rural economy
Rooted and at home in a country of nomads
Far more than their city cousins, rural Americans put down roots. In fact, 42 percent of them live in the community where they grew up, versus 30 percent of city dwellers. And despite high concern among rural residents about jobs and the economy, even those who are down on their luck are often loath to move.
Culture, more than economics, divides rural and urban America
Two-thirds of rural Americans say people in big cities hold values that are different than theirs, and nearly half of urban Americans say the same thing—that rural values are different than theirs, said the Washington Post.
Crop insurance cut 36 percent in Trump budget
As Congress prepares to write a new farm bill, President Trump proposed a 36-percent cut in the federally subsidized crop insurance program over the coming decade, a far more sweeping set of reforms than what was proposed during the Obama era and rejected by farm-state lawmakers. Crop insurance is the largest of USDA's farm support programs at nearly $8 billion a year.
Senate panel ‘will move as quickly as possible’ on Perdue nomination
American agriculture is "going through a rough patch right now," so the Senate Agriculture Committee "will move as quickly as possible in a bipartisan fashion ... to get the governor down to the department," chairman Pat Roberts said, referring to the nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
Rural suicide rate grows more rapidly than urban rate
The U.S. suicide rate has been on the rise since 1999, and "the gap in rates between less urban and more urban areas widened over time," says the Centers for Disease Control. In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the agency says a new study "provides added support to previous findings that a geographic disparity in suicide rates exists..."
White House would end McGovern-Dole school food program for poor
The Agriculture Department would see a 21 percent cut in discretionary spending under President Trump's budget proposal, including elimination of the McGovern-Dole programs that provide food for schoolchildren in poor countries and a grant and loan program for water and sewer projects in rural communities.
High tech and biotech say they’re the route to rural development
Rural America, home to 15 percent of the U.S. population, "is still feeling the effects of the Great Recession" in the form of slow growth in wages and slow economic growth overall, a Minnesota official told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Rural electric and telecommunications groups, joined by the biotechnology industry, said their industries represent the path to rural growth, with the help of seed money in the 2018 farm bill.
Trump seeks 15-percent domestic cut to pay for big military spending
President Trump would pay for his proposed $54-billion increase in military spending in fiscal 2018 by cutting domestic discretionary programs by 15 percent, said the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "The president's proposal would continue a severe, multi-year squeeze" on discretionary programs such as education, job training, clean water, and medical and scientific research, said the think tank.
Political analyst quits Democratic Party over rural inaction
Matt Barron, the chairman of the Chesterfield Democratic Town Committee in western Massachusetts, "has resigned and left the party due to what he says is the party's blatant failure to address rural concerns," said the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Barron, who runs a political consulting business, told the newspaper in Northhampton, Mass., that he acted "after nine years of of growing frustration at the inability of the party to compete for rural and white working class voters."
Ag bankers say slump in farmland values will continue this year
Weak farm income pulled down farmland values across the Midwest and much of the Plains as 2016 closed and ag bankers expect prices to slide again before the spring planting season, said Federal Reserve banks in Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis. The Chicago Fed said land values have fallen for three years in a row in its five-state district in the heart of the Corn Belt.
Counties and cities turn to gravel because paving roads is costly
Roughly one-third of the U.S. road network, some 1.4 million miles, are "unpaved," meaning a gravel or dirt surface, according to a estimate by the Federal Highway Administration in 2012. The figure may be growing slowly because some counties and cities are converting paved roads to unpaved roads because of dwindling fuel-tax revenue, says Stateline.
With election behind them, farmers expect stronger economy ahead
The November general election stands as a dividing point between pessimism and optimism among farmers about the future of the agricultural economy, says a Purdue poll. The Ag Economy Barometer, produced monthly by Purdue, is now at its highest reading ever, 132, in a dramatic surge since October, when it was at its second-lowest mark, 92, since the survey began in October 2015.
Rural Americans more likely to own a home, and own it ‘free and clear’
Slightly more than 60 million people live in rural America, and they are far more likely to own their homes than people living in cities, says the Census Bureau, extracting data from its American Community Survey. The data say rural Americans are more likely to be military veterans and to live in the same state as where they were born.
U.S farm income drops 46 percent in three years
The collapse in crop and livestock prices since 2013 will result in the lowest net farm income since 2009, says USDA. In the final estimate of the year, the Economic Research Service pegged farm income at $66.9 billion, down $4.5 billion from its August estimate and barely more than half of the record income that producers enjoyed just three years ago.
Obama food-policy team assesses the road ahead
Members of the Obama administration who helped shape food policy assessed their accomplishments over the past eight years, as well as the road ahead under President-elect Trump, at a briefing in Washington. They stressed that the new administration should consider food and ag policies through the lens of rural voters, food businesses and consumers that are already voting in the marketplace for the food they want.
Immigrants more likely than native-born to be poor in rural America
A report from the Carsey Institute says immigrants are just as likely to hold a job as native-born Americans in rural areas but twice as likely to be part of the working poor, reports the Daily Yonder. Nearly one in six rural immigrants don't earn enough money for their household income to top the federal poverty level.
Resilient, rural America recovers from recession, says Obama
President Obama said rural America is "moving in the right direction" after the 2008-09 recession and a long-running shift toward automation and globalization that "has, in many ways, hit rural communities particularly hard." In an op-ed, the president saluted rural "resilience and ingenuity in the face of a challenge."
Rural electric cooperatives get $3.6 billion for upgrades
The USDA's Rural Utilities Service, a descendant of the New Deal agency that helped bring electricity to rural areas, awarded $3.6 billion in loans to 82 rural electric projects in 31 states. The money will build or improve 12,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines, and includes $216 million for "smart gird" technology to boost the reliability and efficiency of service.