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The strength of the rural economy rests upon growing, making and creating products that people want to eat, buy and use. Over the past seven years, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has worked to enhance the range of products made in rural America, and to expand the domestic and international markets for those products. These changes strengthen traditional agriculture, be it promoting biofuels or bio-based products, improving animal genetics or even developing more plant varieties.

Another example is the growing retail market for organic products, which in 2015 was valued at $39.1 billion by the Organic Trade Association. Many organic farmers and ranchers receive premium prices for organic products by following USDA-defined standards that cover the production and handling of certified organic products from farm to market.