This statement discusses the structural challenges in the current agricultural economy and how farm programs address the challenges facing farms as well as the structural challenges facing the rural economy and how rural development programs address these inherent challenges. The takeaway is that place-based Federal rural investments stimulated income and job growth and reduced poverty in rural areas.
Written by Bruce A. Weber (Professor Emeritus of Applied Economics, Oregon State University; Senior Economist, Rural Policy Research Institute) and published on May 25, 2017.
