The city of Saint Peter had planned to replace its fire hall for nearly ten years. Since the mid-1950s, the town housed its fire department in an old maintenance shop, but the small, repurposed space was no longer adequate. 

While many factors go into selecting the best site for a new business, the view was at the top of the list for Nathan and Irma Bailey. The couple was leaving corporate jobs to start a vineyard and brewery, so scenic vistas were important.

“We were looking for some place in the mountains and liked the Lexington area,” said Bailey. “This view really sold us. We bought the property in 2008 and planted the first 2 1/2 acres of wine grapes in 2012.”

Bradley and Janna Lanphear, along with their four children, found themselves facing uncertainty when unforeseen circumstances forced them out of their long-time rental in Bend, Oregon. With rental prices skyrocketing in their area, the dream of homeownership seemed increasingly out of reach. The family was offered an opportunity to house-sit for a friend, also providing them with a temporary place to recover. The decision to move and house-sit would result in the Lanphears becoming first time homeowners in Texas.

Neighborhood Strong is a community-based organizations serving nine East Texas Counties. They provide critical home repairs and accessibility modifications to low and very low-income homeowners. Over 57% of the homes in this area are over 40 years old. The poverty rate is just over 19%. The combination of poverty rate and age of homes in leads to homes often becoming unsafe and even unlivable for homeowners and their families.

The State of North Dakota is roughly 70,000 square miles. Agricultural land occupied by family farms and ranches accounts for about 60,000 of those square miles. With the sheer number of acres dedicated to growing and raising our country’s food supply, it comes as no surprise that, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, North Dakota’s largest industry ranks first in the nation in its production of 11 different crops and second in an additional 6, mainly a variety of small grains and beans, oats, durum, and rye.

Driving south bound with the Organ Mountains to my left you expect to see many things. Pecan farms, and Dairy farms sure, but also the beauty of southern New Mexico. If you continue on to Anthony NM, you will stumble onto a gem. Rural Development (RD) is no stranger to the area, we have funded many water and wastewater systems. 

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

Every morning around 6:30, Mathew Ladegaard opens the flow of water from his catchment pond to water his various crops.

And each morning, he looks up and sees clouds in the distance and he hopes it’ll rain later in the day which will surely help his crops grow.

Ladegaard’s small farm is located in Nambé, New Mexico about 20 miles north of Santa Fe.

At one acre in size the Ground Stone Farm is very small but is very productive. Ladegaard grows various types of crops from lettuce to kale to greens, herbs, fruits, and seeds.

Water is the life source for everything living on this earth. For human survival, we require clean and reliable water through sustainable infrastructure. While most people in US communities are blessed with water resources that don't even need to be thought about when the tap is turned on, this is not the case in rural America. In many rural communities, there is a lack of sufficient water, and residents frequently live with compromised and unsafe water resources.

Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. proposes to construct the Ripley Energy Center project.  It will be a new natural gas-fired simple-cycle electric generating facility with approximately 50 acres of disturbance.  The project site is approximately 6.5 miles north of Ripley, in Payne County, Oklahoma.  The project includes constructing 0.5 mile and rebuilding 5.5 miles of transmission line.