The U.S. Department of Agriculture will embark on a US$10 billion rural infrastructure program to boost investments in agriculture all over the country. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and CoBank CEO Robert Engel made the announcement Wednesday during the Rural Opportunity Investment Conference in Washington, D.C.. 

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The program intends to unite investment firms, government officials, and business leaders to focus on investments in rural areas. Vilsack stated the fund will not only supply jobs to the countryside, but will also stimulate and start other private investments projects.

Vilsack stated, "This is a new way for us to do business. This is us connecting. We're going to be able to do more projects and create more opportunities as a result."

The Capitol Peak Asset Management bsed in Denver will manage the fund and recruit more investors.

In 2011, the Obama administration organized the White House Rural Council help rural areas. This year, last February, the president proclaimed the "Made In Rural America" initiative, made to promote rural businesses' products be exported to markets inside and outisde the country. 

During the past five years, the agriculture department has released $2.75 billion for projects in the rural areas. But budget cuts were also noticable. From 2010 up to 2013, the operational budget was cut by 12 percent or $3 billion. 

CoBank's CEO Engel said, "The USDA has been a critical source of funding for [rural] companies today, but the agency has finite resources, and there's an understandable backlog of projects across many of these sectors. We have to do everything we can to facilitate the flow of capital to rural infrastructure projects."