- Main streets are virtual ghost towns, while churches and
schools have consolidated or shut down.
- Rural workers are consistently underemployed and are 40%
less likely to move out of low wage jobs than central city
residents.
- The poverty rate in the rural U.S. remains unchanged at 15.9%
compared to an urban rate that has declined to 12.6%.
- Towns are no longer attracting young families. Population growth
consists mainly of people who are seeking reprieve from crowded
urban areas and from newly immigrated minorities recruited to
supply labor for corporate farms and agribusiness enterprises at
minimal wages
- Fewer then 23% of people in rural areas have any post secondary
education; many young people and those with advanced education
leave to pursue opportunities not available in their communities.
- Childhood poverty rate is 22.7% in rural areas, compared to 19.2%
in urban areas
- More than 23% of rural communities are classified as in persistent poverty - meaning that 20% or more of the counties population is recorded as being poor for the past four census counts.
The word "rural" was once almost synonymous with agriculture. However, the traditional landscape of rural America, replete with red barns, grain silos and farming families, has changed dramatically over the last two decades. The growing expansion of corporate agriculture and industry concentration has forced many families out of farming and closed down the locally owned businesses that supported and survived off of the traditional agriculture industry. No longer does "rural" indicate a community of thriving family farmers and without this economic base, no longer does agriculture promise a viable future for rural people and places. Today less then 1.78% of the rural population in the U.S. is engaged in farming as a primary occupation and less then 7.6% of rural employment comes from farming*. The loss of agriculture as a foundation has left many rural communities in crisis and rural people with few economic opportunities. Rural communities are struggling to find their identity in this new era of agriculture and development.
* Source of statics: Rural Policy Research Institute (rupri)
Early in the last century, the agriculture economy undergirded a vast network of related industries and businesses. The job opportunities offered through these industries attracted families and young people who built schools, churches and the communities themselves. Thriving farms meant thriving grain elevators, feed stores and main street businesses as profits circulated and were recycled throughout the community. The growth of the agribusiness sector in recent decades, however, has fostered the mechanization and concentration of agriculture. Corporate farms use far less labor than family farms and procure inputs such as tools, seeds, fertilizer and machinery from other corporate suppliers, not local businesses. Most damaging of all, agribusiness profits are sent on to corporate headquarters and not recirculated through local businesses and communities.
In the Shadow of Corporate Agriculture
THE JUICY TRUTH
Rural communities struggle with issues of poverty, hunger, and unemployment along with the lack of affordable and decent housing, health care and educational opportunities. Likewise, they are more likely to lack full access to public utilities such as water, electricity, gas and roads or communication links such as telephones, fax machines, voice mail, news delivery and internet. Despite the fact that 83% of nation's land area is rural, as are 75% of U.S. counties, and 25% of our population, the majority of policies that address the challenges rural areas face are designed and directed toward urban areas, and do not address the unique needs of rural communities. Rural poverty, unemployment and housing, are largely addressed by agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, neither of which, by name or real mission, reflects the identity of America's rural places today.
Rural communities in the U.S. are in need of comprehensive policy that meets the needs of all rural residents and serves them at the point where they are - less agricultural and non-urban. USDA policies have continually shifted to favor corporate agribusiness and increasingly fall short of addressing the true needs of rural people. The current administration has openly expressed its lack of concern, and stated its intention to focus benefits on our largest cities. The President's 2002 budget request states that grant programs through HUD that fund state, local and private agencies to provide computer access and support services to poor communities should be aimed at "high poverty URBAN communities," (emphasis added) with no specific mention of rural areas. The budget includes a dramatic $29 million cut in the Technologies Opportunities Program (TOP), a program for innovative technology projects desperately needed to help rural communities cross the digital divide. A prime example of the TOP grant benefiting America's rural communities is its funding of the Rural Coalition's SuperMarket Project, which uses the internet to provide national markets for small, rural farmers.
Rural development advocates are calling on policy makers to acknowledge that the U.S. is not a solely urban country and to assure that public policy reflects the diversity of our many regions. Many see the 2002 farm bill as an opportunity to create a cohesive Rural Development policy that would reflect a true vision for the prosperity of America's rural places.
Through our Campaign for Food n' Justice, the RC and its partners are promoting:
- Continued full funding of the TOP program
- The institution of a "Small Farms of the New Millennium"
payment program to help small farms increase the viability of their
operations so they can reclaim their role in local economies
- Cooperative development led by small farmers, farmworkers and
other rural residents.
- Funding for rural community based organizations to promote
economic development
- Increased funding for government mortgage assistance and home
ownership loans
- Increased funding for rental housing production in rural areas
Moreover, we acknowledge and support the implementation of mechanisms to ensure that all communities receive benefits, especially among minorities, migrant farmworkers and American Indians, often the worst-housed and the poorest in rural areas.
THE JUNE SQUEEZE
Support a Comprehensive Approach in Rural Development Policy
We are asking the Senate to:
- Make Rural Development a significant part of the policy and
funding of the upcoming Farm Bill and engage rural communities
in setting a vision for their future.
- Support the Small Farms of
the New Millennium payment program to help the smallest of small
farmers build up their operations so they can compete in the
market place.
- Continue funding T.O.P. at
it's current authorized level to assure that rural communities
are empowered to cross the digital divide.
- Oppose the nomination of Thomas Dorr for USDA, Undersecretary for Rural Development, and reject his vision of a corporate dominated system of agriculture to meet urban food needs.
What you can do:
- Write to your Representative
and Senators and express your concern for America's rural communities.
Emphasize the need for equal benefits of government programs
in rural America and your support for the Small Farms of the
New Millennium payment program.
- Go to www.ruralco.org and use our Action Alert tool to draft a letter urging your Senators to oppose corporate advocate Thomas Dorr's nomination for USDA Undersecretary or Rural Development.
Be Part of Our Campaign for Food n’ Justice,
visit www.ruralco.org.
Questions on food and farm policy?
Contact Heather Fenney at (202) 628-7160.
To join or support our work:
Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural
1012 14th Street, NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 628-7160
Visit www.Ruralco.org or
www.SuperMarketCoop.com.