MANNING, Ia. — Joe Biden used a visit to Iowa on Tuesday to lay out a plan for rural America that includes investment in clean energy, payments to farmers to protect the environment and creating low-carbon manufacturing jobs in rural communities.

The rural plan builds on Biden's climate plan and the health care plan he released Monday, which would involve adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act so people can buy into government health insurance if they choose.

"Rural communities power the nation. They feed our bodies. They fuel our engines. They are the stewards who protect our lands," Biden told a crowd of about 230 in Manning on Tuesday.

Biden's plan would:

Double the maximum microloan available to new and beginning farmers to $100,000

Foster development of regional food systems by working with small- and mid-sized farmers to deliver fresh produce and other products to schools, hospitals and other state and federal institutions

Increase research funding for land-grant universities to create new technologies and seeds that are owned by the public

Increase payments to farmers for practices that protect the environment so the American agriculture sector reaches net-zero emissions

Strengthen antitrust enforcement through the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust acts and the Packers and Stockyards Act to help farmers and ranchers who are being hurt by market concentration

Expand bio-manufacturing to create a low-carbon manufacturing sector in every state in the country, including bringing manufacturing jobs to rural areas

Invest $400 billion in clean energy and research and deployment, including researching next-generation cellulosic biofuels

Invest in wind and solar energy to meet a goal of a 100% clean-energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier

Invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure and triple broadband grant funding, which Biden's plan says has the potential to create more than 250,000 new jobs

The plan has the support of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who hosted Biden at a house party Monday night in Waukee. The Iowa Democrat endorsed the plan Tuesday.

While Vilsack doesn't expect to endorse a presidential candidate for some time, he said he and his wife, Christie Vilsack, believe they have "a responsibility" to be open and helping all 2020 campaigns develop strong rural and agricultural programs.

Other candidates, like Sens. Michael Bennet and Elizabeth Warren, have come out with plans for rural America and energy efficiency. But Biden's plan takes the "bits and pieces" addressed in other plans and "puts it all together," Vilsack said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

Specifically, Biden's plan shows a path to address climate change and aim for net-zero carbon emissions while helping the rural economy and creating jobs, Vilsack said.

"Democrats need to focus on the issue of climate change in a hopeful and optimistic way," he said. "I really like the challenge that the vice president lays out for American agriculture to be a leader not only in agriculture, but in business and industry in leading to a new net-zero emission industry world."

Biden's plan includes provisions that address green infrastructure, investing in solar and wind power, and creating new, low-carbon manufacturing jobs to be located in rural areas, he said.

"We’re not bringing back old jobs. We’re going to create entirely new bio-based manufacturing jobs that are going to deal farmers into the benefits of a new low-carbon economy," Biden said in Iowa.

And he repeated his comments that trade policies like President Donald Trump's tariff war with China hurt rural communities and farmers in Iowa.

"We need a trade policy that starts at home by reinvesting in our middle class, including our rural economies and transforming our agricultural sector," Biden said. "We can’t sustain an economic model that extracts value from our farmlands and rural resources without sharing the profits back in the communities."

The rural plan isn't only about agriculture and energy. It additionally addresses issues rural communities face with infrastructure and health care, like access to hospitals.

Traveling in Iowa on Tuesday, Biden said: “You want to know why I’m such a strong friend of Obamacare? Because we were able to keep a lot of those hospitals open."

He also expanded on his critique of the "Medicare for All" health care plan that several of his Democratic rivals support.

► More: Joe Biden on 'Medicare for All': 'Adding another 300 million people in one fell swoop ... Medicare goes away as you know it.'

“Here’s the truth about Medicare for All that some people are talking about these days,” Biden said Tuesday. “A noble idea, but it takes away private insurance as an option. And it threatens rural hospitals because Medicare reimbursement rates are just too low for these hospitals to keep their doors open.”

Other recent policy stories from the Iowa campaign trail:

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

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