What's happening with the Center for Rural Affairs? Find the latest on rural America and our work here.
For three weekends this summer, the Center for Rural Affairs will traverse Nebraska for the sake of local music and rural communities. The Good Living Tour is returning for its second year, and the...
- Small Towns
Getting a local food system into place doesn’t come overnight. It’s a one step at a time process. And that’s exactly what the “One Step” Garden at the Clarinda Regional Health Center in Clarinda, Iowa, is doing.
- Small Towns
On Tuesday, June 14, North Dakotans went to the polls in a primary election to decide, among other things, the fate of North Dakota’s long-standing anti-corporate farming law. Since 1932, North Dakota law has prohibited corporations from engaging in farming and ranching or owning farm or ranch land.
- Farm and Food
Wind energy has many quantifiable benefits for rural America. It’s a renewable energy source that produces no greenhouse gases, consumes no water and uses very little land. And wind power pays $222 million a year to rural landowners and saves 226 gallons of water a year in the U.S.
- Small Towns
What if I told you your utility could help reduce your electric bill while increasing the comfort of your home? More and more utilities are finding ways to do just this, often using (stay with me here) “tariffed on-bill financing.”
- Policy
In acknowledging her decades of leadership and service to sustainable agriculture, USDA has recognized Nebraska farmer Linda Kleinschmit as a NCR-SARE Hero. Linda is a former Center for Rural Affairs...
- Farm and Food
Since April, the Center, along with a small group of women farmer leaders, has co-led the first two in a series of Women Farmer Learning Circles on sustainable farming in a changing climate...
- Farm and Food
George Johnson makes world class vinegar in the small town of Cody, Neb. George’s story is a powerful example of how the values that our work stands on can lead to vibrant small towns. I was lucky...
- Farm and Food
The 2016 session of the Nebraska Legislature is well behind us, and while there were plenty of frustrations and issues left unaddressed, it is important to recognize the good news and victories that did come out of the Unicameral this year.
- Policy
Latinos and immigrants are not only bringing population growth to rural America, they are also bringing economic growth. (The great majority of foreign-born rural residents in the U.S. come from Latin America.)
- Small Towns
While an extensive amount of climate change data exists, it's not always readily digestible. Sometimes it takes a great visual representation of scientific results to get the full sense of what is going on with global temperatures.
- Policy
Unfortunately, in the rancor of the presidential primary season, discussion of the benefits immigrants bring to rural communities and states has gotten lost. In this two-part series, we aim to remedy that oversight.
- Small Towns
Just over two years ago, a tornado ravaged the northeast Nebraska town of Pilger. It left destruction in its wake. In a marvelous testament to rural grit and ingenuity, the community hosted a “Grand Reopening Celebration” on Saturday, June 18, 2016.
- Small Towns
On Tuesday, June 14, North Dakotans went to the polls in a primary election to decide, among other things, the fate of North Dakota’s long-standing anti-corporate farming law.
- Farm and Food
We are happy to announce the Storefront Theater located in Lyons, Neb., has been selected and recognized as part of the Americans for the Arts 2016 Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art.
- Small Towns
It’s great when a new owner/entrepreneur wants to buy a business in a rural community. Small businesses are foundational to the economy. We’d severely miss the products and services, not to mention the sales tax revenue that commerce bring to our communities.
- Lending
Right now the Nebraska Energy Office, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and our Public Power Districts are hard at work planning for Nebraska's energy future. These agencies have been tasked with putting together a comprehensive State Energy Plan.
- Policy
The Center for Rural Affairs has the distinct honor of leading the National Farm to School Network’s Midwest Region and working with state leads in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota...
- Small Towns
The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Madison, Wis., was themed Moving Forward Together. The real impact I walked away with was: Who are we leaving behind?
- Small Towns
We are currently accepting applications for our School Greenhouse to Cafeteria facilitation program for the 2016 to 2017 school year! We first told you the news last month.
- Small Towns
