During an Investing in Rural America event series yesterday in Northfield, MN, President Biden announced $5 billion expenditure from his Investing in America agenda. The new investments are meant to advance rural prosperity, economic development, competition, and sustainability.

The announcement, which took place at Dutch Creek Farms, is part of Biden’s Investing in Rural America Event Series to highlight how his administration’s spending is bringing new revenue to farms, increased economic development in rural towns and communities, and more opportunity throughout the country.

The $5 billion investment will be divided among five different priorities including:

$1.7 Billion in Investments in Climate-Smart Agriculture: The USDA is announcing nearly $1.7 billion in funding to support the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices, which have direct climate mitigation benefits, advance a host of other environmental co-benefits, and offer farmers, ranchers, and foresters new revenue streams. 

Dutch Creek Farms, where President Biden visited, is a family farm that grows corn and soybeans and raises hogs. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Dutch Creek Farms has used several climate-smart agriculture techniques to make their farm more sustainable, including growing crops that naturally sequester carbon and improve soil quality, farming in a way that limits soil disturbance and creating riparian buffers to protect nearby waterways from pollutants.

The funding President Biden will announce includes an unprecedented $1.1 billion investment across 81 projects through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which takes a voluntary approach to expand the reach of conservation efforts and climate-smart agriculture through public-private partnerships. 

$1.1 Billion in Investments in Rural American Infrastructure: Additionally, $1.1 billion will go to 104 loan and grant awards to upgrade infrastructure in rural communities that will bring new jobs, clean water and fuel, and reliable electricity to people in nearly every state. 

This funding includes $5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to further increase the availability of renewable, homegrown biofuels. 

$2 Billion in Investments to Partner with Rural Communities to Create Jobs and Support Rural-led Economic Development: $2 billion will be allocated to 99 economic development projects in Rural Partners Network (RPN) communities in nine states and Puerto Rico – funding that will create jobs and build infrastructure as well as increase access to quality health care, affordable housing, and clean water and energy. 

Last year, the Biden-Harris Administration launched Rural.gov to help connect all rural communities to federal resources. Yesterday it announced it is piloting a new resource clearinghouse function on Rural.gov with funding opportunities for rural communities to facilitate access to federal programs.

$274 Million to Expand Critical Rural High-Speed Internet Infrastructure: Nearly $274 million will go to expanding access to high-speed internet for people living and working across eight states. In total, $90 billion will be invested to deliver affordable high-speed internet to everyone in America, including in rural communities that often lack access to high-speed internet.

$145 Million to Expand Access to Renewable Energy and Lower Energy Costs for Rural Americans: This is intended to help agricultural producers and rural small business owners make energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy investments to lower energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resiliency of their operations.