Whether large-scale or small farms dominate, a county's farm structure is influenced not only by changes within farming but also by key factors such as nonfarm economic activity, geography, and population growth. Large-farm counties where agriculture dominates the economy are concentrated in the Plains, Midwest, and Mississippi Delta. Small-farm…

Investigation indicated factors other than human resource variables must be used to understand unemployment status. Based on a 1979 survey of a random sample (N=640) of rural adult California residents from a multi-county development district, 15 human resource development factors (including educational level, job training, match of work skills…

The importance of rural areas in Finland is discussed. Padasjoki is used as an example of the problems of a small rural town and the solutions: creation of jobs and changes in land and housing policies. The Padasjoki model in theory and practice is examined. (CT)

Consequences of population turnaround for rural economic development are examined in a 9-county region of Northern Lower Michigan. Data from census reports and 374 usable responses to a questionnaire mailed to a random sample of property owners drawn from 1982 county tax assessment rolls were used to test competing hypotheses about rural…

Objective B of the Regional Project Statement for Project S-120 is "to determine perceptions toward development in activities, agency representatives, and clientele affected by organizational and agency activities". This paper addresses Objective B and presents a perspective which "suggests an answer to the inevitable 'so what' question when…

The Family Assessment and Goal Establishment Model (FAGEM) draws its major impetus and structure from recent writings and trends in education, social planning, and family counseling. Built on a series of related premises addressing rural low income family needs, FAGEM can be reduced to four operational program delivery phases which include the…

Drawing upon and synthesizing social and demographic data (1940-70) from 14 counties in the Rocky Mountain West which are currently facing extensive population growth as the result of large scale energy resource development, a preliminary model of potential sociocultural impact was developed. Including national energy needs and traditional…

Several simulations of population, income, and employment in rural and urban America during 1970-2000 were made based on alternative assumptions. The assumptions entailed implementation of certain policies that might effect a more equal rural-urban balance by the year 2000, in addition to a continuation of current trends. If basic trends continue,…

Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho, developed a model program, Partnerships Project, designed to provide rural community residents with access to higher education and to assist communities in increasing their local capacity for development. In pursuing these objectives, the program helped to change the nature of the postsecondary undertaking in…

The study attempts to redefine the objectives of Asian development in terms of rapid social change and the redistribution of political power to the rural masses via collectivism. Part I, "The Perspective", describes the largely "anti" rural development experiences of four Asian countries (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China) in…

Data taken from the Regional Technical Cooperative Project S-79 ("Rural Development and the Quality of Life in the Rural South") were used to assess the effects of objective conditions and subjective experiences on community satisfaction among a sample of 1,783 open-country household heads or spouses of household heads living in low…

Rural work-education councils are free-standing voluntary associations of community leaders averaging around 21 to 25 voting members who are organized by task-specific action committees working to improve and expand educational and economic development options and thus ease the education-to-work transition in rural America. There are currently…

Project 2142 was a multi-phase effort to discover and mobilize for dissemination to rural decision-makers various information and findings pertaining to the quality of life experienced by rural people. The initial research phases involved design of a conceptual framework that placed some parameters on the variety of social phenomena studied.…

A variety of ecological, economic, and social changes are now reshaping rural America. The deterioration of the economic structures and perceived quality of social life in large metropolitan centers of the United States has stimulated the dispersal of population and economic resources throughout rural America. During the last decade almost three…

This book documents the experiences that were gathered in project DELSILIFE, Development of a Coordinated Educational Intervention System for Improving the Quality of Life of the Rural Poor through Self-Reliance. The project was carried out by the Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH) for the South-East Asian…