rural utility service portfolio of our operation that basically provides low-cost financing for the construction of wind farms and electric generation. if those wind farms and those turbines are located in rural areas, there's no reason why we couldn't have the kind of partnership that you're talking about. it isn't so much where the energy is used, it's where the energy is generated is where it is. i'd encourage you to look online under the rural utility service. that will give you information about the programs that are available. this is a little far afield from energy, but one of the things we're also trying to do is to connect these rural communities with broadband and the rural utility services also is engaged in and involved in providing access for distance learning for medicine and for connecting

communities. there's a lot of activity that goes on through usda that can support regional economic development. and one of the things i would encourage, we have roughly 50 regions that have self-identified themselves. this can be multiple counties, put peand certainly a large cit like yours would benefit from a strategy that encourages the surrounding communities to contribute to a regional economic development strategy. >> i'm going to call on mayor fox next, but it's important that we use the microphones because i understand we're on c-span. it's going to be interesting as others listen to this discussion, and therefore the microphones are very important. mayor fox? >> yes. thank you, mr. chair. and also thank you, secretary vilsack. in my community, one of the

things that is becoming more of a topic is the concept of local food and partly as a sustainability initiative. the idea that when you have food that is moving for thousands of miles to get to the plate, it has an impact on the environment and on energy consumption. i'm wondering whether there are initiatives through usda to promote local food and to help connect urban areas to some of the food sources that are closer. >> mayor, there are a couple of things i would say in response to that. first, we have a program referred to as know your farmer, know your food. it's not actually a program. it's sort of an ovinfrastructur that allows cold storage, warehousing, mobile storage units and the like to help critical mass of locally

produced food so that can do exactly what you've suggested. we've increased to farmers' markets because that's another opportunity. we now have over 7,200 farmers' markets. we've seen an increase as well in winter of farmers' markets. and that's been a result of our -- a concerted effort to promote the financing and assisting farmers' markets even in urban centers. so know your farmer. know your food. if you go to our website, there's a little icon directly connected to that initiative. the third thing i would say it we are also very cognizant of the food desert issue, which is prevalent in many major urban centers and is also very prevalent, unfortunately, and tragically in rural areas as well. and so we have been working with the treasury department and others to put together a package of financing through a healthy financing initiative where we

use our services. there are a number of grocery chains expressing a real interest in using this opportunity. i would encourage all of the mayors who might have a food desert in their city to consider reaching out to whatever the predominant grocery store chain is in your community and suggest to them that they might consider, in lieu of a check, which is what oftentimes you get from corporate foundations, that they consider the operation of a grocery store at no profit. that that would be a contribution they could make to a community by establishing a small right-sized grocery store that would provide fruits and vegetables to folks and provide a convenient location for folks. and if they operated at no profit, at a break-even, then they might have an opportunity

to lower it, they would be in a position to access that grocery store. i would also say that, this is a little far afield from your question, but we've also made a concerted effort to reach out to schools to encourage them as we improve the school lunch and school breakfast program from a nutritional within a 50-mile radius and again using our economic development tools to build the food hub that would allow enough of that aggregation. there are quite a number of initiatives in o initiatives. hhs also has information as well. >> we have time for two questions. if you'd like to introduce yourself, please, and say a little something about your city. >> mayor davis from the city of

va lal hoe. thank you. from vallejo, california. you guys probably have heard that name. we are now out of bankruptcy. we have passed successfully. we have just hired a new city manager that we stole from concord, california. we have passed a tax measure to help us boost our economy. and we're moving ahead. we're in great shape, have our contracts in order, and the city is getting ready to move. good to be here. >> docongratulations. from pleasanton, please. >> thank you. so i hear about your name came up at the dinner table just last week. i hear all this wonderful stuff.

we talk about crumbling infrastructure in this country, informal? you mentioned communications. roads and bridges. what do you think the real opportuni opportunities for a true infrastructure bank in this country, to fund these types of much needed quite frankly enough opportunity to leave mayor to work. >> mayor, that's a good question. to a sent apparently concerts effort at usda to provide. we've got a -- having said that, it's fairly clear that the need for infrastructure improvement far impedes what currently has

and what we need to be able to do is to figure out and leverage. whoeks to ask whether or not we could partner. if we could identify projects at usda, would they potentially. we clearly need to look for ways and access large sums of men that investments. certainly infrastructure at the local level. state level is one solid stable investment that could be made. with a relatively reasonable return. given the current circumstance. as it relates to the chances of

that happening, you though, i'd like to be optimistic. and my hope is that at some point in time folks in congress understand the president has proposed at one, he has suggested with the american jobs act that we create a first start at this. we haven't been able to get that done through congress yet, but we're going to continue to work on it. because the focus of this president and his administration is on jobs. and it's obviously a great job creator. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i think the final question will come from frank county. >> i've got to go. >> you've got to go? sorry, frank. you almost got there. you got very close. >> thank you, mr. secretary. for taking yet another moment to speak. i'm fascinated and have been watching closely, all the work that's been done and your thought about local foods as a follow-up to the question a moment ago.

and also looking at our state in iowa and knowing that we don't raise a lot of -- well, as you pointed out, soybeans or corn that people actually eat. we shove it through something else, and it becomes something else. do we have a model that you're thinking of in cooperation with other agencies and departments where we shrink that model from where our food sources come from? i mean,thin most people would say the majority of our food comes from over 1,500 miles away. i've been so -- i am astounded and discovering that not only

s one apple counts. i kicked it. i'm trying to talk about energy and food and fuel and shipping and how we move goods and services around. what are we doing, and are you looking at that model, and do you have any statistics that says that number from 15 or we're able to shrink it 20% or 40% to maybe only 900 miles away or something? how are you interesting and looking at those issues? >> we are very interested in a recent trend taking place in agriculture which is that individuals in their 20s, late 20s, early 30s this this country have become more interested in getting back into farming. we're seeing a fairly significant trend of young people wanting to get into farming.

and the reality is that farming today is highly capital intensive if you're looking at large-scale production agriculture, commercial-sized operations. and so many opportunities actually are in smaller-scale operations. so within thing that the council of mayors could do is perhaps for the first time extend your interest in the farm bill to not just the nutrition assistance portion of it which is important to your constituents, but also to this issue because congress is about to engage in the 2012 farm bill. we'll have to address this issue of beginning farmers and how we can encourage people to get in the business of farming because the overall age of farmers in the country is rapidly aging. secondly, there is a growing

interest in direct-to-consumer sales. we're seeing a significant increase in the amount of activity in this space to the point where it's now a multiple billion-dollar industry. and it's, in my view, a good compliment to production and commercial-sized scale agriculture. it complements it. and so, you know, we want to continue to work to create new market opportunities, whether it's increasing farmers' markets, whether it's actually encouraging schools to enter into contracts. there's a good operation in new mexico which i'll get you information on which is a pretty good food hub which basically collects food from local producers. you'd be surprised. there's probably quite a bit of activity in the state of iowa that's perhaps just not coordinated. i know the secretary is working on this, that you could aggregate substantial amounts and meet some of them.

i think there's more in your space than you would imagine. let me just close with one other observation. the farmers, ranchers and producers of this country with due were taken for granted and not given a token of appreciation which they deserved. for the following three reasons. one, 86% of what we consume in this country is grown and raised in this country. 86%. which means that we are, for all intents and purposes, a food secure nation which we need to feed our people. do not take that fact for granted because that is not true in most of the major countries. around the world. they are dependent on importing their food. secondly, when your constituents walk out of your local grocery

store, they walk out than most people in the developed world. we spend less than 10% of our paychecks. in most countries, it's 15 to 25% which means that all of your citizens have opportunities to buy nicer cars or live in a nicer house or take a vacation and have more flexibility than ninl anyone else in the world. and the third piece of this which is often not recognized. and i know i'm speaking to larger city mayors. but rural represent, so not only do these fine people provide food for your families, they're sometimes taken for granted in this country. so it's a place that is not

fully appreciated, fully recognized, and it's important that mayors of communityies and rural america does matter and that your cities are dependent on what's happening in rural america. you're going to see more of your fuel produced there. you're going to see more of your energy produced there. you're going to see economic opportunity. located in your cities providing the feedstock for job students and a new person matter. mayor, i hope i didn't overstay. >> no. as a matter of fact, i want to ask you something. i want -- if it hasn't occurred by the summer, i'm thinking we could have a resolution before the energy committee because

this impacts energy, that might push us in the right direction. there is language that he needs in a bill that we could all get behind, we've done this before. and this might actually be something that we can get done. sometimes it's difficult to come to washington and ask for money because everybody's, you know, very tight. you know, he's offering us something. that can help a lot of communities across this country and help the country as a whole. so frank, if you're willing to do that, you know, you're very articulate. and you understand this issue well. and if you can track it, i know staff will work with you. and maybe we can get something done along the lines that he mentioned. >> i'd love to work with the secretary. and do you have any idea, mr. secretary, when the bill might roll out? >> well, i just asked the congressman sitting next to me when that would be. and honestly, there will be

conversations and discussions the first part of this year about it. and i think now is a very good time to get engaged. in fact, it would make sense for a conference on mayors to perhaps visit with the house and and basically provide your input. jennifer, where you are? jennifer is our intergovernmental affairs person, and she's the key per n person. and we will coordinate with her and you. >> and i'll be in your office next week. hopefully you will. we've got an urban forestry meeting. >> okay. >> you're not going to get away. >> he also knows where i live. >> he knows where you live. that's why i appointed him. thank you very much, mr. secretary.

i now am going to turn things over to mayor brian waller from piscataway, new jersey, because he is the person responsible for our next special guest that he's going to introduce and give a proper introduction to. >> thank you, mayor. it gives me a grit honor and pleasure on behalf of the residents of the sixth congressional district and also my colleague, tony, from edison who's here at the dais to introduce the congressman who represents our two towns. and congressman pallone served on the energy committee, correct? and congressman pallone has been a leader and also on energy issues and many of the towns

crossed the dais were able to receive grants for energy assistance and direct block grants. with that, i'd like to thank the congressman for spending some time down here with the united states conference of mayors. and with that, we'ring about to get you to mike over here. >> thank you, mayor. i won't take up a lot of your time because i think the time allotted for this panel, i guess, is probably near the end. and i want to thank both waller and my mayor from -- for being here. i saw if -- i know that nobody expected me to talk about agriculture. and i want planning on it, but i couldn't help it, lirich listen the -- georgia is the garden state. people don't think of us that way, but we're also the dense

cultural production and land over the years because of housing that's gobbles it up and the development that's gobbles. the whole concept of jersey fresh, which has been pronoted in our state and the idea of trying to have local farmers produce things at small farm markets that exist in a lot of our cities and we can't get enough of it. in fact, for many of the urban areas, it's not just an issue of dietary point of view. as you know, our first lady has been concerned about obesity. part of the issue is trying to get fresh prukts and the urban areas. so in a lot of urban areas, we have a farmers' thing.

i don't even have a single farm in my zriblgt that i'm aware of, when is not only the state university but the new jersey. we've done a lot to promote jersey fresh and it's very popular. the too the highest population of asian-indians and in my con -- it's interesting in increasing its gross national product and joining the more developed countries now is because they managed over the last 20 or 30 years to be food sufficient. i mean, people don't realize, people still think of the yavsh

i ing. the bottom line, india is food sufficient. they actually export china to products. and by china because their cultur cultural. it's so when he talks about the importance of agriculture and the fact that 87% of what we consume is american grown, i mean, that's a very important part of the economy and job growth and, you know, the whole -- i call it making it in america. i think we think more of manufacturing. it also involves your agricultural sector as well. that's not what i was here to talk about. i just couldn't help it with the garden state. >> four congressmen. what i wanted to -- i just wanted to briefly say, with regard to the issue of

renewables. ivan unabashed supporter of renewables. so it's very hard for me to not be excited and i've asked you to help us, i really regret the fact, larly in the last few months. so it's soul power or hydra p power. i mean for the most part in new jersey, in a lot of renewable portfolio standards, a certain percentage of your energy has to be produced from renewables. and i regret the fact that, you know, we have the tax credit actually expire on december 31st for solar, which i think was extremely unfortunate because you need these incentives. and of course when we tried to

pass a renewable portfolio standard on the federal level, i think it was 20% by 2020. that was part of our -- i don't even dare mention the name. it was part of the climate change back in 2009 when democrats were in the majority. of course that bill -- you know, the american clean energy act essentially -- it never got passed because of the opposition. you know, i'm not going to sit here and try to make you advocates for addressing climate change, although i'd love to do that. i think it's important for all of you to present and why are renewables important? it's not just a question of whether you believe or don't believe in global climate change or you're concerned about the environment. it's also a national security issue. it's a jobs issue.

i mean, from a national security point of view, we cannot continue to rely on imported oil and energy sources from the mideast. it's not reliable. you know -- i'm sure you're lisping to the media in the last few weeks. we've seen iran threaten to. we're relying on energy sources particularly from the mideast from countries that are not our friends, countries that are not reliable. at any point, these supplies could be cut off. we have to look at renewables, even if you don't care about the environment, from a national security point of view. and it also is herely a jobs issue. in my state of new jersey, you know, we continue to have the incentives. and the governor, you know, i

don't usually praise him. he's a republican. he's not one of my favorite people by any means. you can ask some of my colleagues and they'll tell you that. the bottom line, which is a democratic legislature, they need to try to not only towards rebut also to make the wind turbines, make the solar panels. and unfortunately china and other countries but i stress china which has actually used subsidies to encourage the production and tried to corner the market in ways that, you know, most of us consider our trade violations. but it's our own fault at the federal level. not only in terms of

incentivizing the use but also making the things. they're good jojobs. china is not investing and subsidizing in wind tunnels out of the goodness of their heart. they could but yet they realize that these are jobs that can be created. and the public is supportive of it. i mean, you know, i live -- most of my district, it keeps changing, but it still has a lot of areas that are along the coast, along the atlantic, along the raritan bay. you may see to, most people don't realize it unless you're from the state. most people think you don't want offshore wind because it's going to affect the tourism industry. just the opposite. every poll i've ever seen shows

the opposite. and i've been a strong advocate. i've not received any opposition -- i shouldn't say any -- but any significant opposition to that. and polling shows overwhelmingly that people are even willing to pay more. that they have to pay a couple dollars more. they're willing to do that because they understand from a j job, from an environmental point of view, that renewables are the way to go. brian asked me to come. in brian's case in piscataway, he got one of these energy block grants, and he installed the panels. and i went there with senator menendez, i don't know, a year ago, whenever it was. and it was just wonderful to see. you know, it saves on money