Abstract
The rural crisis of the 1980s is described in terms of the economic and social vulnerability of rural farm areas. The crisis is shown spreading from farms through families to rural communities, schools, churches, counties and beyond. Rural communities are shown to be undergoing dramatic and non-cyclical change. Criteria are defined to identify rural counties vulnerable to further economic losses and include: dependence on agriculture for jobs, inadequate off farm income, population losses, declines in residential and commercial property value, and county fiscal crises due to loss of the tax base, delinquincies, and additional federal and state program changes and cutbacks. Social and economic distress are so extensive as to overwhelm conventional emergency intervention efforts to provide food, shelter, access to health care, and professional counseling. Peer support programs have been found to be effective at reaching farm families and helping them seek out the assistance of farm financial advisors, counselors, food shelves, and public assistance. Emerging attempts to link politically contending parties are discussed, specifically the Reinvest in Minnesota Coalition and the Rural Strategy Task Force consisting of major farm, church, and lending organizations. A strategy process and stakeholder analysis for local communities are presented together with recommendations for action that include creating a rural trend watch capability.
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Additional information
George Boody is a Director and Consultant with the Rural Enterprise Institute and President of Agri-Systems Analysis. He recently co-authored the reportEconomic and Social Vulnerability in Rural Minnesota, which has been widely distributed throughout the state and received national recognition. A new publication theMinnesota Rural Casebook: A Listing and Analysis of Organizations Addressing the Rural Crisis will be available soon. He has authored papers in food, agricultural, and general systems-related journals, and consulted on sustainable farming policies and practices and energy conservation. He received his MS degree from the University of Minnesota with extensive coursework in International Nutrition Policy and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1972 to 1976 he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota.
Mike Rivard is a Director and Consultant with the Rural Enterprise Institute. He recently co-authored the reportEconomic and Social Vulnerability in Rural Minnesota, which has been widely distributed throughout the state and received national recognition. A new publication theMinnesota Rural Casebook: A listing and analysis of organizations addressing the rural crisis will be available soon. He has considerable experience in development finance and has assisted owners, developers, and governments in evaluating, negotiating, and implementing projects and business ventures. Mr. Rivard's experience includes Alaskan and Canadian Indian business development, establishing economic development programs for banks and foundations, and a wide variety of real estate projects. A former banker, he applies financial modeling and risk management techniques to projects.
The Rural Enterprise Institute is a non-profit corporation either initiating or involved in developing significant political, economic, and environmental strategies throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. The Institute emphasizes social innovation to enhance the ability of institutions and communities to become adaptable, particularly to issues of economic contraction (and displacement) and economic expansion (and diversity). Our work focuses on helping people envision desirable futures and developing explicit strategies for moving toward those goals. We also provide technical assistance in regenerative agriculture, economic development and finance, program development, and policy formulation and review.
Directors (consultants) are professionals with over 55 years of local and international experience in the fields of rural and community-based economic development, enterprise development, development finance and politics, and work in energy, nutrition, sustainable agricultural policy and practices, banking, counseling and innovative education. We combined our efforts in order to develop a synergistic and comprehensive response to current needs.
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Boody, G., Rivard, M. The rural crisis in Minnesota: Identifying social and economic vulnerability and new directions for the future. Agric Hum Values 3, 75–87 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01535488
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01535488