USDA’s Innovation Center is making it easier for rural America to qualify for funding from the Office of Rural Development’s $222 billion loan portfolio and $36.6 billion in fiscal 2018 appropriated funds. It’s all part of an administration push to create more rural jobs and boost economic growth.

Rural areas struggling with low commodity prices and a stalled farm bill are getting over $4 billion in new USDA grants and low-interest loans for new or upgraded water and sewer systems, electric power lines, and other essential infrastructure.

When House and Senate conferees meet today to hammer out a new farm bill, one urgent request comes from 306 organizations seeking $60 million a year in “permanent funding for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP).”