Rural Development Research: A Review of Key Issues

1. Rural Development Research:A Review of Key Issues Bo Beaulieu Southern Rural Development Center 2010 WAAESD/SAAESD Joint Meeting March 22-25 --- Virginia Beach, VA

2. ESS 2012 Working Priorities • Bioenergy, Feedstocks, Bioproducts, Conversion and Logistics • Health and Nutrition • Climate Change, Mitigation and Adaptation • Food Safety • Food Security and Hunger

3. What Happens When You OpenYour Mouth !!

4. Where Rural Development Fits In • Many 2012 ESS priorities will require social sciences and/or rural development inputs • Purpose today is to identify rural development issues that could benefit from expanded research by LGUs • Hope is to incorporate these in the: • Science Roadmap • NIFA’s Institute of Family, Youth and Communities priorities

5. The Big RD Picture:Components of Vibrant Communities and Regions Built Capital Financial Capital Source: Flor and Flora 2007 Components of Healthy, Vibrant Communities & Regions Natural Capital Political Capital Cultural Capital Social Capital Human Capital Source: Flora and Flora 2007

6. Some of the Key Issues . . . • Self-employment (economic capital) • Creative workers (human capital) • Broadband access (built capital) • Regional development (multiple capitals) • Civic capacity (social capital) • RIDGE Food Assistance Center (shameless self-promotion)

7. Growth in the Rural Self-Employed

8. Average Income of Non-Farm Proprietors in the U.S., 1990-2007 Average Annual Earnings (in nominal $) Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Information Systems

9. Research Questions *. . . • What is driving self-employment (i.e., opportunity or necessity)? • What strategies can strengthen earnings? • Do community policies matter (access to capital; health insurance) to survival? • How can peer-to-peer networks in geographically dispersed areas be fostered? • Can an area’s competitive advantages be linked to new business start-ups and entrepreneurial activities? * Drawn, in part, from insights provided by Stephan Goetz, NERCRD

10. Creative Workers in Rural Areas • Richard Florida has pretty much dismissed rural areas as havens of creative workers • But others (RTS, ERS) have noted that creative workers are present in rural areas: “The creative economy is populated by large numbers of microenterprises, enterprises without employees, part-time businesses, secondary or supplementary sources of income that are vital to a family’s livelihood . . . ” • Includes arts, crafts cultural heritage, tourism

11. Creative Workers: Research Issues • How can we better map the presence, nature, and impact of rural-based creative workers? What’s the “rural version” of Florida’s work? • What factors are crucial for the development of an internal pipeline of creative workers? • What are the key factors that attract creative workers to rural places? What community support systems are vital? • What impact do creative workers have on the rural economy?

12. Regional Economic Development • Many rural communities are struggling to survive in a highly competitive global marketplace • Regional economic development strategies are becoming increasing more attractive to rural areas • In January 2010, Secretary Vilsack stated that . . . “an overhaul of our approach to economic development in rural America is long overdue.”

13. USDA’s Investment Plans . . . • Pursue rural economic development on a regional basis • Help regions prepared to pool their resources and talent • Invest rural development program resources in a coordinated fashion • Identify resources in other federal agencies to help advance regional development

14. Research Issues that LGUs Can Tackle • How do we determine regional competitive advantage (approaches / tools)? • What are the current & emerging opportunities (clusters, economic geography, innovation)? • How does regional development get done (i.e., governance)? • How do we measure impacts (on communities and regions)? • What policies are crucial to helping regional development thrive?

15. Broadband in Rural America • Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) • Funded at $4.7 billion (NTIA & USDA’s RUS) • Three areas of focus: • Deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas; • Enhance broadband capacity at public computer centers; • Encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service • Critical to track these investments and determine their impacts on rural areas

16. Rural Broadband Research Issues • Refining measures to assess availability -- including determining what constitutes unserved and underserved areas • Factors shaping broadband availability and its use • Examining adoption/diffusion of broadband (by farmers, businesses, local governments, key community institutions) • Impact on the local economy, such as. . . • Does it attract knowledge/creative workers? Spur a growth in telework? Advance the use of e-commerce activities?

17. Investing in Civic Capacity • Vitality of rural areas depends on an active citizenry • Increasing cry by individuals and groups to have a voice • What are the strategies for investing in civic capacity, in collaborative governance? What are the outcomes? • How does population diversity and other local features shape capacity?

18. Another Wrinkle in Civic Engagement: Transdisciplinary Research • This type of research calls for: • Expanded role of citizens in co-producing knowledge • University researchers, practitioners, community members, local leaders, business owners, and other beneficiaries working together in solving pressing local, national, global problems • Increasingly, LGU-research will be urged to embrace this type of approach

19. RIDGE Center for Targeted Studies • SRDC selected as location of this new Center • Funded by ERS/USDA • Purpose is to explore the socioeconomic components of food assistance and nutrition issues • Goals are fivefold: • Focus on the needs of key populations • Expand network of researchers • Invest in doctoral student research • Enhance linkages to eXtensionCoPs • Communicate findings to a variety of audiences

20. Thank You