June 2008 Newsletter

The Center for Rural Affairs opposed passage of the new farm bill because it commits the federal government to subsidizing the destruction of family farming for another five years and invests little in the future of rural communities.

The Center for Rural Affairs is marking its 35th anniversary, a time for celebration and reflection. But perhaps we should also ask ourselves why we bother to note such occasions at all.

Iowa: A report by the Des Moines Register finds that rural students are at least as well prepared for college as urban students. The quality of education at small schools has been under scrutiny by state officials, but the new analysis shows that on every metric examined rural students do as well as urban students.

About a year ago I wrote a letter to Senator Tom Harkin on behalf of my family expressing our concerns about the future of Dougherty and Sheffield, Iowa – the small, rural communities around which I grew up. In particular, I pointed out that, absent real payment limits and livestock market reforms in the farm bill, the family farms and rural communities around our small farm will continue to decline.

At times we lament how 35 years of growth and maturation constrain us – concerns that Don Ralston and Marty Strange did not have in the early days. Established organizations run the risk of becoming complacent.

That is why we plan to double annual revenues from individual contributions within five years.

The Center for Rural Affairs is collaborating with the Colorado Rural Development Council (CRDC) as the Supporting Sponsor to hold the First Colorado Entrepreneurship MarketPlace on October 10, 2008, at the Otero Junior College in LaJunta, Colorado.