Economic development policy is a major priority of the federal government. Over the past century, Congress has created a panoply of programs aimed at economic development in communities and regions. These programs have sprung up at different times, with different goals, and with different ways...

Throughout the 1990s, the pork industry has been at the forefront of a revolution in the structure of the U.S. food and agricultural sector. In particular, the pork industry has been rapidly moving away from its traditional structure built on hundreds of thousands of small farms selling hogs at...

In testimony before Congress’s House Committee on Small Business, Drabenstott addressed four key questions concerning the future of U.S. rural policy. First, how has the rural economy changed over the past 30 years and what are the resulting challenges? Second, what are the best economic...