The Hill newspaper on June 3 ran a feature article on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. It begins:
Tom Vilsack thought he knew a lot about the Agriculture Department from his days as a farm-state governor, but he found out he had a lot to learn when he took the helm as secretary in 2009.
“Honestly, when I was governor of Iowa, I didn’t understand the reach of USDA, so it has been a learning opportunity for me,” Vilsack said. “The thing that surprised me the most is the scope of USDA and how underappreciated that scope is by folks.”
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development has provided grants for many years for RCAP's Technitrain program. These grants make up a substantial part of RCAP's annual operating budget and enable it to employ staff across the country who assist small, rural communities with the technical, managerial and financial needs related to their water utilities.