The 21st century has brought with it unforeseen challenges and influential trends that will have significant impact of the livelihood and wellbeing of Georgia residents. Extension personnel within Georgia can extend their mandate by identifying issues that represent present and near-present threats and use these issues to inform programming and…

Rural small businesses struggling against the current of competition from "big box" retailers, weak consumer demand, and on-line shopping options must find strategies that work. Many are finding that adoption of e-commerce strategies is a key to survival, even prosperity. This article highlights the lessons learned from a recent case study…

This is an interim evaluation of a pilot program which utilized local farmers as program aides in cooperative extension education for small-farm operators. Specific objectives of this study were to determine the effectiveness of program aides in extension education in developing further the capacity of small-farm operators to take advantage of…

Rural communities are often dependent upon their agricultural bases, which have undergone drastic changes. For communities to remain viable as economic units certain measures must be taken. Strategic planning can assist communities in assessing their situations and in developing plans and implementation schedules. Initially used in the business…

Using the Oklahoma State University (OSU) computerized community simulation model, extension professionals can provide local decision makers with information derived from an impact model that is dynamic, community specific, and easy to adapt to different communities. The four main sections of the OSU model are an economic account, a capital…

With Cooperative Extension Service (CES) help in a wide range of economic development activities rural America has come a long way in the last several decades toward erasing some of its socioeconomic problems. A survey of CES' Community and Rural Development programs conducted in late 1985 and early 1986 identified a variety of CES activities…