A growing chorus of rural leaders agrees that new opportunities are on the horizon for rural America. Economic consolidation and outmigration need not be rural America’s future. The question most rural regions now face is this: How to claim the new opportunities? At root, this question is all...

Rural America will remember 2005 as a year of drought, hurricanes, and surging gas prices. To be sure, some regions of the country faced devastating natural catastrophes. Yet, these catastrophes did not stop the farm sector from posting another banner income year—nor did they stop the nonfarm...

The meat industry is an economic powerhouse for rural America---accounting for roughly one of every 16 rural manufacturing jobs. Moreover, this rural powerhouse is adding jobs at a fast clip, with recent growth of 8.5 percent a year versus just 1.2 percent a year for all rural manufacturing...

Knowledge has become the new premium fuel for economic growth in the 21st century. Knowledge fuels new ideas and innovations to boost productivity – and to create new products, new firms, new jobs, and new wealth. Some analysts estimate that knowledge-based activity accounts for half of the...

Rural areas are thought to have two salient features, remoteness and small scale, that tend to inhibit economic growth. These features have explained at least partially why economic growth in the nation's rural areas has often trailed that in metropolitan areas. However, the rural economic...

After a steep recession in the 1980s, many rural places are mounting a strong economic comeback in the 1990s. Reflecting the economic turnaround, more people are moving to rural areas. Notwithstanding the improved rural economic picture, rural leaders remain concerned about rural America's...

In this paper presented at this year's rural conference, Beyond Agriculture: New Policies for Rural America, Dr. Pezzini of the OECD explored how many of the challenges facing rural America are the same challenges found in rural areas throughout the world. Although agriculture and other natural...