission of Rural Development and understands and appreciates the important role that Department of Agri

Last week, USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small unveiled the Rural Data Gateway.  The effort is a new resource to make the Department's data for rural projects easier to access for its partners and people living in rural communities.  ...

USDA’s Rural Development undersecretary faced numerous complaints from rural U.S. Senators about complicated grant applications, office staffing, and broadband grant duplication at a recent Farm Bill hearing.  Xochitl Torres Small defended her agency’s handling of its many functions, calling most criticisms the result of having to balance costs and fairness.  But she did agree t...

October was National Cooperative Month, giving many across the nation an opportunity to see the intricate part the cooperative model plays in the nation’s economy, particularly in rural America.   “Whether you belong to a credit union, you get electricity in a rural area, or even if you drink milk or eat candy that has sugar from sugarbeets, you’re probably benefiting from a cooperative.”   Under

Earlier this week, USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres Small announced that the agency is awarding $110 million in grants to improve healthcare facilities in rural towns across America.  These grants will help 208 rural healthcare organizations expand critical services for five million people in 43 states and Guam.   “...

Last week, the Department of Agriculture and the Economic Development Administration unveiled a joint resource guide. The guide seeks to help community organizations access USDA and EDA resources to build strategies to boost economic development in rural America ...

A hindsight look at how renewable energy programs of projects from the 2018 Farm Bill have provided rural producers and stakeholders opportunities in the now and the future. "When communities lean in to clean energy, as so many are already doing and have been doing for years, the resulting economic prosperity is clear ...

"Since 2010, 135 rural hospitals have closed and an additional 453 are vulnerable to closure," said Rural Development's Xochitl Torres Small as she testified recently before the Senate Ag Committee as they looked at opportunities and challenges in the rural care economy ...

USDA's Under Secretaries recently discussed some of the efforts of their mission areas in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic during a recent Agricultural Outlook Forum panel. "One of the things I'm proudest of is the ability of USDA , FSA, NRCS, RMA, our business center, to continue to deliver on the core programs of this mission area," noted Under Secretary for Farm Production and Cons