rural development

"Counties with better broadband access are adding population at 10 times the rate of counties that lack good broadband connections," says the Daily Yonder in summarizing a study that appears in the trade publication Broadband Communities.

While urban America has nearly universal access to wired broadband, the rate in rural America is 78 percent, according to industry data. USDA's 2012 Census of Agriculture says 70 percent of farms have Internet access but...

The Senate confirmed Lisa Mensah as agriculture undersecretary for rural development. Mensah was among a dozen administration nominees confirmed on a voice vote on Thursday afternoon.

The partisan split between rural and urban America jeopardizes the future of the panoramic bills that meld farm supports, rural economic development, public nutrition and global food security programs into a single bill, says former agriculture secretary Dan Glickman.

An email released as part of a federal court case indicates the White House had a role in the forced resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod in 2010, says the Associated Press.

Independent Greg Orman campaigned in typically Republican rural Kansas with the argument incumbent Pat Roberts doesn't keep the state's agricultural interests in mind, says the Associated Press.

With a population of 2,300, Quitman, Mississippi, will be one of 10 communities in the state to get a 1 gigabyte per second broadband network, says the Daily Yonder.

More than 60 percent of Iowas live in the city, yet the state is commonly pictured as a land of farms, dotted with small, industrial cities.

Mobile phones - and other types of communication technology - can be a powerful way to improve the welfare of the rural poor, writes Maximo Torero of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

President Obama selected Dallas Tonsager to a second stint as a member of the Farm Credit Administration board, announced the White House. Tonsager served on the board from 2004-09 and then was Agriculture undersecretary for rural development from 2009-13. A South Dakota native, Tonsager has been active in rural economic development for decades.

The White House announced creation of a $10 billion Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund to draw private investment into projects in rural America. The government will identify projects in need of financing and could provide a part of the funds itself or could let private investors handle it entirely. "This is a new way for us to do business," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Proximity to an urban center may be key for maintaining rural population, say three Iowa State University researchers.

The new issue of Choices, the magazine of agricultural economists, discusses the possible role of higher education and the extension service as elements for rural renaissance. In the Farm Belt, the connection between university and farmer, facilitated by extension, is well-known for boosting agricultural productivity. Yet, agriculture no longer dominates the rural economy.

In FERN's latest story, produced with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Mya Frazier explores the damage—physical, economic, and emotional—done to Ohio's rural communities by the explosion of data centers and the electricity generation needed to power those centers.