Rural communities across the United States have been undergoing dramatic economic restructuring. As a result, many rural communities are struggling to recover from the closure or downsizing of manufacturing facilities and to implement economic development programs. The goal of this study was to...

Revolving loan funds (RLF's) operate, in principle, by issuing new loans as old loans are repaid. Although best suited to increasing credit access for viable firms that lack alternative funding sources, many RLF's are assisting local businesses in need of capital but financially nonviable. Two...

In 1991, 33 percent of Canada's population lived in predominantly rural regions. Employment growth in rural regions averaged 1.3 percent per year over the 1980s, ranking fourth among OECD countries. In 1991, only 11 percent of the rural workforce in Canada were working in agriculture, forestry...

The Carrington-to-Turtle Lake rail line serves five agricultural shippers in a four county area in central North Dakota. Service on the line has been affected by recent embargoes, floods, and poor, deteriorating track conditions. The line is a strong candidate for abandonment as efforts to...

This dissolution of the Soviet Union served the state-directed linkages between state-owned farms and agribusiness enterprises ordered by the command economic system. Likewise, the dissolution disrupted marketing channels connecting the agricultural sector to a market economy those of other...

Individuals exposed to odors from livestock facilities do not report annoyance uniformly. The reaction to a detectable odor depends on perceptions of the odor and its source which are mediated by odor attributes and personal factors. Correlations among these factors were tested in a rural...

The report discusses commercial banks' role in supporting economic development in rural America. It details demographic and economic trends in rural America. It discusses a number of economic development programs available to commercial bankers and to private sector/public sector partnerships....

The moist savannah zone in sub-Saharan Africa is regarded as a high potential area for crop and livestock production. Currently, human labour is the principal source of power for crop production and the level of commercial energy use is very low. Agropastoralism and pastoralism are the principal...