Diversified, strong rural economy
goal of Under Secretary Dorr
homas C. Dorr — a
farmer from Marcus,
Iowa — was appointed
by President George W.
Bush to be the under
secretary for rural development and
was sworn into office by Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns on July 27.
Dorr served in the same position
under a recess appointment from
August 2002 to December
2003. After his recess
appointment ended, he
was named senior advisor
to the secretary of agriculture
for rural development
issues.
“Tom has demonstrated
his insight into the
issues facing rural America
and commitment to
addressing those issues
throughout his 4 years at
USDA,” Secretary Johanns
said. “He is a tireless advocate
for rural America and
I’m very pleased that the
Senate recognized his hard
work and dedication, as
reflected in his confirmation.
Johanns said Dorr’s
leadership has been
“instrumental in many of
USDA’s efforts to carry out the
President’s vision of a vibrant rural
America. I’m confident that Tom
returns to the under secretary position
with even greater passion and a
renewed sense of commitment to that
vision.”
Dorr will oversee USDA Rural
Development policies and programs.
Rural Development consists of three
program areas: rural business & cooperatives,
utilities and housing. These
program areas provide $14 billion in
annual funding authority for loans,
grants and technical assistance to rural
residents, communities and businesses.
Dorr also oversees an $87 billion portfolio
of existing business/co-op, housing
and infrastructure loans to rural
America. Rural Development also
includes USDA’s cooperative program,
which includes research, technical
assistance, education (including this
publication) and statistics designed to
strengthen the nation’s rural cooperatives.
Rural Development has over 7,000
employees located across the United
States and in Puerto Rico, the Virgin
Islands and the Western Pacific Trust
territories.
I look forward to advancing the
President’s rural initiatives and positioning
rural America to benefit from
the changes that are barreling down
the pike at us,” Dorr said. “There are
challenges due to ever-tougher international
competition and unrelenting
cost pressures on individual producers.
But there is also enormous upside
potential from diversification of the
rural economy. Emerging growth sectors
based on broadband, bio-agriculture,
value-added production, ethanol
and biodiesel are there to be leveraged.
They create significant opportunity for
all rural Americans.”
As senior advisor to the secretary of
agriculture for rural development
issues, Dorr coordinated several major
initiatives on behalf of the secretary.
He played critical roles in USDA disaster
relief efforts in response to the
hurricanes in Florida; he worked closely
with the assistant secretary for civil
rights to reach out to minority farmers
and provided key leadership on various
activities to improve program management
and business practices throughout
USDA.
Dorr has broad agricultural, financial
and business experience. He has
served as a member of the board of
directors of the 7th District Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Iowa
Board of Regents from 1991–1997,
and as a member and officer of the
Iowa and National Corn Growers
Associations.
Prior to his current service at
USDA, Dorr was the president of a
family agribusiness company consisting
of a corn and soybean farm, a statelicensed
commercial grain elevator and
warehouse and two limited liability
companies.
Dorr graduated from Morningside
College with a B.S. degree in business
administration. He is married to Ann
Dorr and has two children.
USDA Rural Development offers hurricane-relief
USDA Rural Development moved quickly and decisively
to offer many types of assistance to those affected
by Hurricane Katrina.
“In Mississippi, for example, Rural Development volunteers
are driving FEMA staff to the places where
they’re needed, and working closely with FEMA,” Agriculture
Under Secretary for Rural Development
Thomas Dorr said on Sept. 5, during a trip to Missouri,
where he met hurricane victims evacuated from
Louisiana and Mississippi.
“Our state offices are identifying vacant housing
units for the newly homeless. In Oklahoma, our staff is
assisting anyone from the hurricane zone who needs
help finding shelter,” he continued. “We’re working to
get generators to the affected area. As far away as
South Dakota, our agency is finding shelter for hundreds
of people who are without homes.
“The 7,000 members of our team are doing everything
they can to help those in need,” said Dorr. An
assessment of Rural Development housing identified
nearly 800 vacant housing units near the hurricaneaffected
area, and more than 30,000 units nationwide.
Assistance is also being offered to homeowners
financed through Rural Development loans. Homeowners
in the affected area are getting a 6-month moratorium
on their mortgage payments.
Rural Development has also designated a toll-free
number to provide assistance to homeowners, renters
and others in need of housing assistance: 1-800-414-
1226. Information is also available on the USDA web
site: http://www.usda.gov.
Renters, individuals or families made homeless by
the disaster may apply for occupancy at any other
apartment complex as a “displaced tenant.” Applicants
will be placed on a special list to be offered any
vacant unit, or the next one available if no vacancies
currently exist.
For residents receiving rental assistance (RA) in
units made uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina, Rural
Development can allow the transfer of the RA to another
eligible apartment complex. The transfer must be
agreed to by all parties and be designed for the return
of the residents — if they so choose — and the RA to
the original complex and unit after the property has
been restored.
Dorr noted that assistance is also being offered to
those communities in the affected areas that have
Community Facilities loans, and if asked, the Business
and Industry Program will place a moratorium on Intermediary
Re-lending Program payments.
Additionally, Dorr said an estimated 50 Rural Development
“circuit riders,” who maintain and repair small
sewer and water systems across the country, were dispatched
to the disaster area to provide technical assistance
to operators of sewer and water systems.
