Entrepreneurs create economic growth in their communities by forming new firms. Each year during the past decade, more than half a million businesses were started that added new jobs in the United States. In the 1990s, during the longest economic expansion in the United States economy, the...

The rural economy was strong in 2007. Record farm incomes were fueled by rising ethanol demand and by stronger export demand, which was driven in part by a weaker dollar. Farmers used the year’s higher profits both to strengthen their financial conditions and to boost investment in land and...

Drought and a jobless recovery battered the rural economy in 2002. The worst drought since the Dust Bowl gripped many parts of rural America, leading to forest fires, livestock liquidations, short crop supplies, and a plunge in farm incomes. After a solid start, a soft period for the national...

The rural economy began 2006 facing an uncertain outlook. For two years, rural growth had been unusually strong. But rising energy prices threatened to stall the expansion. Many businesses had already been weakened by high input costs, and many households were feeling squeezed by higher costs...

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...

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...

The rural economy broke free from the reins of recession in 2004 with an especially strong performance in the farm sector. Net farm income easily surpassed the record high of 2003. And the weakness that plagued the nonfarm rural economy in recent years appears to have been replaced with stronger...

Rural areas in the Tenth District are experiencing a period of renewed economic growth in the 1990s. After a decade of lackluster performance in the 1980s, rural areas are enjoying stronger employment and income growth. Employment growth in rural areas has averaged almost 2 percent per year from...