Article on New Hampshire’s “quiet” innovation highlights NERCRD research

In this opinion piece written for the New Hampshire Business Review, Dr. Charlie French (University of New Hampshire Extension) cites NERCRD research on “latent” or hidden innovation, and provides several examples of “quiet innovation” from rural New Hampshire communities that are leading to gains in employment, income, and quality of life. Dr. French leads UNH Extension’s Community and Economic Development team.

Economic status of rural America in the President Trump era explored in newly published Center research

February 23, 2018

A paper titled “The Economic Status of Rural America in the President Trump Era and beyond” was published this month in a special issue of Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy and was authored by Center Director Stephan Goetz, Mark Partridge (Ohio State University), and Heather Stephens (West Virginia University). The special issue is a collection of papers around the theme “The Future of Agricultural and Applied Economics,” and is the culmination of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Agenda and Priorities initiative. The authors review the current economic conditions of rural America and the current literature, in order to set the stage for future research aimed at developing public policies that support economic prosperity in rural areas.

Weather patterns, farm income, other factors, may be influencing opioid crisis

January 26, 2018

The overprescribing of opioid-based painkillers may be the main driver of the increased abuse of opioids in rural America, but new research by Northeast Center Director Stephan Goetz and Meri Davlasheridze (Texas A&M) suggests that other factors, including declining farm income, extreme weather and other natural disasters, may affect a crisis that is killing thousands of citizens and costing the country billions of dollars.

New collection of papers explores Northeast U.S. food system, community engagement, and citizens’ perceptions of “regional foods”

January 25, 2018

For seven years a multidisciplinary team of more than 40 researchers led by the NERCRD has explored the extent to which a more robust regional food system in the Northeastern U.S. could improve food access in low-income communities and improve the long-term food security of the entire Northeast. Now, in an initial collection of three papers published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, team members have summarized some of their findings.

New study explores intersection of health insurance and national farm policy

January 24, 2018

A first-of-its-kind study looking at the intersection of health insurance and agriculture sheds light on a “Catch-22” situation that many farmers know all too well: while having health insurance is a critical risk-management strategy, the cost of health insurance and out-of-pocket health care costs can be burdensome to farm families and may limit investments in farm enterprises. The findings have important and timely policy implications, as lawmakers are debating both the 2018 Farm Bill and health insurance policy.

Rural Housing and Economic Development: New book by Regional Rural Development Centers

January 23, 2018

Image source: Routledge

Center-led food systems project issues several research briefs

November 10, 2017

The Center’s signature food systems research project, Enhancing Food Security in the Northeast through Regional Food Systems (EFSNE), has issued several research briefs that serve to distill peer-reviewed journal articles authored by one or more project team members into 2-4 page documents intended for a general audience.

NERCRD funds three multi-state teams to advance regional collaboration and impact data collection

November 10, 2017

Three grant proposals have been selected to receive funding through the Northeast Center’s 2017-2018 “Impacts of Successful Extension and Outreach Programs” award program, which was designed to help Northeast Land-Grant University faculty and educators document the impacts of their work while also encouraging collaboration across state lines. Twenty-two people from nine states are participating in the projects. Selection of the funded projects was based on the recommendations of a review panel.

Rural innovation grant program culminates in special sessions at North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association

November 10, 2017

In 2016, with funding from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), the Northeast Center established an award program that provided three teams with access to a new data set that allowed them to explore ways in which business innovation is happening in rural areas, and its impact on rural communities and regional economies. Now that the program has ended, members from each of the funded teams presented their findings in two special sessions co-organized with ERS at the North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association.

Engaging students in the First Impressions process at the University of New Hampshire

November 9, 2017

At this summer’s NACDEP meeting, University of New Hampshire (UNH) Extension’s Community and Economic Development Program Coordinator Casey Hancock described how she and her colleagues involved undergraduate student members of the UNH Planning Student Organization in First Impressions programming, which turned out to be a winning partnership.

Analyzing farmer networks is focus of new training manual

May 19, 2017

A new publication in the Northeast Center’s Rural Development Working Paper series provides guidance to Extension educators on analyzing existing farmer networks. Economic and social networks organized around local and regional food systems or value chains have the potential to increase traditionally underserved farmers’ access to the resources, skills and scale of logistical or distribution assets that are prerequisites for profitable expansion into urban markets.