Blog Posts & Stories

On March 8, the Center for Rural Affairs released a Rural Policy Brief examining the basic economic and income issues for all Nebraskans connected to expanding Medicaid.

A day doesn’t go by when I don’t read an article or hear from some expert on the news about the importance of “making yourself a priority” and “taking care of you.” I imagine the people who come up with this stuff live a very different lifestyle than myself and others residing on a farm or ranch and in rural America.

The Beel brothers are third-generation stewards of their family ranch located on the Brown and Cherry County line in the Nebraska Sandhills. Started in 1937 by Henry O. Beel, ranch records reveal...

Rural hospitals have been closing at a rate of nearly 1 per month since 2010. The Southeast has been especially hard hit, as the map below shows. A rural hospital closure can leave a permanent gap in...

On March 11, 2016, the Center for Rural Affairs will host Map of my Kingdom, a play commissioned by Practical Farmers of Iowa and written by Iowa’s Poet Laureate Mary Swander. The event is coming to Central Community College in Columbus, Nebraska. Admittance is free.

Over the past decade, high commodities prices have encouraged and accelerated the conversion of our native grasslands to cultivated cropland. According to the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), between 2011 and 2012, nearly 400,000 acres of grassland and other non-cropland across the United States were plowed up or otherwise converted to cropland.

Every year we recognize entrepreneurs and individuals who have worked with us to strengthen small towns and rural communities through small, self-employed business development. This year the awards will be given on March 11, 2016, at our annual awards banquet.

On Tuesday, February 9 the President released his budget, which includes $25.5 billion in discretionary funding for the US Department of Agriculture for the next fiscal year. The release of the budget serves as a guide to the Congressional Appropriations process, signaling where the administration would like to focus discretionary funding.

March marks the six year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act being signed into law. The uninsured rate is now at 11.9%, the lowest ever recorded. Approximately 17 million more Americans have health insurance today than before the law was passed. Hospitals across the nation have saved tens of billions of dollars on uncompensated care.

Leaders are the life-blood of small towns and rural communities. The success or failure of community development efforts often rests with the degree of leadership local citizens are willing to provide.

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced this year’s deadline for producer applications for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is March 31.

Who grows our nation’s food and how they grow it continues to gain new national prominence. Now more than ever, there is a national interest in building an agricultural system that benefits family farms and rural communities, and a system that is not controlled by large, corporate interests.

On Feb. 10, 2016, debate began in the Nebraska Unicameral over LB 1032, the Transitional Health Insurance Program. The Health and Human Services Committee conducted a hearing and took public testimony on the bill.

On Feb 5, 2016, the Nebraska Unicameral voted for final passage of LB 176, legislation to rescind Nebraska’s statute prohibiting meatpacking corporations from owning hogs prior to slaughter. The bill will now be sent to the governor for his consideration.

As Nebraska lawmakers debate the state’s ban on meatpacker ownership of hogs, opponents of the law are raising a new argument about the constitutionality of the ban. We believe the present law is...

Last week, a bipartisan group of state senators – Sen. John McCollister, Sen. Kathy Campbell, and Sen. Heath Mello – unveiled a new health coverage bill. It would make affordable health coverage accessible to 77,000 uninsured Nebraskans who cannot afford insurance.

The Microenterprise and small business community in Nebraska recently lost a good friend. Rick Wallace passed away on January 4, 2016 after a prolonged illness.

Only two weeks ago (from this writing), friends were purchasing lottery tickets to hit the jackpot – close to $1.4 billion. “I will share some money with my family and friends, donate to charity, purchase a new home,” were a few reasons they gave for purchasing a ticket.

On Jan 22, the Nebraska legislature voted to advance LB 176 to the bill’s final reading. The vote on final passage could occur as early as next week. LB 176, introduced by Senator Ken Schilz last session, would rescind Nebraska’s statute prohibiting meatpacking companies from owning and feeding hogs prior to slaughter.

Nebraska LB 176 is a bill that will harm competition in Nebraska by weakening our state’s Competitive Livestock Markets Act. I am a fourth generation Nebraska cattle producer with young children.