Better Grants Better Service 

Better Grants Better Service (BGBS) is a Rural Development (RD)-wide effort to review RD’s grant-only programs and determine how best to modernize them.

Through ongoing and direct feedback, our customers have asked us to look for opportunities to improve how we deliver our programs. Many customers find it hard to navigate our grant program applications, which results in incomplete or ineligible applications. RD has listened to this feedback and is dedicated to finding and implementing solutions.

Rural Data Gateway

Welcome to the new Rural Data Gateway! For more than 80 years, USDA Rural Development has been financing infrastructure and housing throughout rural America. 

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High Efficiency Grain Dryer Proves Transformational for Green Thumb Farms

Green Thumb Farms is a familiar name to many Mainers. The farm’s “Cold River Gold” potatoes are found in abundance in New England supermarkets each fall and winter.  The family-owned farm in the Western Maine town of Fryeburg grows several varieties of potatoes and is the largest fresh pack potato grower outside of Aroostook County. The farm produces other products as well, including about 225,000 bushels of feed corn annually. It was this latter crop that brought Green Thumb Farms’ President, Jim Pitreau, to USDA Rural Development. He was looking for ways to lower the cost of the feed corn the farm produced to keep it a competitive commodity. 

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Transforming Lives with Quality Healthcare Services in Rural Alabama

Medical West Hospital Authority, an affiliate of University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB Health System, sought financing for a replacement and relocation of their existing hospital from its current Bessemer, Alabama location to rural McCalla, Alabama, in West Jefferson County, at Exit 1 off Interstate 459. Medical West’s main campus was a 310 licensed bed community hospital located in West Jefferson County that served the citizens of Bessemer and the surrounding communities for over fifty years. As with many healthcare facilities across the nation, the hospital reached the end of its useful life.

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From Cheesemaking to Distilling Spirits: USDA Loan Helps Minnesota Creamery Venture Into New Industry

Nestled in the countryside of Brooten, Minnesota, Redhead Creamery stands as a beacon of innovation and community spirit. What was once a traditional dairy farm has expanded into a family-operated business widely recognized as a vibrant hub for artisan cheese and distilled spirits. Redhead Creamery's journey is one of vision, hard work, and fearlessly venturing into new territory.

Redhead Creamery's story began in 1983 when Jerry and Linda Jennissen founded Jer-Lindy Farms. Thirty years later, the next generation of the Jennissen family stepped in when daughter Alise and her husband, Lucas Sjostrom, joined Jerry and Linda to carry out their vision to expand their family's legacy. In 2013, they expanded Jer-Lindy Farms by founding Redhead Creamery, aiming to significantly impact artisan cheese production rather than simply milking commodity dairy cattle.

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