Amador County – About 40 people attended an economic forum in Plymouth last week, with the state director of USDA Rural Development as the top guest.

Plymouth Interim City Manager Jeff Gardner said Dr. Glenda Humiston presented findings of a series of statewide forums on rural development held across California in 2010.

Gardner said the crowd included different organizations, talked about resources and ways to collaborate at county and city levels.

Humiston pointed out one big thing about the USDA is its widespread geography over which it must preside. She said California has 13 regional offices in its 58 counties. A comparable area in southeastern United States, in the same square mileage, has 400 counties and 400 field offices.

Gardner said money is allocated accordingly, and “it is hard for Congress to get their head around the fact that we need stuff out here in California,” and in Amador County, which is still classified as a rural county.

He said Humiston is looking at how money is spent and trying to turn it around. There is money for large urban areas and for very poor rural areas, but that leaves out rural areas of 20,000 to 30,000 population, like Amador County, which kind of fall through the cracks and miss out on funding.

Gardner said the meeting gave good information, and helped get people in the room talking to each other, exchanging cards, and looking for ways to interact and work together.

Humiston said the forums last year showed a common problem in rural areas, that a lot of time and resources are spent, and in many cases, those efforts are being doubled, and tripled sometimes around a county.

Humiston said USDA is opening a regional center in Livingston with state-wide, and federal resources to help drive a regional concept and approach to attack problems. The Livingston office opens Feb. 25.

Gardner said the report had innovative information on agricultural economics aimed at rural areas, developing resources, production, technology, small mobile meat processors, aggregate sites and shipping hubs for small farmers.

Gardner said he found it very informative, and a lot of people who don’t spend a lot time talking to each other listened to people. There was a lot interaction of people talking about ways they can interact and help each other with common goals.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.