Former rural development official to speak at Monday's Democratic tele-luncheon

Clint Koble, Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture's Nevada Rural Development Council in the Obama administration, will be the featured speaker at next Monday's Democratic tele-luncheon. The topic of his presentation will be “Rebuilding Rural America” — a set of policy proposals he developed based on a lifetime in public life and on his own experience as a product of rural America, having been born and raised on a farm in North Dakota.

Clint is best known in this corner of the state for being the Democratic candidate for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District, both in 2016 and in 2018. His policy focus in those campaigns was fending off threats to the economic, social, cultural and political viability of the district's rural counties, due both to the loss of family farms and the depopulation of our rural communities. Clint is deeply committed to resolving these issues, and has developed a set of specific proposals that can help make the rebuilding of rural America a reality.

A 1974 Political Science graduate of the University of North Dakota, Clint Koble has since 2017 served as Rural Business Advisor to the Nevada Small Business Development Center, the state’s premier economic development resource which maintains a network of facilities throughout the state that provides the expertise, knowledge and training necessary to help start-ups and ongoing businesses succeed.

Nevada's SBDC provides a whole array of services, expertise and training in all aspects of starting, growing and developing a business. It guides and assists Nevadans looking to start and grow businesses, with objectives to increase business starts, create and retain jobs, and increase access to capital. One-on-one counseling services are free and confidential. Nevada SBDC also offers and coordinates a wide range of workshops and courses in collaboration with public and private entities. In addition to its offices in Reno and Las Vegas, SBDC maintains network locations in Carson City, Gardnerville, Fallon, Fernley, Winnemuca, Elko, Ely, Mesquite, Henderson, Laughlin and Pahrump.

During his eight years of service to the Obama administration, Koble served as State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency of the US Department of Agriculture, a vital resource to Nevada's farmers and ranchers. Despite being the nation’s most arid state, Agriculture remains the Silver State's third largest industry, and thanks in large part to the work of the Farm Service Agency, Nevada boasts the second fastest growing agricultural sector in the nation, with a 32% increase in new farms just since 2007.

For example, Nevada has some of the largest onion and potato producers, and is home to some of the largest cow and calf counties in the country. The state's high-quality alfalfa and timothy hay production reaches all corners of the globe, and powdered milk from a plant in Fallon is shipped all the way to China. Nevada's farmers and ranchers all over the state raise sheep, corn, wheat, sorghum, fruits, and vegetables. Some of the nation’s largest hydroponic and aquaponic growers also have operations here in the Silver State.

Strong farms and ranches play a vital role in the economic sustainability of Nevada's rural communities, and the Ag industry would not exist without the Farm Service Agency's essential services. The FSA serves as a safety net to producers in the aftermath natural disasters, and it provides loans to eligible producers in good times and bad. It also conducts resource conservation programs, sustains women- and minority-owned farms, and provides certification services to the state's booming organic farm sector.

In addition to its county offices, the Farm Service Agency's county committees ensure that farmer and rancher voices are heard by county commissioners, state legislators, and elected representatives in Washington DC. Through his many years of service leading this multi-faceted agency, Clint Koble acquired an in-depth understanding of rural Nevada's Ag economy and the rural way of life that continues to serve him well today.

Obama Secretary of Agriculture and former two-term Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack paid the Carson Dems a visit during the run-up to 2008 precinct caucuses as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and made a big impression. Vilsack has now been nominated by President-Elect Biden to once again serve as Agriculture Secretary, so it would surprise no one if Clint Koble were once again called to public service himself in the Biden administration. If Clint knows anything we don't know, he's being tight lipped about it. But one can hope.

Sponsored by the Democratic Men's Committee, this event is scheduled for noon on Monday, December 21st, and will be held online via Zoom teleconference due to the restricted availability of in-person venues. Those wishing to be on distribution for these Zoom links can email Rich Dunn, Men's Committee Events Coordinator, at richdunn@aol.com.