Agriculture and Rural Economic Development

Updated May 2008

Featured Links | News Items | NCSL Resources | Useful Links on Rural Economic Development | State Links | Federal Links | Other Rural Resources | Staff Contacts

Approximately 1/4 of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, which encompass 83 percent of the country's land. Rural areas face challenges related to demographic changes, job creation, capital access, infrastructure, land use and environment, and community and historic preservation. State rural economic development programs tend to be targeted versions of broader state economic development strategies.

NCSL Resources

Rural Development Legislation Database Rural Development Publications  Agriculture and Rural Development Listservs

NCSL Agriculture, Environment and Energy Committee   (New) NCSL Agriculture and Rural Development Meetings

Useful Links on Rural Economic Development

• National Rural Development Partnership
• Network 07, A Quarterly Newsletter for Northeast Rural Development
• Reports on Rural Development, By Dr. Kenneth Johnson, Loyola University-Chicago
• Appalachian Regional Commission A federal-state rural development partnership
• Center for Rural Affairs 
• Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
• Center for the Study of Rural America Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• National Commission on Entrepreneurship's Building Entrepreneurship Networks report
• Rural Policy Research Institute
• U.S. Department of Agriculture - Development Ideas That Work
• U.S. Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service

Featured Links

• ERS Bioenergy, USDA site
• Mid-Year Highlights from 2005 Legislation
• 2000-2003 Population Change
  • Nonmetro Population
    
  • Counties with Natural Decrease
  • Counties with Net Outmigration
  • Counties with Both Natural Decrease and Net Outmigration

News Items

• Poll: Rural Voters Swing Toward McCain, Clinton
• High-Tech Brings Rural Towns Back to Life
• States Take on Alien Species
• Lessons Learned and Revisions Under Consideration for Aphis Biotechnology Framework
• USDA Report of LibertyLink Rice Incidents
• USDA Concludes Genetically Engineered Rice Investigation
• Biofuels' Boom Will Cause Rural America to Bloom
• Rural America: Invisible Voters

Staff Contact

• Doug Farquhar, NCSL Denver Office