Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute (Salina, KS), seeks alternatives to the industrial agriculture that exhausts the soils and economies of small, rural Kansas communities. In Matfield Green (Kansas), interns from the Land Institute manage the town's cafe and help residents work together on achieving a sustainable economy based on renewable…

Compares and contrasts two economic views, political economy and neoclassical economics, as they pertain to the development of human capital and education in rural areas. The concluding discussion draws implications for rural educators. (Author/KS)

Surveyed 1,200 residents of rural North Carolina to examine the effects of gender on feelings of community attachment. Studied the relationship between emotional responses to the community and community attachment. The results, though inconclusive, indicate that community attachment has more importance in explaining women's response to questions…

A survey of 109 households in 4 villages in Gower, South Wales, examined social-class changes associated with rural gentrification, the contention that gentrifiers are embodiments of capital, child-rearing concerns as a motive for gentrification, the influence of gender inequalities, and comparisons with urban examples of gentrification. Contains…

High school students surveyed 200 businesses in Immokalee, Florida, using the findings to create a business directory. Students learned about elementary statistics, interviewing, public relations, and data reporting. The project benefitted school-community relations and made students more aware of their community. (SK)

The Illinois Rural Recreation Development Project seeks to develop diversified funding and community partnerships for long-term recreation services in rural areas. The project relies on professionally trained recreation directors and citizen support and participation in planning. (SK)

An assessment of four community-based agricultural initiatives in South Africa's former Black Homelands indicates that the success of such ventures in terms of community self-reliance, job creation, and poverty alleviation depends upon access to markets; community resources and infrastructure; and training and technical assistance provided by…

Classified, selected bibliography for Appalachian studies contains approximately 500 entries, published 1997-98, including books, journal articles, government documents, and dissertations. Topics include agriculture, arts and crafts, Civil War, industry and labor, economic conditions and development, education, environment, ethnicity/race,…

This article examines the interrelations between establishment of territorial quality certification systems (Protected Designations of Origin or PDOs), diffusion of innovations through local agro-food chains, and the role of the institutions overseeing geographical designations. Empirical analysis is applied to olive oil PDOs in Spain and entails…

Endemic problems in EU "lagging rural regions" (LRRs) are well documented and various support mechanisms have long been in place to help overcome structural difficulties. Nevertheless, new rural development architectures are now being sought and some scholars have posited that LRRs may benefit from the "quality (re)turn" in…

Rural development policy and practice in the "advanced" Western nations is based increasingly on community-led strategies that seek to manage risk and facilitate change at the local level with minimal direct state intervention. It is widely assumed that such development strategies enable local people to have a greater say in transforming…

Rural communities have experienced dramatic demographic, social, and economic transformations over the past 30 years. Historically characterized by close links between natural resources and social, cultural, and economic structures, few of today's rural communities remain heavily dependent upon traditional extractive industries like ranching,…

This publication describes the formation and evolution of rural agribusiness (RA) in the southern hemisphere as a precondition for improving the lives of families in rural communities, and focuses on RA endeavors created by development projects in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. After a short introduction, the first section of this study…

This report identifies factors that influence a rural area's economic success or failure, and evaluates whether federal programs efficiently address rural economic problems. Data collection included a review of federal programs that provide funding to rural areas, and interviews with federal and state agency officials involved with rural…

The theme for this conference was "Our Town and Country Society Looks at Itself." The following papers were presented at this conference: (1) "The Miracle of Production--Can We Keep It" (Aubrey D. Gates); (2) "Recent U.S. Population Trends and Their Causes" (Calvin L. Beale and Donald J. Bogue); (3) "Commercial…