rural communities

When Buildings Are More Than Buildings

October 20, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
beginning farmers, Big Stone County, Big Stone Local Foods Group, Clinton Kitchen, Clinton Minnesota, economic development, Land Stewardship Project, local food, Rebecca Terk, rural communities, rural demographics

When a business closes in a rural community, the following 24 months or so are key. Whether it be a farm, small town grocery or repair shop, if the real estate it…
Putting Out the Welcome Mat for New Agrarians

September 30, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011, beginning farmers, Deutsch Family Farm, Jim and Alison Deutsch, Land Stewardship Project, LSP's Farm Beginning, rural communities, USDA

There are numerous ways of communicating the value society places on having more family farmers on the land, not fewer. This morning, the USDA announced it was awarding $18 million in grants…
Reaching Out in Hog Country

March 17, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
antibiotic-free livestock, deep-straw swine systems, hog farming, rural communities, sustainable livestock

Independent hog farmers are beginning to feel like inhabitants of isolated desert islands, with oceans of corporate-controlled CAFOs (as well as corn and soybean fields) separating them from their peers. That became…