Publications

Economic and Quality of Life Data for the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire/Vermont

This report presents sustainable tourism indicators identified from public data sources in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire/Vermont.

Authors: Luyi Han, Stephan Goetz, Daniel Eades, and Doug Arbogast

Publication: Published by NERCRD Date Published: December 12, 2025

Tags: data brief, outdoor recreation, tourism, TRIP

Economic and Quality of Life Indicators for Monongahela National Forest

This report presents sustainable tourism indicators identified from public data sources in the Monongahela National Forest (Mon Forest) region of West Virginia.

Authors: Luyi Han, Stephan J. Goetz, Daniel Eades, and Doug Arbogast

Publication: NERCRD publication Date Published: October 24, 2025

Tags: data brief, outdoor recreation, tourism, TRIP

Rural innovative firms and credit: Findings from the annual business survey

Credit access remains a critical constraint for rural firms. This study examines how the innovation orientation of businesses affects credit access in urban and rural areas using the 2021 Annual Business Survey.

Authors: Luyi Han, Timothy R. Wojan, Anil Rupasingha, Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: Elsevier Finance Research Open Date Published: September 17, 2025

Tags: rural innovation

Small Business Loans in Different U.S. County Types

This working paper describes how the number of financial loans and loan amounts per capita vary across different U.S. county types over the period 2000-2022, using Community Reinvestment Act small business loan data.

Authors: Yuxuan Pan, Stephan J. Goetz, and Yuan (Timothy) Zhuang

Publication: NERCRD Rural Development Working Paper Series Date Published: August 20, 2025

Tags: Community Reinvestment Act, RDP

Economic and Quality of Life Indicators for Allegheny National Forest Counties in Pennsylvania

This report analyzes sustainable tourism indicators in Pennsylvania’s five-county
Allegheny National Forest region (Cameron, Elk, Warren, McKean, and Forest Counties) as part
of a USDA-funded multi-state project examining rural gateway community resilience.

Authors: Han, Luyi; Goetz, Stephan J.; Eades, Daniel; Arbogast, Doug

Publication: Published by NERCRD Date Published: August 1, 2025

Tags: data brief, outdoor recreation, tourism, TRIP

Rural-Suburban-Urban Differences in Caregiving in the Northeast U.S. Region

This “Research Snapshot” describes the caregiving experience for rural, suburban, and urban caregivers in the Northeast region of the U.S., as reported by households as part of the “NER-Stat: Caregiving Survey” — a regional household survey that the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) conducted in collaboration with Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD), The Ohio State University and the National Farm Medicine Center. The survey was conducted in 2023 with 4,480 responses from the 13 states of the Northeast Region through a Qualtrics online panel. The dataset that this brief draws upon is also available online here: https://purr.purdue.edu/publications/4491/1

To learn more about this research and to access other briefs in this caregiving series, click here.

Authors: Elena Pojman and Florence Becot

Publication: NERCRD Research Brief Date Published: June 24, 2025

Tags: caregiving

Design: A critical input to rural innovative entrepreneurship

Abstract: Described as a mediation between people and technology, design is critical to innovative entrepreneurship but has been ignored in innovation research. The rigorous study of design has suffered from an inability to differentiate firms that approach design as ad hoc from those approaching design as a structured, creative process. This research uses newly available data from the 2022 Annual Business Survey Design Module categorizing 4 different approaches to design. These data allow us to examine the link between design and innovation with a focus on businesses in nonmetropolitan counties that challenges conventional wisdom that design is overwhelmingly an urban phenomenon.

A news release describing the key findings and their implications is available here.

Authors: Timothy Wojan, Luyi Han, Zheng Tian, Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Date Published: June 18, 2025

Tags: rural innovation

Insights on Agritourism Among Producers in Western U.S. States: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey

This report presents findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey. A total of 136 survey participants identified themselves as being in a Western region states by reporting the postal (ZIP) code of their farm. (To access the national-level findings, visit this page.) This survey is part of a larger project aimed at defining and enhancing the agritourism support system in the United States.

Authors: Jason Entsminger, Claudia Schmidt, Sarah Cornelisse, and Jackie Schweichler

Publication: NERCRD Research Brief Date Published: June 3, 2025

Tags: agritourism, agritourism data brief, data brief

Insights on Agritourism Among Maine Producers: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey

This report presents Maine-specific findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey, conducted in part to address the type of knowledge gaps just identified. The online survey was open from March through August 2024, and 2,139 agritourism operators across the United States responded. A total of 94 survey participants identified themselves as being in Maine by reporting the postal (ZIP) code of their farm.

Authors: Jason Entsminger (University of Maine); Claudia Schmidt (Penn State and NERCRD); Sarah Cornelisse and Jackie Schweichler (Penn State)

Publication: Published by NERCRD Date Published: May 2, 2025

Tags: agritourism, agritourism data brief, data brief, survey

Insights on Agritourism Among US Producers: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey 

This report presents findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey. This survey is part of a larger project aimed at defining and enhancing the agritourism support system in the United States. The primary objective of conducting this survey was to identify areas where targeted interventions and programs can support agritourism development across the country.

Authors: Claudia Schmidt (Penn State and NERCRD), Jason Entsminger (University of Maine), Sarah Cornelisse and Jackie Schweichler (Penn State)

Publication: Published by NERCRD Date Published: April 21, 2025

Tags: agritourism, agritourism data brief, data brief, survey