Rural Policy Program
| We work to replace the bias towards bigness and concentration in public policy with a commitment to strong rural communities, quality rural education, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for family farms, ranches, and rural small businesses. By strengthening rural America, we strengthen all of America. |
From influencing legislative and administrative action to grassroots organizing, the Rural Policy Program is a force that creates positive change.
The program engages in policy development, education, and advocacy for a “new generation” of rural policy that creates genuine opportunity for rural people, fosters small business and widespread ownership, strengthens family farms and ranches, protects the environment, and builds communities.
The program works to reinvigorate democracy by engaging rural people in shaping public policy and developing new options for public policy to improve rural life and create a future for rural communities.
Too often rural people and rural places seem resigned to the inevitability of rural decline. Too many citizens have eschewed participation in social change, often out of pessimism over their ability to make a difference or because they lack understanding of the issues and therefore lack confidence in being able to influence policy.
The Rural Policy Program engages rural people in the policy process in ways that celebrate rural traditions of active citizenship and social and economic justice. Development of the new federal farm bill will be a primary focus in 2007 and 2008
We are working to:
- Advance our $500 million package of rural development priorities
- Increase the share of dollars for federal research on small and midsize farm profitability, rural community development, rural entrepreneurship, classical breeding for sustainable systems, natural resources, and agro-ecosystems.
- Gain introduction of our Conservation Proposals.
- Establish a National Rural Action Network for rural America to engage more people more actively advocating for federal policy that revitalizes rural America.
- Secure additional money for the rural development legislation in our home state of Nebraska.
For more information about the Center's policy work, contact Traci Bruckner, Assistant Policy Program Director, at tracib@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1016.
