Washington could learn from 'resilient, inventive, hard-working' rural communities

If you don’t live in rural America, you may well have some preconceptions about what it’s like “out here” in the heartland.
It’s true, the news hasn’t been good: the worst farm economy in a generation, never-ending wet weather that has kept farmers out of the field when they can least afford it, and tariffs that are ripping apart the trading relationships that Minnesota ag producers have spent decades building.
This isn’t fake news. I’ve talked to farmers with tears in their eyes as they contemplate family farms that may not survive for another generation.
But if you see rural America only through the lens of struggle and lost opportunity, you are missing another inspiring story.
Over the last two days, here’s what I’ve seen in the countryside and small towns of southwestern Minnesota that has given me a lot of hope.
Luverne is a town that maybe you didn’t notice when you breezed through on I-90. But there are some amazing things happening right off the interstate.
I got to the Luverne Veterans Home just in time to help commemorate Memorial Day and felt grateful that we have places like this, though not enough, where those who have served our country can live in comfort and dignity, as close as possible to their families, and grow tomatoes and green beans — though the cold, damp weather has set back the growing season for vegetables as well as row crops.
Luverne is a creative, entrepreneurial town of a little under 5,000 souls, where people love where they live and feel a strong commitment to their neighbors. This is probably why Luverne just passed a big referendum to support the public schools.
And this is the spirit that motivated city and local businesses to get together and combine resources to spiff up the wonderful old storefronts on Main Street. … Through this public-private partnership, downtown is being transformed, one storefront at a time, into exactly the kind of place where any of us would want to shop and eat, live and work.
All this is anchored by Take 16, a local brewery named after US Highway 16, which once connected Detroit, Michigan, to Yellowstone National Park.
The first thing you need to know is that the beer is amazing. The young brewer, who barely looks 20, is making beer like Country Mile Kolsch, which you can enjoy sitting on Main Street. And don’t be surprised if one of the owners (there are over a hundred of them) comes up to ask if you need anything, and invite you to come back for the live music this weekend.
At Midwest Drycast, just outside Luverne, a young entrepreneur is making cement molded slats for the livestock industry, and his business is growing fast. Down the road, one of the largest organic pork producers in the country is building a new processing facility that will employ hundreds of people starting next year.
These communities are grappling with big challenges — need for rural broadband, and a shortage of workers and quality, affordable child care are at the top of their lists. The folks I talked to would want me to add that we need to fix our broken immigration system, because new Americans are strengthening their communities, and we need them to fill the jobs — and they need to be good paying jobs — these entrepreneurial companies are creating.
This is a story of two days in Luverne and Marshall, Minnesota — just a snapshot of two resilient, inventive, hard-working communities.
I didn’t meet a single person who wanted to argue about politics. I talked to more than a few who are sick and tired of the hate and division inflaming Washington, D.C. And I can’t help but think that if more of us in Washington kept places like Luverne and Marshall in mind, following their lead and lifting up their voices, we might be a lot more useful.
 
Sen. Tina Smith shared this information on her Facebook page following her visit to Marshall and Luverne May 30. Information about Marshall was edited for brevity in the interest of Rock County readers. See the related news stories on pages 1 and 2.