I call the committee back to order. Thanks to the first panel and we appreciate your testimony. We welcome the second panel that is with us. Fir, we have mr. Ms. Botts, she is a executive director for the kentucky she was named in 2013, has over 15 years of experience working in agriculture and World Development policy issues and helping individuals in rural areas understand issues related to policy and financing. You could be of help to individual senators i would imagine. Before returning to kentucky to work for kcard, she spent ten areas working on agriculture ask a policy staffer in the house of on representatives, grew up on a farm in kentucky and received a ms and bs in rural economics in kentucky and lives on a small farm right now, with her husband and two children, welcome to you, maam. We look forward to your testimony. Second witness is mr. Elmer general manager, Water Association and kansas america. He is the general manager of the kansas rural Water Association. His career has spanned five decades, has been focused on working to ensure all of kansass Rural Communities have access to safe and affordable water. First, as a Program Director and then as general manager of the kansas rural Water Association, he has been critical to the development and facilitatation of water leadership. He has started a statewide water gps Mapping Program and the construction of 90 Community Facilities using local volunteer labor services. He and his wife had hale from baileyville, kansas i am elmer im glad you are here to join us today. Our next witness, christopher stephens. He is president and ceo of Fayette Electric membership in fwa ga. He graduated in 1987 and attended the georgia snaut of technology where he graduated with a bachelor of electric engineering degree in 91 and earned the certification in 1998. Once out of college, he worked as a design engineer for rich Instrument Transformers in georgia and then utility consultants in atlanta, before becoming supervisor of engineering at fayette emc in 1986. He is a native of newman, georgia. We look forward to your testimony, sir. Senator thune has given a marvelous introduction to you, and so we will let that stand for the record. But welcome. And we really appreciate your coming and we look forward to your testimony. Our next witness is mr. Brent shanks, who is the director of the nsf engineering Reference Center for bio renewable chemicals, home of the fighting say clones, now, i turn to senator grassly for the introduction. It is my honor and i had a chance to just have a short conversation with dr. Shanks. He is a chair of chemical and biological engineering at iowa state university, dr. Shanks is the director of the engineering reefrp cen research center, and a professor in engineering. He has been on the faculty of iowa state since 1999 where he focused on converging feed stocks in to chemicals and fuels. We welcome you, dr. Shanks. I was going to turn to the Ranking Member to introduce our final witness, but again in the spurt of bipartisanship, im delighted to bruintroduce you s. He is the chief executive officer of the Harvest Energy solutions and one of the cofounders, he is responsible for developing Harvest Operating strategies and adviser relationships. He holds a bba degree from Michigan State university. Obviously why the Ranking Member wanted to introduce you with the green and white. The distinguished Ranking Member had me decorated in green and white when we had our hearing up there. So, just want you to know that. When you come to kansas, you can wear purple. And an mba from the university of michigan. I thank you for joining us today, ms. Botts, if you could start off with your testimony. Pardon me. Thank you, chairman roberts and Ranking Member and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today on Rural Development issues and thank you for having this hearing. The programs being discussed today touch every person living in Rural America. The Kentucky Center forthwith Rural America known as kcard. Through the work we see the conditions facing ag producers as they start new businesses. Seek to add value to their commodities to capture their food dollar and face challenges in the bottom line. That means we help businesses developed by ag producers at all stages of development. This work would not be possible without the support of the federal Rural CooperativeGrant Program. This Program Provides the support for kcard to be the resource for the development of coops in the country. Cooperatives the wapaperwork challenges. The funds go to producers and they advance the goal of securing a greater percentage of the food dollar. Its a good investment for the federal government. It accomplishes it through the submission of financial plans, estimates of Customer Growth and pricing calculation. I have elaborated on ways to improve the program, but to summarize the Business Plans are important. We should consider our rolling application process for plan and grant, we need to main producer eligibility restrictions and recognize that Rural Development is uniquely suited to run the program due to the assets they have on the ground. We have two Rural Development programs that are critically important to foster iing progra. Rural Development Programs respond to need driven by the notion that economies of scale are harder to achieve in rural areas and services are harder to provide because of that and People Living in the rural areas deserve the same access to services and opportunity as those living in metro areas. Kcard staff works with farmers and Rural Businesses every day to help them survive and thrive, i use Rural Broadband to do my work. I by my electric from a rural coop and i can say, these programs are critical to the health of the rural areas. If we want the rur aral areas te strong, we have to support the programs working together to deliver needed infrastructure and foster job creation and provide a Higher Quality of life for our rural areas. We appreciate your testimony. Chairman, robertss and Ranking Members, and members of the committee. Im the general manager of the kansas rural Water Association and i appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. My experience with rural water goes back to the early 1970s when i was elected to a committee and then served for 14 years on the board of directors as wes formed and developed and constructed a large Regional Water supply in marshal county. It went on to serve 700 rural residents and farmsteads. That first project was funded with a loan the then farmers home administration. About ten years later, we needed to expand the capacity due to the needs of that water system. We obtained a second loan from then farmers home administration, again another loan only. Im here today to ask you for your support to continue the funding for that program, which is today known as the water and Wastewater Loan Program operated under usda Rural Development. The public water supply systems in the United States number some 60,000. I represent the kansas rural Water Association, but also the other 44 state associations that make up the National RuralWater Association and their membership of some 31,000member utilities. 92 of those public water supply systems serve populations less than 10,000, and 80 of the wastewater utilities in the nation, some 16,000, serve populations less than 10,000. In kansas, there are 786 of the 855 public water supply systems that serve fewer than 3,000. The issue of affordability of Drinking Water is a major concern for those public water supply systems across the United States. The Rural Development program is critical to addressing that effort. The usda Program Provides help to citizens to have more affordable rates, because of the provision for longerterm financing than the epafunded state Revolving Loan funds or that commercial credit can offer. I try to put the issue of affordability into some perspective. In reviewing the costs that were incurred by a public wholesale district in Cottonwood Falls and the chase rural Water District in kansas, without usda Rural Development funding of loans and grants and a small portion from the Community Development block grant, the citizens in strong city, kansas, would have had their water rates quadruple, making 5,000 gallons of water cost 167. A 42. 50 minimum, and roughly 25 per thousand for a total of 167 for 5,000 gallons. That is absolutely not affordable in most communities. Strictly reliant on commercial credit and the epa loan and grant loan program, which addresses compliance, the usda Rural Development program varies from that, because it takes affordability as a primary fact factor into consideration of those compliment the agency for developing an online program, application process. It has helped borrowers and certainly has helped the agency. Thank you, chairman roberts, for the opportunity to comment. I would be happy to take any questions later. Thank you, elmer, for your long service on behalf of kansas. I dont know about stralia. They used to beat up on the holton wildcats all of the time. Didnt think that was right. Strong city. Has a great rodeo. And obviously, you cant afford water at those kinds of prices. Excellent example. Thank you so much. Mr. Stevens. Thank you, chairman roberts, Ranking Member stab know, and inviting me to testify. Im with the not for profit electric cooperation in georgia. We have 70,000 members, operate over 6,000 miles of line and employ around 200 people. The farm bill is essential to coops because it contains tools we use to keep the lights on in Rural America, generate and distribute electricity from renewable sources, modernize the grid, and promote Economic Development to the communities we serve. For decades, the rural utilities electric loan program has been our foundation. Providing lowcost financing to coops for installing or maintaining the grid. Its been the most important tool Rural Development tool in this countrys history. Today coops are adapting to changes in consumer demand, accommodating and evolving generation mix, and protecting against cyber threats. The farm bill helps us fund essential projects to make our systems more modern, efficient and secure. We have enjoyed strong support for our u. S. Funding, because were such a good investment for the government, providing valuable service to our communities and reliably paying back our loans. We ask that you help us maintain that support in the farm bill. In the 21st century, robust communications, infrastructure is just as important to our businesses as our traditional assets like poles, wire and power plants. My coops is conducting an economic study to determine the feasibility of building out a broad band network. Our main motivation is to take care of internal operational needs to make our system more efficient and secure. Once this foundation is in place, there are lots of things we can do with it. One option could be facilitating the connection of our members homes and businesses to Broadband Internet. Some people in our region dont have access to reliable internet. And that puts our consumers, schools, hospitals and employers at a disadvantage. Another part of modernizing the grid is deploying new Energy Sources for helping our customers save money while managing their own energy better. We have a Founding Member which sources Renewable Energy from lowimpact hydro plants, biomass, land field gas and solar. At the end of last year, green power emc projects were generating 270 megawatts of electricity, enough power to serve over 200,000 homes. And that will nearly double by the year 2020. We also sponsor efforts to bring solar installations to schools and save Home Energy Efficiency projects. We urge the committee to reauthorize programs like rural energy for America Program, and the Rural Energy Savings program to ensure that electric coops can continue to meet the evolving demands for our member owners. In addition to our electrification work, cooperatives play a vital Economic Development role in the communities we serve. Since 2009, georgia coops have funded around 10 million through the rural Economic Development loan and Grant Program, also known as red leg. These projects include the renovation of a hospital and construction of a new cattle feed operation to support local agri business. We believe the red leg program is a developable tool in offsetting population flight and job losses in Rural America and around the country. We urge the committee to work with us to ensure ample funding for red leg throughout the next farm bill and beyond. Lastly, allow me to mention an issue of vital importance to the health of electric coops in georgia specifically. A Nuclear Power plant partially owned by ogle thorp power. Currently construction is under way to add two reactors at plant vogel. However, the unforeseen bankruptcy of the projects general contractor has put this project in jeopardy. Congress must extend existing Nuclear Production tax credits in order to make this projects completion viable. Most of our countrys food, minerals, energy and manufactured goods still come from rural areas. Thats why the health of Rural America should be of interest to all members of congress and all americans. You have a great opportunity in the farm bill to make needed investments that will address our unique challenges. Again, thank you for the time to testify. Mr. Long. Thank you. Chairman roberts, Ranking Member, and members of the committee, good morning and thank you for this opportunity to testify on promoting the deployment and sustainability of broadband in Rural America. Im denny law, ceo of Golden West Communications in south dakota. My remarks today are on behalf of golden west and the Rural Broadband association, which represents approximately 850 communitybased providers of advanced Telecommunications Services in the very most rural parts of this country. Golden west began operations in 1916 and today provide Broadband Internet service, Cable Television and voice Telecommunications Services. Golden west serves customers across 24,500 square miles in south dakota. Thats an area larger than the states of maryland, new jersey, connecticut and delaware combined. Golden west has been in our u. S. Borrower since the early 1950s and just last week we received approval for our most recent loan. Usdas telecom lending programs have stimulated billions of dollars in private Capital Investment in Rural Telecommunications infrastructure around this country. Despite the tremendous success of the usda telecom programs, Rural Broadband deployment would not be possible without the universal service fund, highcost program, as well. The usf Program Helps rural carriers make the Business Case for Network Deployment through use of private capital and or securing loans from the Rural Utility Service<