Cooperative Network member Dairyland Power Cooperative coordinated the president’s visit, where he was joined by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack in announcing the Empowering Rural America program, a $7.3 billion investment in electrification and clean energy across 23 states. Dairyland will use $573 million of these funds to buy energy from solar and wind farms.
Those who gathered for the event came from energy and agricultural cooperatives across the region. While waiting for the president to arrive, conversation flowed about the challenges facing rural communities in areas of clean energy, telecommunications, healthcare, child and elder care, food access, and housing. Cooperatives are uniquely positioned to address these challenges because cooperatives already are deeply invested in rural communities. If these communities are to be revitalized, cooperatives will do the heavy lifting, just as they have always done in the past.
It isn’t every day when one has the opportunity to see a president of the United States in person at a cooperative business in a small Midwestern town. It isn’t every day that an investment of this size is made into a part of the country too many either drive through or fly over. And it isn’t every day that so many cooperative, government, and business leaders stand together under a hot Wisconsin sun and pledge to do more to help rural communities that often have much less in terms of services and amenities than their urban counterparts.
Cooperative Network’s membership of cooperatives big and small is uniquely positioned and qualified to lead a rural resurgence in the Upper Midwest. The investment President Biden announced holds great promise, but it is up to those of us who call rural America our home to do the work. Fortunately, cooperatives know how to successfully bring projects to fruition, thanks to the power of the cooperative business model.
