Center for Rural AffairsY o u r R u r a l N e w s f o r O v e r 4 0 Y e a r s | Ly o n s , N E | P o p u l at i o n 8 5 1 | M a r c h & A p r i l 2 0 1 5

Inside This Issue

2 Community Voices Important in Wind Siting

4 Montana Fight to Expand Medicaid Heats Up

6 Returning to My Roots for My Family

3 Rural School Builds Positive Leaders Using Farm to School

5 Federal Budget a Mixed Bag for Rural America

7 Nebraska Livestock Bills Are Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

4 54,000 Nebraskans Need Medicaid Expansion

5 Senate Bill Would Cap Federal Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies

8 Aligning Capital and Justice

—See Crowdfunding on page 2.

Crowdfunding Boosts Farm Efforts,No Substitute for Hard Work B y W yat t F r a a s , w yat t f @ c f r a . o r g a n d M a r g a r e t G i f f o r d , m a r g a r e t @ w at e r v i n e i m p a c t. c o m

Crowdfunding – a popular form of Internet-based donations, loans, or invest-ments – has come to farm country. When bank loans or profits are unavailable,

you can access funding through these websites.

The basic idea is to gather a large number of people (your “crowd”) who give small amounts of money to collectively fund a project. Donors give money because they believe in the business goals or like the business owners. In turn, they often receive a thank-you reward such as a farm product.

Investors anticipate a greater payback as the business grows. Farmers can build a following of supporters who want to buy prod-ucts or support future fundraising. Media interest and publicity can be byproducts as well.

“Barnraiser was a very effective tool for us,” said Crystal Powers, of Darby Springs Farm in Ne-braska. “Our campaign raised over $10,000 to build a creamery. Barnraiser had easy-to-use tools online and a great team behind the scenes who helped us set up our campaign and checked in with us through every step.”

With the Barnraiser model, you develop a 30 to 60 day campaign consisting of a video, web page, re-wards for donors, and an intensive social media drive. If the funding goal is met, the project receives the money pledged by donors. If the effort falls short, donors keep their money. Other crowdfunding sites deliver partial funding for the proj-ect. All such sites charge fees of 3-9 percent, plus credit card fees.

Your business plan should guide your choice to launch a crowd-funding campaign. Do you need supplemental funds to allow you to move forward? Does your plan tie particular purchases to explicit results?

Successful campaigns also hinge on the project and the peo-ple running it. Donors want

Crystal Powers and her son Aiden of Darby Springs Farm direct Brent Lubbert, the videographer for their online crowdfunding campaign. They used Barnraiser to raise money for a creamery addition on their farm.

Paper & E-NewsThis newsletter is available

both electronically and in print. To receive it online, sign up at the Center’s website, cfra.org, or email us at info@cfra.org.

You may also correct your mail-ing address and fax the back page to 402.687.2200, or call the Center for Rural Affairs at 402.687.2100.

Editing and layout by Marie Powell and Casey Francis.

Printed at West Point News, West Point, NE.

The Center for Rural Af-fairs was incorporated as a private nonprofit organiza-tion on September 5, 1973.

2 Center for Rural Affairs March / April 2015

2

to identify with good causes and tangible results. Like lenders, donors need to be convinced you’re reliable and capable of following through.

A well-run campaign can bring a network of community support to your business, both in goodwill and dollars. But it’s not fail proof. You have to go in with a plan and a cost-benefit analysis, perhaps comparing it to the costs and time

frame of a conventional loan.You’ll find a listing of crowd-

funding sites at crowdsunite.com or through a web search.

Crowdfunding can be part of your strategy for raising support and money for your farm enter-prise. While sites like Barnraiser can help you build a successful campaign, ultimately, you have to bring your own crowd and do your own work. Just like running

a farm business, there’s no magic in it – just hard work, fun, and, with a little luck, a big harvest at the end.

Guest writer Margaret Gifford is the founder of Watervine Impact, watervineimpact.com. She over-sees farming and partnerships for Barnraiser.

Crowdfunding, continued from page 1.

Community Voices Important in Wind SitingB y V i r g i n i a M e y e r , v i r g i n i a m @ c f r a . o r g

Replacing aging and in-creasingly inefficient coal plants is one of the most pressing issues in address-ing the impacts of climate change for our small

towns, farms, and ranches. In the Midwest and Great Plains, retiring coal plants and investing in wind development is a promising and viable option for low-cost energy. It reduces carbon pollution and the dangerous health impacts of coal.

Residents living near coal plants worry about soil and water con-tamination. They also live with the undeniable health impacts of asthma and increased rates of cer-tain cancers and other respiratory illness.

As we move away from coal and toward wind, concerns arise on how wind turbines will be sited. Though the health and environmental im-pacts of wind are far less than those of coal, residents have every right to be involved in the process.

Wind farm and turbine siting concerns range from potential impacts on property values to the effect turbines could have on local

wildlife. Wind energy generation may have its own health effects for certain sensitive people. These are not yet well known.

There is no cookie-cutter solu-tion for siting new wind turbines. Local communities and landown-ers have to get involved and ask questions, getting at the details

most important to them.Wind development can bring

enormous benefits to rural areas. To succeed, projects must be sited in a way that works for the entire community. Public engagement is a crucial step in planning for a clean and affordable energy future that benefits all of our communities.

Approximately 100 residents from Cortland, Hallam and surrounding communities met at the Cortland Community Center in January to discuss the proposed development of a wind farm in the area and other related issues at a Wind Information Forum hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs and Lancaster County Farmers Union.

March / April 2015 Center for Rural Affairs 3

3

Rural School Builds Positive Leaders Using Farm to SchoolB y S a n d r a R e n n e r , s a n d r a r @ c f r a . o r g

Here in Lyons, the Center’s hometown, a mentor-ship program at the local school is turning students into positive leaders. New principal Derek Lahm

calls it “Empower Your Genius.”Twice a month, the entire

school, grades K-12 and approxi-mately 250 students, is dismissed from class at 2 pm. Elementary, junior-high, and high school stu-dents pair up for the mentorship activity.

Last October during national Farm to School month, the focus was on food. Ag Instructor Kevin Anderson took the reign at plan-ning events. He began with a video about food sources. Students were struck by the idea that the milk on their lunch tray starts out with a cow grazing in a field. A second

grader came home proudly quiz-zing, “Did you know that milk starts with a cow eating grass?”

During the event, younger stu-dents worked with older students to make homemade pretzels, ice cream, and, since it was National Apple Crunch Day, a dessert called “Apple Delight.” Students learned where the ingredients came from. They also talked about different avenues to source them, such as a grocery store, a roadside farmers market, or directly from a family farm.

Empower Your Genius is a great example of how Farm to School in the classroom can be used to create leadership skills, build discussion and awareness, and teach hands-on skills. It begins the dialogue early in children’s lives about where their food comes

from, how food choices and sourc-es affect them, and how to make healthier choices.

Fortunately, since Lyons-Deca-tur is one of our Farm to School pilot schools, they already have several goals. School staff is iden-tifying food products, producers, and delivery streams to incorpo-rate into their menus.

Their work is coming full circle, making lasting economic, educa-tional, and health connections. By teaching hands-on skills and critical thinking about where food comes from and how it is made, the students are gaining lifelong lessons that can lead to better health and brighter futures.

Students at Lyons-Decatur public school gather in the gym to get some first-hand experience making pretzels, ice cream, and Apple Delight. The activity is part of a year-long effort to “Empower their Genius.”

4 Center for Rural Affairs March / April 2015

54,000 Nebraskans Need Medicaid ExpansionB y J o n B a i l e y, j o n b @ c f r a . o r g

A coverage gap exists in Nebraska for an estimated group of 54,000 people who cannot afford health insurance under the cur-rent system. Their employ-

ers do not provide health insur-ance, and they cannot access the help they need in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. To fix this, the 2015 Nebraska Legislature will try again to redesign the state’s Medicaid program as allowed un-der the Affordable Care Act.

The bill is LB 472, the Medicaid Redesign Act. It’s intended to pro-vide low-income working Nebras-kans with health insurance. LB 472 would create a Nebraska-spe-cific plan for cost-effective health care for the coverage gap popula-tion. It would create a Medicaid Redesign Task Force of members of the Nebraska Legislature and the executive branch to review the state’s Medicaid program and pro-vide recommendations to improve quality, to innovate the program and to save costs.

LB 472 would allow the state to work with the federal government to create a coverage plan unique to Nebraska. Ultimately, some indi-

viduals would get health insurance coverage in the private insurance marketplace, others would get cov-erage through Medicaid.

The Center for Rural Affairs supports LB 472 – it is a benefit to rural Nebraskans, rural commu-nities, and the state’s health care system in general. The cost of care is higher when large numbers of

uninsured patients seek care in rural hospitals and clinics. This increases the possibility that rural health care facilities may close.

No matter where you live, your friends and family should have access to affordable health care. For Nebraskans, the Legislature should approve LB 472 to accom-plish this.

Montana Fight to Expand Medicaid Heats UpB y S t e p h L a r s e n , S t e p h L @ c f r a . o r g

In Montana, two competing proposals about expanding Medicaid insurance to 70,000 Montanans are currently gain-ing headlines. Only one makes sense. It’s called the Healthy

Montana Plan (HB 249). It expands Medicaid to those whose income is under 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The cost of this ex-pansion would be mostly covered by federal dollars. The Healthy

Montana Plan would cost Montana less and do more for Montanans.

The other plan, a part of the “Big Sky” package (HB 455) would only cover some Montanans up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. Plus, the state would have to pay for all of these costs. Did I mention that it would still leave 55,000 Montanans without access to care? These are our neighbors, friends, and family, and most of

them work at least one job.Having significant numbers of

uninsured patients in rural hos-pitals and clinics means that the cost of care is higher, and the possibility of these health care facilities closing increases. For that reason among many others, the Center supports the Healthy Montana Plan.

T h e T o p 5 R e a s o n s R u r a l N e b r a s k a N e e d s L B 4 7 2

1. Rural areas generally have higher rates of uninsured, so rural areas generally are more in need of coverage options.

2. Rural areas generally have lower incomes, so a significant number of the coverage gap population reside in rural areas. We estimate that 20 to 25 percent of households in rural legis-lative districts have household incomes that would qualify them for LB 472 coverage.

3. Rural hospitals are a necessary piece of the rural health care system and would benefit greatly from closing the coverage gap.

4. Rural people generally have higher rates of nearly all conditions and diseases. As such, they generally need more medical care, but because of insurance and income issues often have less access to medical care, often paying the physical and financial price of delaying needed care. LB 472 and its ultimate coverage plan will allow those in the coverage gap to obtain the health care they need when they need it.

5. Medicaid redesign places an emphasis on real health care – making people healthier to help keep health care costs down.

March / April 2015 Center for Rural Affairs 5

Federal Budget a Mixed Bag for Rural AmericaB a d N e w s f o r C o n s e r vat i o n , B e t t e r f o r B e g i n n i n g F a r m e r s a n d E n t r e p r e n e u r sB y T r a c i B r u c k n e r , t r a c i b @ c f r a . o r g

The discussion on federal spending begins each year with release of the presi-dent’s budget. This year, there is both good and bad news for small towns and

rural communities.Let’s start with the bad news,

because it’s on the important topic of conservation. The president pro-poses to cut conservation program spending by $859 million. Over half of that would come from cut-ting three million acres, or $486 million, from the Conservation Stewardship Program.

Conservation programs have been under attack every year, despite their mandatory fund-ing status. This type of funding comes through the farm bill and, by rights, should not be subject to annual spending cuts.

This is an especially bad time

to cut conservation support. More farmers than ever are seeking assistance. They need help ad-dressing the challenges of shift-ing weather patterns and climate change. Greater investment is needed here, not less.

On the bright side, the budget includes first-time money for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account program. This program will provide matched savings accounts to help beginners get a start in agriculture.

Another boost came from in-creased funding for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. This popular program gives money to organizations that provide loans and tech-nical assistance to entre-preneurs. They then use the funds to directly assist rural entrepreneurs.

I’ll keep you posted as debate moves forward. We’ll need your voices to help protect conservation funding.

Senate Bill Would Cap Federal Crop Insurance Premium SubsidiesB y T r a c i B r u c k n e r , t r a c i b @ c f r a . o r g

In February Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Pat Toom-ey (R-PA) introduced a bill to cap federal crop insurance premium subsidies at $50,000. The Congressional Budget Of-

fice estimates the cap would save roughly $2.2 billion over 10 years.

On average, federal crop insur-ance subsidies cover 62 percent of the premium cost. These pre-mium subsidies are completely unlimited, meaning the largest and wealthiest farms receive premium subsidies on every acre they farm. A Government Accountability Office study from 2012 pointed to an example of one farmer who insured crops in eight counties and received about $1.3 million in premium subsidies.

The same study suggested that only 2.5 percent of producers na-tionwide would have been affected by a $50,000 premium support limit in 2011. Those are the larg-est and wealthiest farms. They use their premium subsidies to bid land away from beginning and small and mid-sized farms.

The cost of the federal crop in-surance program has risen sharply over the past few years. According to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report, crop insurance costs have gone from $3.9 bil-lion in 2007 to over $14 billion in 2012.

While we firmly believe crop insurance is an important tool to help farmers manage risk, it isn’t the only tool. Conservation practic-

es and systems are also a critical tool to help farmers manage risk.

Congress continues to attack federal conservation program spending despite the fact there is more farmer demand than re-sources available. Putting a cap on premium subsidies not only saves money, it provides critical funding to reinvest in the ultimate farmer tool box – conservation.

We are developing our ideas for crop insurance reform. We want to see the program restructured so it works for beginning, and small and mid-sized farmers, not against them. We welcome your thoughts, so please join the discussion. Call me at 402.687.2103 ext 1016 or email tracib@cfra.org.

6 Center for Rural Affairs March / April 2015

6

Returning to My Roots for My FamilyB y T y l e r Va c h a , t y l e r v @ c f r a . o r g

I recently read an article in the Daily Iowan by author Stacey Murray, entitled “Fading to What?” In assessing her fu-ture, she highlights a serious challenge small towns face.

Although she expresses regret, she states, “I love my hometown. But it’s so hard to imagine a Hopkin-ton where I could stay. Where will I work? Where will I live? What could the town provide me as I strive to build a career and a new life?”

My hometown, Howells, Ne-braska, sounds similar to Stac-ey’s Hopkinton, Iowa. Both are towns of about 600 people, full of struggling businesses owners who lament the old days.

As I grew up, Howells grew smaller, both literally and figura-tively. After college, I moved to the big city, Des Moines, Iowa. The thought of relocating to a small town was laughable at best.

Soon though, the excitement of city life faded. I found myself searching for gravel routes to my destinations. When I bought my first house, an acreage was visible through my window. Though it

had been my mission to leave rural America, a longing for open spaces, a simpler way of life, and a greater sense of community was emerging.

When my wife Melissa and I discovered we were expecting, my perspective changed. I started thinking about our child’s future. Frequent emergency sirens be-came more than a minor nuisance. The sight of neighborhood kids tethered to small yards felt stifling.

Our neighborhood was nice, but our property fell inside an unde-sirable school district. Class sizes ranged from 600-800. Teachers were inaccessible. Students strug-gled to participate in extra-curric-ular activities.

In contrast, my high school class size was 31. Teachers were invested in my success. I was able to participate in every extracurric-ular activity, providing experiences that have shaped my life.

My wife and I decided we wanted our boy to grow up where he’ll nev-er fear leaving his keys in his car. He’ll be able to visit a local restau-rant and order on the “family tab.” And the community will be there,

rooting for his success.Working at the Center for Rural

Affairs gave me the opportunity to provide that for my family. I wasn’t able to relocate to my hometown, but I’m in another great small community, working to help small towns across the nation find their keys to success.

To young people, like Stacey, I say: “Even five years ago, my thoughts on returning to a small town echoed yours. But, never say never. Perspec-tives change, lives change. What a city offers may not be as important as those changes happen.”

Opportunities exist in small towns throughout our nation. During college, a prominent lawyer professed to me, “The opportuni-ties for your generation will exist in small towns. My generation will soon be retiring, and smaller com-munities need doctors, lawyers, dentists, newspaper editors, and other professionals.”

My growing family helped me figure out we should make a small community our home. I hope my story will help you realize small town USA can be your home too.

Howells is located in Northeast Nebraska and in the far Northeast Section of Colfax County. It’s where Tyler Vacha grew up. After college, he didn’t think he’d find himself living in a small town like Howells again. He and his wife, however, have found a rewarding life in the last two years living, working, and building a life in Lyons, Nebraska.

March / April 2015 Center for Rural Affairs 7

7

In 2014, a statewide rural poll in Nebraska found an increas-ing number of rural people were self-employed. In all, 43 percent of rural households received part of their income from self-em-ployment. In the most rural and smallest communities, that rose to 58 percent.

Responding to these trends, the Center launched a Community De-velopment Financial Institution in

2014. In some ways we’ve become like a bank ourselves. But we’re a bank with a mission: put capital in the hands of local people who are underserved by other lenders.

Today, local banks are our closest allies, and small business lending is a core competency. But we see still see unmet needs. New immigrants lack access to small business capital, and some begin-ning farmers are not well served

by traditional lenders. Renewable energy financing, larger small business loans, and demand in neighboring states are all things we are exploring.

What binds this work to our mission is a simple belief. When capital and justice are aligned, local people have the resources to drive opportunity forward in their own community.

Aligning Capital, continued from page 8.

Nebraska Livestock Bills Are Wolves in Sheep’s ClothingB y T r a c i B r u c k n e r , t r a c i b @ c f r a . o r g

The corporate attempt to take over family farm agriculture in Nebraska is back. Three separate bills being debated in the Unicameral, LB 176, 175

and 106, are nothing short of a corporate-driven assault on family farmers and rural communities.

LB 176 would lift Nebraska’s ban on packer ownership for hogs, so long as they do so under contract production. Increasing packer ownership of hogs relegates smaller, family farm producers to the role of residual suppliers, taking lower prices or even lesser contracts at virtually every turn.

Meatpackers want to own hogs because that’s where the profit is. They’d much rather someone else stood all the risk, did all the work, and debt-financed the buildings. The production contracts they of-fer are as one-sided as imaginable.

Contract growers across the country, raising hogs and poul-try, are treated as little more than serfs by transnational meatpack-ing corporations. Contract growers in Nebraska will also see their con-tracts cancelled at the company’s whim, for so-called “violations” as mundane as sharing contract details with their attorney or even their elected members of Congress or the Unicameral.

LB 106 would eliminate county zoning for livestock facilities and replace it with a statewide matrix. Decision making on a statewide basis will fail to consider unique local interests and needs. If they are to be considered, local officials and local people must do so. LB 106 is simply another vehicle to increasingly concentrate livestock production and sacrifice our rural environment.

LB 175 would provide grants to counties that are “livestock friend-ly” to help them plan and update infrastructure to facilitate large-scale livestock development.

When you put these three bills together you get the corporate takeover of family-farm agriculture and rural communities. First, al-low packers to own the hogs. Sec-ond, make sure they can put large-scale livestock buildings wherever they choose without meaningful local citizen input. Third, let the government subsidize large-scale livestock infrastructure develop-ment.

These three bills are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

LB 176+

LB 175+

LB 106=

corporate takeover o f f a m i ly - f a r m a g r i c u lt u r e

a n d r u r a l c o m m u n i t i e s

1 4 5 M a i n S t r e e t, P O B o x 1 3 6 • Ly o n s , N E 6 8 0 3 8 - 0 1 3 6c f r a . o r g | i n f o @ c f r a . o r g

Address Service Requested 03/15

Center for Rural Affairs

—See Aligning Capital on page 7.

From the Desk of the Executive Director

Aligning Capital and JusticeBy Brian Depew

, briand@cfra.org

In

2015, th

e Cen

ter for Ru

ral

Affa

irs will rea

ch th

e $12 m

il-lion

mark

in sm

all b

usin

ess loa

ns. A

lignin

g loan

capita

l w

ith ou

r valu

es of wid

esprea

d

own

ership

, control, a

nd

opportu

nity is a

core strategy for

our w

ork.

How

did

we get h

ere?In

1977, th

e C

enter p

ub-

lished

Wh

ere H

ave A

ll the

Ba

nkers G

one?,

reportin

g on

chan

ges in

the ow

nersh

ip

structu

re of ban

kin

g. Ban

ks

were con

soli-datin

g. Wh

en

small-tow

n

ban

ks join

ed

a con

solidated

ch

ain

, more of

their cu

stomers’ ca

sh h

oldin

gs w

ent to b

ig-city ban

ks in

the

chain

.W

e raised

a fl

ag of ca

ution

. If con

solidated

ban

kin

g led to

an

outfl

ow of ca

pita

l from sm

all

town

s, local ca

pita

l need

s wou

ld

go un

met.

It was 1

3 m

ore years b

efore we

lau

nch

ed a

small b

usin

ess lend-

ing p

rogram

. Ou

r report, H

alf a

G

lass of W

ater, w

ritten in

1989,

foun

d h

igh ra

tes of self-employ-

men

t in ru

ral a

reas follow

ing th

e econ

omic d

own

turn

of the 1

980s.

Insp

ired b

y the in

ternation

-al m

icrofin

an

ce movem

ent, ou

r goa

l was to in

fuse ca

pita

l back

in

to local com

mu

nities. In

1990,

we crea

ted th

e Ru

ral E

nterp

rise A

ssistan

ce Project. It focu

sed on

ou

r hom

e state of N

ebra

ska.

Ou

r small

bu

siness w

ork

has con

firm

ed

a core b

elief. W

hen

capita

l is a

ligned

with

loca

l need

s, in

divid

uals in

com

mu

nities

genera

te new

econ

omic a

ctiv-ity. E

ach

loan

w

e make sh

ows

us th

e truth

of th

at a

pproa

ch.

Every sm

all

bu

siness su

ccess is insp

iring.

In th

e 25-yea

r history of th

e progra

m, w

e have p

laced

over 1,0

00 sm

all b

usin

ess loan

s. Th

e avera

ge loan

in 2

014 w

as ju

st $17,2

46.

Sin

ce the W

all S

treet bu

st in

2008, w

e’ve seen a

rapid

increa

se in

dem

an

d a

nd a

steady in

crease

in sm

all b

usin

ess loan

s pla

ced.

Data

bea

rs out ou

r experien

ce.

E M P O W

E RI N

G E

NT

RE

PRENEURS

• EST

AB

LIS

HE

D 1

99 0 •

25YEA

RS