Rural Lifestyle on Highway 6

Rural Broadband - More Federal Money

If you follow Highway 6 you know we have, for years, been banging the drum about building the infrastructure to put more of Rural America on Broadband Internet.  Our view is that because Rural America, in many places, lacks connectivity it is at a severe economic disadvantage.

The Obama Administration and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack agree and so another $363 million is coming from the federal government to level the playing field.

This isn't about playing "Farmville" this is about the economy.  By providing 1.2 million rural households with broadband Secretary Vilsack says they will create 5,000 jobs.  That is not counting the thousands of people already making a rural living by engaging others through the Internet.

Traveling through Iowa on a three day mission of announcing the program former Iowa Governor Vilsack borrowed a line out of our play-book and said, “This is very similar to what happened in the 1930s and ’40s when we brought rural electrification to the countryside.  This is connecting folks to the 21st century."

Hey, as long as it gets done...you can quote us all day long.  On Twitter it's @MichaelLibbie or @RuralLifeRadio

Here is the story from our friends at the Des Moines Register.

 

 

 

Edamame - The Iowa State Fair

This week, at the Iowa State Fair, I visited with a person from the Iowa Soybean Association.  You see, for years, we've been buying Edamame, for our parrot.  She loves them.  Then one day we put some in a salad and found out why Kizzy treats it like "Birdy-Crack".  It is great.

However, every package of frozen Edamame I buy has stamped on it, "Product of China".

What the heck?

We're Iowa.  We grow the best soybeans in the world.  Heck, the soil here is so fertile that you can pound a stick in the dirt and it'll grow.   So...why not grow Edamame in Iowa?

We can...but we have nowhere to process it.  My new friend from the Iowa Soybean Association tells me that a recent harvest of just one acre of Edamame yielded $43,000 worth of product.   That is why Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and his people are working on finding a way to help Iowa Farmers produce and then process the product.

Let's hope they get this done...Kizzy would like it...too.

It's Iowa, It's Rural...It's Highway 6 - Thanks for coming by!