NE1749: Enhancing Rural Economic Opportunities, Community Resilience, and Entrepreneurship

(Multistate Research Project)

Status: Inactive/Terminating

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SAES-422 Reports

Annual/Termination Reports:

[07/02/2018] [05/30/2019] [05/30/2020] [07/02/2021]

Date of Annual Report: 07/02/2018

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 03/15/2018 - 03/15/2018
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2017 - 05/15/2018

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Key events from this year’s meeting include the University of Wisconsin taking responsibility for the secretary position (either Deller or Conroy) which then evolves into the chair of the project; introduction and remarks from our new project Administrative Advisor, Margaret (Peggy) Brennan, and discussion of where to hold next year’s meeting.

Peggy Brennan noted that while we (NE 1749) have done a lot of varied work as individuals, we need to identify a few key areas that are driving rural economic development and helping rural communities thrive, then what policies can we propose supported by that research. Steve Deller noted that one of the strengths of this group is diversity, but most of us have extension appointments so it’s hard to predict what we’ll be working on 5-years from now because of the respective state demands. He also noted that this group is very beneficial to develop collaborations. Mark Skidmore reinforced this sentiment, saying he benefits a lot by hearing of the varied projects in which others in the group are involved. It was agreed that the project’s objectives and methods should be focused more concisely. After subsequent discussion within the group, we are working to focus the project’s mission/rationale around the central concept of "rural resiliency" with sub-themes relating and connecting the variety of research the various members are conducting.

Station reports were presented for Wisconsin, Idaho, Missouri, Michigan State, Ohio State, Yong Chen, Heather Stephens, Anders Colorado State, Georgia, Oklahoma State, and New Hampshire.

Minutes Attachment:

NE1749 Meeting Minutes.pdf

Accomplishments

Accomplishments:  One of the major accomplishments over the past year was the successful termination of our previous multistate project NE 1049 (Community Health and Resilience) and the development of our new project, stemming from the working group of our 2017 meeting in Santa Fe.  The proposal for the new project was drafted in summer of 2017 and subsequently approved.  Key objectives of NE 1749 are:  1) Enhancing rural economic opportunities and entrepreneurship and 2) Factors and Policies affecting the resiliency of Rural Communities.         Objective 1:  The University of Missouri is addressing issues of wealth/income distribution.  The impact of tax and expenditure limits (TELS) on funding of education, which affects human capital development and contributes to private wealth, and its potential role in income inequality are important areas of study. Wisconsin, Missouri, and University of Nebraska-Omaha are collaborating to investigate the impact of TELs on inequality. Preliminary findings indicate that TELS are related to higher income inequality.  The study focuses on whether a relationship exists and does not address whether this is an intended or unintended consequence.     University of Wisconsin research has proceeded along three lines: effects of TELS on state performance with an eye toward unintended consequences, entrepreneurship with a focus on rural outcomes, and regional economic structure on stability and resilience.  Researchers also finished work on the relationship between local foods and community well-being.  At the University of New Hampshire, research on local foods and community well-being is progressing and will be on-going through the next year.   Researchers at North Carolina State University have examined returns to Federal broadband infrastructure investments and estimate a roughly 7-8% rate of return on rural broadband investments, but that these returns are largely confined to communities located in counties adjacent to metro areas.  Ongoing research focuses on the impact of state and local promotion programs on the performance of local food systems.   Researchers at Colorado State University are using a dual focus on rural and urban areas to leverage neglected symmetries and synergies between traditionally disparate geographies as this may be key to unlocking untapped potential for economically-marginalized populations in both the city and countryside.  Past work identified issues like perceived access barriers for food insecure populations in remote rural and inner-city areas to understanding the differential market dynamics faced by rural economic sectors such as banking and tourism to identifying and supporting new links between San Luis Valley agriculture and the urban brewing industries.  Work going forward will focus on a core theme: to partner with colleagues in other states to understand and bridge the rural-urban divide that has become increasingly apparent in recent years.  Work is also continuing to analyze the dynamics and potential for job creation of both inner-city and rural areas with structured analytics that demonstrated the job, income, and value-added potential of oft-overlooked initiatives such as the food supply and brewing material chains needed to support Denver’s new Food Plan and the nationally recognized craft brew sector, brownfield redevelopment, and retail opportunities in central Denver.  In partnership with Oklahoma State University, CSU created economic benchmarks of different food marketing strategies, aggregated as direct, intermediated and combined direct-intermediated, but also broken down by scale.  These benchmarks of profitability and technical efficiency will be published in the coming year, and are the basis for continued work on standardized performance benchmarks for the sector.  Our hope is use the new USDA ERS local foods survey to do more detailed benchmarks in the future, though initial work with the data shows there are some data sample limitations.       Objective 2:  Researchers in North Dakota have focused on policies and strategies contributing to the viability and resiliency of communities in responding to economic and policy changes as well as natural and human-made shocks. They examined the impact of Bakken region shale oil development on water use and found that increased industrial water use for oil production and increased domestic use of water by the growing population in western North Dakota had limited impacts on the region’s water resources.  Researchers also tested the social disruption hypothesis by examining the relationship between rural crimes and shale oil development at the Bakken using county-level data for Montana and North Dakota from 2000 through 2014. Results found statistically signiﬁcant evidence of increased aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts in shale-oil producing counties during the boom.    At the University of Nevada, Reno a number of areas were researched, including developing Social Accounting Matrix model to coordinate solutions at the ranch level to a regional Computable General Equilibrium model; developing procedures to incorporate risk into solar energy investments and the impact of potential changes in income tax policies on these investments; developing procedures to estimate potential loss of economic impacts by a new lithium mine if closed by sage grouse habitat; and estimating economic, employment, and labor income impacts to a rural five-county study area if expansion of Fallon Naval Air Station airspace for training is enacted. At the University of Missouri, researchers addressed the question of why some areas are lagging in recovering from the recession, what we learned from the recession, and what policies aided resilience and recovery.  Using a panel of 15 years of data from the budgets of 89 rural counties, researchers are focusing on the effects of recessions on local government budgets.  Using trends in fiscal ratios, they are attempting to identify 1) counties in which fiscal stress is related to long run trends, prior to the recession, and trends beginning with the recession, 2) tax or expenditure budget structures that lead to faster or slower budget recovery.   Missouri is working with Iowa State, Kansas State, and Michigan State to identify policies that have helped or hindered county government recovery from recession, and to identify innovative responses to fiscal stress.     Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri are focusing on impacts of pension reductions on rural areas.  Existing research focuses on the impacts on public budgets or on individual retirees.  Using IRS data on tax returns by county the original analysis focused on NC states because of the potential bankruptcy of a multiemployer pension funds with large memberships in those states. They also selected 8 counties with a variety of characteristics in MN, MI, WI  and MO for IMPLAN analysis.  The analysis is funded by the North Central Rural Development Center and a webinar was produced:   <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lxvVIhYKQ&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lxvVIhYKQ&feature=youtu.be</a>  They are now extending the analysis using a multivariate for the United States.     Researchers at Colorado State University have joined a Rural-Urban Initiative launched by CSU and Denver University.  Upcoming 2018 and 2019 events will start, inform, and enhance the dialogue between rural and urban areas on how the policy, regulatory and technical support environment differentially affects rural areas. Top of Form  Researchers at the University of New Hampshire continue researching the economics of the changing solid waste management landscape.  Newer findings highlight the problems in managing plastic bags (film) and in implementing pay as you throw and single stream management systems.    Short-term Outcomes: Examples of research products of group members presented for use by local government, policy makers, etc.:  Thilmany, D., B. Jablonski, J. O’Hara and B. Raison.  Farm to School and your Local Economy: How can you Explore the Linkages?  Session for the 2018 National Farm to School Conference.  Cincinnati, OH. April 2018.  Roy, P., B.Angelo, D. Thilmany, and B. Jablonski, Navigating strategic food system change: A road map for community food and agriculture plans.  National Good Food Conference. Albuquerque, NM. March 2018.  B.B.J. Jablonski, G. Graff and D. Thilmany. Colorado Blueprint of Food and Agriculture Release Presentation. CSU AgInnovation Summit 2.0.  September 2017. Posted here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndsyySdXyc&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndsyySdXyc&feature=youtu.be</a> Thilmany, D., D. Hughes, K. Keck and A. Hodges. “Framing an Economic Evaluation of Tribal Food System Initiatives,” Joint program with Oklahoma State University and the Choctaw Nation.  April 2017.  Thilmany, D., A. Morales. D. Tropp, A. Bauman, and S. Schaffstall. “Evaluating Economic Impacts of Local and Regional Food Systems,” In-Service Training for Growing Food Connections. Las Cruces, New Mexico.  February 2017.   Outputs:  Regarding outputs of research that are provided directly to policy makers, researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno developed procedures to derive state sole proprietorship employment and income by economic sector from US Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Also employing dynamic shift-share procedures to Nevada sole proprietorship data to determine if there were structural changes to sole proprietorships during and after the great recession.   Similarly, Missouri assembled a data set of the budgets of the 88 most rural counties in the state from 1996 to 2013 and is updating it to 2017 in an interactive spreadsheet.  In Missouri counties budgets include the past year, the current year and the future year for which the budget is being developed.  This three-year focus leads to short-term thinking rather than a consideration of long term trends.  The spreadsheet provides the ability to see long term trends and to benchmark against other counties.  It is posted on the web for download and use. Several extension bulletins are planned:  fiscal ratios for counties that focus on liquidity, taxes and expenditures per capita and per $100 of income.  University of Nebraska-Omaha (not a member), Wisconsin and Missouri are applying for a grant to work on data visualization for local governments.  With funding from the North Central Regional Rural Development Center, Kansas State University, Iowa State University and the University of Missouri surveyed the executive directors of the state associations of counties, using both an on-line and a phone survey.  The survey focused on the fiscal condition of counties, the causes, what counties are doing and state actions that affected the fiscal conditions positively or negatively.   Several of the questions focused specifically on the fiscal conditions of rural counties.  A report was filed and an NCRRDC webinar was given.  The survey found that faster economic recovery resulted in faster recovery for local governments, but even then they continue to face challenges.  A major finding is that the recession resulted in a structural change in the fiscal relations between state and local governments.  Many revenue-sharing programs were eliminated or reduced and state now employ a more targeted and limited approach to fiscal assistance to counties.  Tax and expenditure limitations imposed by the states in the past have also exacerbated fiscal stress.   Colorado State University published the following for direct use by policy makers:  Colorado Blueprint Regional Opportunity Reports (for each of 11 Colorado regions).  2017.  Posted at: <a href="http://foodsystems.colostate.edu/research/colorado-blueprint/">http://foodsystems.colostate.edu/research/colorado-blueprint/</a>  Thilmany, D., A. Bauman, D. Shideler and P. Watson. 2018. Conducting an Economics Impact Study of a Local or Regional Food Project.  Local Food Economics fact sheet.  Funded by USDA NIFA and AMS.  Posted at: https://localfoodeconomics.com/benchmarks/.  Thilmany, D., B. Jablonski, D. Shideler and J. O’Hara. 2018. Impact of Local Food Production on Food and Beverage Retail Sales.  Local Food Economics fact sheet.  Funded by USDA NIFA.  Posted at: https://localfoodeconomics.com/benchmarks/.  Thilmany, D., B. Jablonski, A. Bauman, D. Shideler and B. Angelo. 2018. How to Write a Good Case Study on a Food Value Chain.  Local Food Economics fact sheet.  Funded by USDA NIFA.  Posted at: https://localfoodeconomics.com/benchmarks/.

Publications

Bauman, A and D. Thilmany. 2017. Exploring Localized Economic Dynamics: Methods Driven Case Studies of Transformation and Growth in Agricultural and Food Markets.  Economic Development Quarterly. 31(3): 244-254. August. DOI: 10.1177/0891242417709530   Borden, B. and T.R. Harris. “Economic and Fiscal New Lithium Mine and Lithium Processing Operation in Humboldt County”, Nevada. University Center Technical Report UCED 2017/18-08 November 2017.   Colorado Department of Agriculture. Public Attitudes about Agriculture in Colorado. 2017. (with Chad Chriestenson, Michael Martin, Martha Sullins and Becca Jablonski). 79 pages.   Colpaart, A. and D. Thilmany. Identifying Key Drivers for Food Business Managers to Engage in the Access Economy. Selected paper for the 2017 WAEA Annual Meetings. Lake Tahoe CA. July.   Conroy, T., Deller, S.C. and Tsvethova, A. 2017. “Interstate Relocation of Manufacturers and Business Climate.” Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies.  29(1):18-45.   Das, Biswa, John Leatherman, Judith I. Stallmann, Craig Maher, Mark Skidmore and Bonnie Bressers. Fiscal Stress after the Great Recession: A Study of Rural Counties in the U.S.  Mid-Continent Regional Science Association/IMPLAN Conference.  Kansas City.  June 6-8, 2018   Das, B., J. Leatherman, J.I. Stallmann, C. Maher, M. Skidmore and B. Bressers.  “Fiscal Stress after the Great Recession:  A Study of Rural Counties in the US.”  North Central Regional Rural Development Center.  Grant Report.  August, 2017.     Deller, Steven C. and Conroy, Tessa. 2017. “Business Survival Rates Across the Urban-Rural Divide.” Community Development. 24(1):67-85.   Deller, Steven C., Canto, Amber and Brown, Laura. 2017. “Food Access, Local Foods and Community Health.” Community Development. 48(5):616-638.   Deller, Steven C., Conroy, Tessa and Watson, Philip. (2017). “Women Business Owners: A Source of Stability During the Great Recession?” Applied Economics. 49(56):5686-5697.   Deller, S.C. and Conroy, T. 2017. “Innovation and Economic Performance: R&D within Wisconsin.” Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No.5. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin – Madison/Extension.   Deller, S.C. and Conroy, T. 2017. “Innovation and Economic Performance: Policy Options for Wisconsin.” Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief No.5. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin – Madison/Extension.   Deller, Steven C., Lamie, David and Stickel, Maureen. 2017. Local Foods Systems and Community Economic Development.” Community Development. 48(5):657-680.   Gallardo, R., Whitacre, B., and Grant, A.  “Broadband’s Impact:  A Brief Literature Review.”  Purdue University Center for Regional Development Publication 001.  December 2017.  18 pp.    Han, Kwideok and Brian Whitacre. “Estimating Spatial Heterogeneity in Hay Yield Responses to Weather Variations in Oklahoma.”  Selected paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, FL.  Feb 4-6, 2018.    Han, K. and B. Whitacre. “Does School Size Matter for Student Academic Achievement? A Two-stage Spatial Quantile Regression Approach.”  Selected paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, FL.  Feb 4-6, 2018.    Harris, Thomas R. “Incorporating Risk in Analysis of Tax Policies for Solar Power Investments”. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy. 7, (2017): 112-118.   Harris, T.R. and J.F. Packham. “The Economic Impact of Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital on the Elko County Economy”. University Center Technical Report, UCED 2017/18-04, September 2017.   Harris, Thomas R. Analysis of Commuting Patterns and Residential Adjustment for Western Nevada Development District. University Center Technical Report 2017-18-09, December 2017.   Harris, Thomas R.” Economic Impact Analysis Report: Fallon Range Training Complex Expansion”. University Center Technical Report 2017/18-16, March 2018.   Hill, R. D. Thilmany, M. Sullins, A. Van Sandt, S. Hardesty and C. Snyder. Agritourism in the West: Outreach approaches and strategies that work for producers and communities exploring new and expanded efforts.  Organized symposium for the 2017 WAEA Annual Meetings.  Lake Tahoe, CA. July.   Jablonski, B. and D. Thilmany. Evaluating the Economic Impacts of Innovative Agricultural Marketing and Infrastructure Investments: A USDA AMS Toolkit. Selected paper for the 2017 WAEA Annual Meetings. Lake Tahoe CA. July.   Kandilov, I. and M. Renkow. 2018. “The Impacts of the USDA Broadband Loan and Grant Programs: Moving Towards Estimating a Rate of Return.” Paper presented at the Farm Foundation/Economic Research Service Workshop on The Economic Returns to Rural Infrastructure Investment, National Press Club, Washington, DC, April 10-11, 2018.   Lee, Kangil and Brian Whitacre.  “The Impact of Unconventional Drilling on House Prices in Central Oklahoma.”  Selected paper presented at the Southern Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.  Mar 15-17, 2018.      Lee, Kangil and Brian Whitacre.  “Regional Employment Impacts from Recent Energy Development Activities in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.”  Selected paper presented at the Southern Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.  Mar 15-17, 2018.      Lee, H. and Whitacre, B.  2017.  “Estimating Willingness to Pay for Broadband Attributes among Low-Income Consumers:  Results from Two FCC Lifeline Pilot Projects.”  Telecommunications Policy 41(9): 769-780.    Lim, S.H. 2018. Does Shale Energy Development Mean More Crime? The Case of The Bakken Oil Boom. Growth and Change. Forthcoming. DOI:10.1111/grow.12242.   Lin, Z, T. Lin, SH Lim, MH Hove and W.M. Schuh. 2017. Impacts of Bakken Shale Oil Development on Regional Water Uses and Supply. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. Forthcoming. DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12605.   Lin, Z., SH Lim, T. Lin, M. Borders.  “A Multi-Agent System of Water Allocation and Management in the Bakken Region” Modelling for Sustainable Food-Energy-Water Systems. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software. June 24-28, 2019, Fort Collins, Colorado.   Lin, T., Z. Lin, and S.H. Lim.  “An Agent-based Model for Groundwater Allocation and Management at the Bakken Shale in Western North Dakota.”  Presentation at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 11-15, 2017.   Lipetzky, T., M. Sullins and D. Thilmany. “Coloradans’ Perceptions About Agriculture: 2016 Survey Results & Implications,” Governor’s Forum on Colorado Agriculture, Denver, CO.  February 2017.   Maher, Craig S., Steven C. Deller, Sungho Park and Judith I. Stallmann.  “The Effects of Tax and Expenditure Limits on State Fiscal Reserves.”   Public Policy and Administration. 32(2):130-151.  2017.  <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0952076716660607">http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0952076716660607</a>   Martin, M., C. Chriestenson, D. Thilmany, B. Jablonski, and M. Sullins. FSR 17-02. Perception of Trust in Sources of Information on Agriculture and Food Issues. March 2017. 9 pp.   McLaughlin, M.E. and J.M. Halstead.  2018. “The Ubiquitous Plastic Bag—and What to Do?”  In Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. 11th edition.  J.D. Ramage, J.C. Bean and J. Johnson. Boston, MA:  Pearson Education   McLeod, A., L.A. Harris, and J.M. Halstead.  “Factors Affecting Restaurant Purchase of Locally Grown Foods.” Presented at <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.aaea.org_meetings_2017-2Daaea-2Dannual-2Dmeeting&d=DwMFaQ&c=c6MrceVCY5m5A_KAUkrdoA&r=6Pns9BPOHw4xOGkHS1CrmYBkWQ59fC5Z4I3paSRf5vQ&m=H9kxVSzOKiOjcgaDTl_JKJZV2EdFvjMrLZlbPDnObKM&s=WCLeIWAJFNfHMU6d-5GgRKal37Es2flBIGdrv9ZYnkA&e=">2018 Southern Regional Science Association Annual Meetings. March 15-17.  Philadelphia, PA</a>.   Miller, Steven, Steven Deller and Judith I. Stallmann.  2018. “Rural Exposure to Pension Reductions.”  Choices.  Quarter 1.  <a href="http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/submitted-articles/rural-exposure-to-pension-reductions">http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/submitted-articles/rural-exposure-to-pension-reductions</a>   Miller, S., S. Deller and J.I. Stallmann.  “Impacts of Reductions in Pension Payments on County Growth.”  Southern Regional Science Association. Philadelphia.  March 15-17, 2018.   Miller, Steven, Steven Deller and Judith I. Stallmann.  “Potential Impacts of Pension Reductions.”  North Central Regional Rural Development Center Webinar.  January 23, 2018. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lxvVIhYKQ&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lxvVIhYKQ&feature=youtu.be</a>   Miller, Steve, Steve Deller and Judith I. Stallmann.  “Potential Rural Impacts of Pension Reductions.”  Policy Brief. North Central Regional Rural Development Center.  2017. <a href="http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/uploads/files/Pension_Report_17.pdf">http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/uploads/files/Pension_Report_17.pdf</a>   Miller, S., Deller, S.C. and J. Stallman. 2017. “Potential Rural Impacts of Pension Reductions.” Policy Brief, North Central Center for Rural Development, Michigan State University.   Reese, J., M. Becker, J. Lightfoot, S. Wall, and B. Whitacre.  “Rural Broadband Panel Session.”  Oklahoma Rural Development Conference & Workshop. Oklahoma City, OK. December 5, 2017.    Shi, W., J.M. Halstead, and J-C Huang.  “The Status Quo Effect in Local Agriculture Purchase Decisions.”  Presented at <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.aaea.org_meetings_2017-2Daaea-2Dannual-2Dmeeting&d=DwMFaQ&c=c6MrceVCY5m5A_KAUkrdoA&r=6Pns9BPOHw4xOGkHS1CrmYBkWQ59fC5Z4I3paSRf5vQ&m=H9kxVSzOKiOjcgaDTl_JKJZV2EdFvjMrLZlbPDnObKM&s=WCLeIWAJFNfHMU6d-5GgRKal37Es2flBIGdrv9ZYnkA&e=">2017 Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings. November</a> 9-11.  Tampa, FL.    Stallmann, Judith, Maher, Craig, Deller, Steven C. and Park, Sungho. 2017. “Research on the Effects of Limitations on Taxes and Expenditures.” Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs. 3 (2): 197-222.            (NOTE: Winner of the Best Paper Award for 2017.)   Thilmany McFadden, D., S. Low and M. Castillo. Rural Development Implications of Foodie Culture:  What factors drive food and beverage manufacturing firm dynamics?  Organized session for the 2017 North American Regional Science Association meetings.  November 2018.   Thilmany, D., C. Chriestenson, M. Martin, M. Sullins, and B. Jablonski. FSR 17-01. An Overview of Coloradans’ Perceptions of Agriculture. February 2017. 9 pp. http://webdoc.agsci.colostate.edu/DARE/FSR/FSR17-01.pdf   Thilmany, D. R. Hill, M. Haefele, A. van Sandt, C. Thomas, M. Sullins and S. Low. An Overview of Agricultural and Rural Outdoor Recreation Tourism in the United States: A Framework for Understanding Economic and Employment Dynamics. Chapter for Agricultural Policies and Rural Jobs. Co-Editors: S. Davidova, K. Thomson and A. Mishra. Fall 2018 expected publication.   Van Sandt, A., S. Low and D. Thilmany.  2018. A Spatial Analysis of Agritourism in the US: What’s Driving Clusters of Enterprises? Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Published online February 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2017.36">https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2017.36</a>.   Van Sandt, A., D. Thilmany and R. Hill. “Targeting Agritourism to Leverage the Unique Natural Resources Base and Heritage of the Rural West.  Chapter accepted for Agritourism, Enotourism, Aletourism: Tourism Niches and Local Entrepreneurship in Peripheral Areas. Expected publication. 2019.   Van Sandt, A., M. Costanigro and D. Thilmany. Proximities to Attractions and Visitor Reviews in Determining Traveler Behavior: A Choice Experiment on Agritourism.  Selected Paper for the 2017 AAEA Annual Meetings. Chicago IL. July.   Watson, Philip and Deller, Steven C. 2017. “Economic Diversity, Unemployment and the Great Recession.”  Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. 64(May):1-11.   Werner, S., S. Lemos, J.M. Halstead, and J-C Huang.  “Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Locally Grown Produce in Northern New England.”  Presented at <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.aaea.org_meetings_2017-2Daaea-2Dannual-2Dmeeting&d=DwMFaQ&c=c6MrceVCY5m5A_KAUkrdoA&r=6Pns9BPOHw4xOGkHS1CrmYBkWQ59fC5Z4I3paSRf5vQ&m=H9kxVSzOKiOjcgaDTl_JKJZV2EdFvjMrLZlbPDnObKM&s=WCLeIWAJFNfHMU6d-5GgRKal37Es2flBIGdrv9ZYnkA&e=">2017 NAREA Annual Meeting. June</a> 11-14.  Washington, DC.   Werner, S.L., S. Lemos, J.M. Halstead, and J-C Huang.  “The Local-organic Premium for Agricultural Produce:  A Northern New England Case Study.”  Presented at the 56th Annual Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association.  March 30–April 1, 2017. Memphis, TN.   Werner, S.L. and J.M. Halstead.  “The value of the local label in farmers’ market.”  Presented at the New Hampshire Farm and Forest Exposition.  February 17, 2017.  Manchester, NH.    Werner, S.L., N.A. Haddad, and J.M. Halstead.  2017.  Why Do (or Don’t) New Englanders Buy Local Produce?  University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.  Durham, NH.    Whitacre, B.  2017.  “Fixed Broadband or Mobile:  What Makes Us More Civically Engaged?”  Telematics and Informatics 34(5): 755-766.   Whitacre, Brian, Devon Meadowcroft, and Roberto Gallardo.  “Determinants of Rural Business Innovation.”  Selected paper presented at the North American Regional Science Association Conference, Vancouver, CAN. November 9-11, 2017.   Whitacre,. Brian “Loaning Out the Internet: 2 Pilot Projects in Rural Oklahoma.”  Presentation for Oklahoma State University Center for Family Resiliency (CFR) Research Seminar.  Tulsa, OK.  April 20, 2018.    Wright, C., J.M. Halstead, and J-C Huang.  2018. “Estimating Treatment Effects of Unit-based Pricing of Household Solid Waste Disposal."  Agricultural and Resource Economics Review.  In press.

Impact Statements

It is difficult at this time to assess impacts as NE 1749 had only been active for 7 months at the time of our annual meeting. Ongoing research discussed in the narrative section and publications/presentations indicate considerable ongoing research and collaboration toward the stated NE 1749 goals.

Date of Annual Report: 05/30/2019

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 04/04/2019 - 04/04/2019
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2018 - 09/30/2019

Participants

Mike Betz, Ohio State Univ., betz.40@osu.edu
Yong Chen, Oregon State Univ., yong.chen@oregonstate.edu
Mindy Crandall, Univ. of Maine, mindy.crandall@maine.edu
Steven Deller, Univ. Wisconsin-Madison, scdeller@wisc.edu
Stephan Goetz, Penn State Univ., sgoetz@psu.edu
Sarah Low, Univ. of Missouri, lowsa@missouri.edu
Judith Stallmann, Univ. of Missouri, stallmannj@missouri.edu
Peter Stenberg, USDA ERS, stenberg@ers.usda.gov
Heather Stephens, West Virginia Univ., heather.stephens@mail.wvu.edu
Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State Univ. dawn.thilmany@colostate.edu
Philip Watson, Univ. of Idaho, pwatson@uidaho.edu

Participants Attachment:

Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report 2.docx

Brief Summary of Minutes

Phil Watson of the University of Idaho was elected to serve as the incoming president and Heather Stephens of West Virginia University was elected incoming secretary.

Each member present gave a station report.

Prior to the meeting Dr. Peggy Brennan communicated with Dr. Betz that there was a need for our project to develop more of a focus where all members were working on a single focused topic. There was a long discussion trying to clarify and respond to the comments and lead to in-depth reflection and fruitful discussions about the project. It was agreed that the comments may be due to the lack of cohesive topics in our proposal. To address that, we may need to emphasize common topics like rural prosperity or health care.

There was significant concern about expressed about how to continue the decades-long history of this group forming smaller, more flexible collaborations in order to address the specific issues facing the constituencies in each of our states. We are very few in numbers—only one or two in each state—and our research is expected to have a local focus. This project breaks our isolation. We have purposefully tried to be flexible to allow collaborative work to evolve naturally through our group meetings based on which states are facing common issues. Many of the research ideas and collaborations would not have occurred without this more flexible form of arrangement. Such flexibility also reflects the multi-faceted nature of the challenges rural American communities face. The challenges for rural American communities are diverse in nature and are heterogeneous both in space and over time. Take the issue of rural prosperity as an example. Even though this is a common theme faced by all participating stations, each state faces very different challenges due to its economic structure and state policy. Even though we approach the same issue of rural prosperity from different local contexts and perspectives, we share the conceptual frameworks and use similar tools. This project creates an opportunity for us to share our knowledge and enables us to learn from each other.

At the same time we are working on communities, which by definition have many interrelated facets. In the case of communities, an issue, such as the opiod crisis, is multifaceted and focusing on a single aspect of it, such as access to health care, will not solve it. The states reporting on their work on the opioid crisis show this to be true as it appears to be related to different factors in individual states.

Over the years, the group has sponsored many special sessions in SRSA covering diverse and important issues faced by rural America over time. This would not have been possible without the collaborative effort made possible by this project.

This project and its predecessor has gathered people that would not have met each other over the last 30 years or more. It is a great home place to attract junior people and help their career development. Every project member shares his/her personal experience and the connections /collaborative relations established with the help of this project and its predecessor. The Missouri-Wisconsin collaboration began in this project and has resulted in projects on a variety of topics. Med- and early-career participants share their personal experiences on the new connections made and the help/support received along their career development. Such wonderful experiences would not have been in place without the support of this project and its predecessors.

Proposed Solutions

Each of the participant needs to put more emphasis on the collaborative work in the station reports. For instance, if possible, put in a special section devoted to the collaborative efforts.

The impact section of the report could be another place to emphasize our collaboration. As a group, we should try to highlight the news coverages, like Drs. Deller and Low’s coverage in the New York Times, the use of Drs. Goetz and Stephen’s work with Dr. Partridge by the Federal Reserve Bank as well as in the 2019 Economic Report of the President and many other examples.

There is cohesiveness in our work but our reports fail to articulate it well. We might need to provide a one-page flyer to highlight the impact of the work from this group.

In order to better communicate with the funder about the collaborative work inspired by the project, we might need to conduct a network analysis on the paper authorship or citation within the group.

We are sorry that Dr. Brennan could not attend the meeting to participate in the discussion and provide ideas.

Accomplishments

Accomplishments In its 2017 annual meeting, the group identified three primary research areas which link to the priorities set out by REE and the Interagency Task Force on Agricultural and Rural Prosperity around which it wishes to engage in the coming years: 1) Rural Entrepreneurship and Community Well-being; 2) Community Resilience; and 3) Energy and Land Use policies in rural areas. In the past year, the group has made substantial contributions to the academic literature and in disseminating the findings of these studies.   Short term outcomes It is difficult to quantify short-term measurable benefits our target audience received because the group’s research is centered around how broad economic trends and changes in economic and social policies impact rural areas. Local policy- and decision-makers are the primary consumers of the research produced by this project, but the primary beneficiaries are citizens in the various states our group represents. Because citizens only benefit from our research when local leaders act on the policy recommendations produced by our group, and a wide array of factors influence policy decisions, it makes quantifying results from policy recommendations resulting from our research difficult to quantify.   Outputs Outputs stemming from our project are much more easily quantifiable. Our team produced over 50 high-quality articles published in the leading journals in the fields of regional science, agricultural economics, resource economics, and community development.   Additionally, the group has produced several unique data sets that have led to some of the publications detailed below. Most notably, Idaho has received a NIFA grant for an open access array of in situ data--trying to make regional science data a public good for researchers to access. The grant is “Tapestry: An Open-Access Multi-Regional Social Accounting System” and is seeking collaborators. The dataset covers county level data commonly used in regional studies such as census data, local public finance data and data on forestry and agriculture and so on. It will allow a completely open access and customization for easy impact assessment (like shift-share analysis and others). Group members have access to many unique, state data sets that they will contribute to the project.   Activities Members of the group organized collaborations around topics of expertise and relevance to the situations in their particular states. These research teams developed specific research questions, collected and organized data, performed statistical analyses, and presented and published results for studies focused on Rural Entrepreneurship and Community Well-being; Community Resilience; and Energy and Land Use policies in rural areas.   Milestones We organized an executive committee and have begun to conduct analyses for each objective, with particular focus on producing results that are comparable across the participating states. We have built stronger synergies across rural development scholars. We have conducted outreach activities including input from stakeholders on objectives and results. We have synthesized results across states and across objectives, completed comparative analyses, identified policy implications and, continued outreach activities.   Impacts In the past year this project has led to several grants being awarded to project members.   <ol> <li>Preventing opioid misuse and abuse in rural Ohio through enhanced family and community education and training. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency. Betz, M. R., Martin, K., Wapner, A., & Julian, D. September 30, 2018-September 30, 2020. ($ 1,080,219).</li> <li>Estimating the Potential Impact of Expanded Healthy Food Incentives Exploring Food System Impacts.  A proposal to the SPUR-facilitated coalition on policy analysis. PI Thilmany, D. with B. Jablonski and A. Bauman. August 2019-December 2020 (projected). $120,000</li> <li>Outreach and Training on New Tools and Resources for Assessing Economic Impact of Local Food Systems (Economic Benchmark Data, Economic Impact Calculator, and New Case Study Material). $27,000. Cooperative Agreement with the USDA-Ag Marketing Service.  October 2018-September 2019. Thilmany, D. with R. Jablonski and P. Watson)</li> <li>Integrating Community and Modeling Efforts to Evaluate Impacts and Tradeoffs of Food System Interventions, lead PI B.B.R. Jablonski. With A. Bonanno, M. Pagliassotti, E. Ryan, L. Bellows, R. Cleary, O. David, R. Boone, M. Carolan, P. Meiman, and J. Quinn. Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), $1,000,000 (FFAR); $1,000,718 (match); $2,000,718 (total)</li> <li>Farm Stress Employee Training and Technical Assistance, USDA Farm Services Agency, $450,000. PI Skidmore, M. Development and delivery of training, resources, and outreach materials that will support Farm Services Agency field employees as they serve farmers and ranchers under stress. </li> </ol>   Activities The following activities were carried out by the project team over the past year.   Wisconsin continued to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship and small business. The focus is on the entrepreneurship by women (with Missouri) and minority groups and the difficulties for them to get into the social network necessary for entrepreneurship. Research and extension efforts also covered topics on immigration issues, relationship between health care and workers' productivity, housing (with University of Nebraska-Omaha) and worker shortage in Wisconsin. Working with Economic Development Administration (EDA) university center, they developed a roadshow to communicate research findings to local stakeholders.   Missouri’s collaborative work with Wisconsin and a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Omaha on the tax and expenditure limitations won the best paper award in the Journal of Public and Non-profit Management. They have submitted another paper looking at whether these limitations increase income inequality and find that they do. Their extension work focused on the 88 3rd-class (lowest assessed property values) rural counties in Missouri that are required to report budgets to the state. They analyzed the government revenue per capita, expenditure per capita and standard fiscal ratio of these counties to investigate tax effort, economy of scale and government performance in general for those counties.   Missouri also collaborated with Wisconsin and Penn State, focusing on the relationship between entrepreneurship and broadband, entrepreneurship and gender, entrepreneurship and ecosystem. Collaborating with Colorado, they explore the role of local foods as a catalyst for  rural manufacturing and employment dynamics and the role of agtourism in the formation of clusters of enterprises. Their work was cited in an article in the New York Times   Colorado investigated the economic dynamics at the farm level. Their work focused on local food systems in Denver, trying to map out the interdisciplinary nature of the local food system that involves social capital, environment and so on. They are collaborating with group members from Oklahoma and Idaho to develop an impact assessment toolkit on local food systems. This work received an AAEA Honorable Mention for the team extension award and communities have produced written reports using the tool kit.   West Virginia worked on various related projects with microdata on death certificates linked to microeconomic and housing data investigating the opioid crisis in West Virginia. They are collaborating with Penn State to are also analyzing the changes in life expectancy across the U.S. They are collaborating with Iowa State conducting research on the motivation for female entrepreneurship. They also worked on examining economic development incentives and their impact on middle class jobs, as part of an Upjohn Institute sponsored project.   Maine, collaborating with Ohio State, received a NIFA funded grant to identify the economic trajectory of forest communities building off of the amenities work of McGranahan (USDA) and Deller (Wisconsin). They worked to develop a set of protocols for the economic contribution of forestry similar to the one referenced by project collaborators at Colorado State for local foods. In another NIFA funded project, they found that community context exposure of the youth (middle and high school students) can change the decision of whether to return to the community.   At Penn State their research covered a wide range of topics, including ag-tourism, wine and beer economics, economic clustering, relationship among entrepreneurship/ecosystem/innovation in rural communities, opioid and life expectancy (with West Virginia), economic mobility (with Oregon State).   Work at Oregon State focused on rural community resilience to federal policy (Northwest Forest Plan) and natural disaster. The research on NWFP shows that protection of old growth forest has attracted more high-skilled occupations in communities close to the protected area. This skill sorting mechanism is the driving force behind the observed increases in population, income and real asset value in nearby communities. Gentrification of the low-skilled occupation, poor households or the in-migration of the elder population are not the driving forces. The research on the impact of natural disaster focuses on community characteristics that contribute to the community economic resilience. We find that social capital enhances the community resilience. Human capital however is not as significant. In some cases, higher human capital can reduce the community resilience to disasters. This is probably because highly educated individuals have higher mobility. Dependence on inter-government transfer reduces resilience.   Ohio State focused on several lines of research related to the goals of NE1749. First, they examined the impact of the local economy on the opioid crisis. They found influence is generally small, but larger for white males and in rural areas. They also investigated how growth in self-employment and wage and salary jobs may differentially impact overall employment growth and the implications for policy makers.   Milestones We have not set any additional milestones for our project.   Indicators One indicator of the impact of work from this project is the frequency with which our studies are cited in the national news media. Members from our group had work related to this project cited by the New York Times, The Washington Post, and BBC World Service. Additionally the work on rural-urban interactions from our project in a partnership between Penn State, Ohio State, and West Virginia (“The Economic Status of Rural America in the President Trump Era and Beyond”) was cited in the Economic Report of the President and a Federal Reserve report.

Publications

Bauman, A., DePhelps, C., & McFadden, D. T. (2019). Assessing a local food system: The Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition assessment process. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 8(C), 1-12. Bauman, A., McFadden, D. T., & Jablonski, B. B. (2018). The financial performance implications of differential marketing strategies: Exploring farms that pursue local markets as a core competitive advantage. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 47(3), 477-504.   Bell, K. P., Crandall, M., Munroe, D. K., Colocousis, C., & Morzillo, A. (2018). Rural forest-based communities, economic shocks, and economic trajectories.   Betz, M. R., & Jones, L. E. (2018). Wage and employment growth in America’s drug epidemic: Is all growth created equal?. American journal of agricultural economics, 100(5), 1357-1374.   Cai, Z., Stephens, H. M., & Winters, J. V. (2019). Motherhood, Migration, and Self-Employment of College Graduates.   Castillo, M. J., Low, S. A., & Thilmany McFadden, D. D. (2018). Local Foods as a Catalyst of Rural Manufacturing: The Role of New and Small Food Innovators in Employment Dynamics.   Chen, Y., Park, H., Chen, Y., Corcoran, P., Cox, D., Reimer, J. J., & Weber, B. (2018). Integrated Engineering-Economic Model for the Assessment of Regional Economic Vulnerability to Tsunamis. Natural Hazards Review, 19(4), 04018018.   Cleary, R., Goetz, S. J., McFadden, D. T., & Ge, H. (2019). Excess Competition among Food Hubs. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 44(1835-2019-067), 141.   Costanza, K. K., Crandall, M., Rice, R., Livingston, W. H., Munck, I., & Lombard, K. (2019). Economic implications of a native tree disease, Caliciopsis canker, on northeastern USA's white pine (Pinus strobus) lumber industry. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, (ja).   Das, B, and Skidmore, M. 2018.  “Asymmetry in Municipal Government Responses in Growing vs. Shrinking Counties with Focus on Capital Spending”, Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, 48(4): 62-75, 2018.   Deller, S., Kures, M., & Conroy, T. (2019). Rural entrepreneurship and migration. Journal of Rural Studies, 66, 30-42.   Deller, S. C., Conroy, T., & Markeson, B. (2018). Social capital, religion and small business activity. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 155, 365-381.   Deller, S., & Whitacre, B. (2018). Broadband's Relationship to Rural Housing Values. Papers in Regional Science.   Goetz, S. J., Davlasheridze, M., Han, Y., & Fleming-Muñoz, D. A. (2018). Explaining the 2016 Vote for President Trump across US Counties. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy.   Goetz, S. J., Partridge, M. D., & Stephens, H. M. (2018). The economic status of rural America in the President Trump era and beyond. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 40(1), 97-118.   Han, Y., & Goetz, S. J. (2019). Predicting US county economic resilience from industry input-output accounts. Applied Economics, 51(19), 2019-2028.   Han, Y., & Goetz, S. J. (2019). Overlapping labour market areas based on link communities. Papers in Regional Science, 98(1), 539-553.   Hodge, T., Ballard, C., and Skidmore, M.  2018. “Changes in the Benefits of the Taxable Value Cap when Property Tax Values are Decreasing:  Evidence from Michigan”, Public Finance and Management, 18(3/4): 313-335, 2018.   Jablonski, B. B., Sullins, M., & Thilmany McFadden, D. (2019). Community-Supported Agriculture Marketing Performance: Results from Pilot Market Channel Assessments in Colorado. Sustainability, 11(10), 2950.   Kang, S., and Skidmore, M. 2018. “The Effects of Natural Disasters on Social Trust:  Evidence from South Korea”, Sustainability, 10, 2973.   Lim, J, and Skidmore, M.  2019. “Natural Disasters and their Impact on Cities.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Urban Studies. Ed. Richardson Dilworth. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.   Lim, J., and Skidmore, M. 2019. “Flood Fatalities in the United States:  The Roles of Economic Status, Housing, and the National Flood Insurance Program”, Southern Economics Journal, DOI:  10.1002/soej.12330.   Motoyama, Y., Goetz, S., & Han, Y. (2018). Where do entrepreneurs get information? An analysis of twitter-following patterns. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 30(3), 253-274.   O’Haraa, J. K., & Shidelerb, D. (2018). Do Farmers’ Markets Boost Main Street? Direct-to-Consumer Agricultural Production Impacts on the Food Retail Sector. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 49(2).   Partridge, M. D., & Tsvetkova, A. (2018). Local ability to" rewire" and socioeconomic performance: Evidence from US counties before and after the Great Recession.   Ringwood, L., Watson, P., & Lewin, P. (2019). A quantitative method for measuring regional economic resilience to the great recession. Growth and Change, 50(1), 381-402.   Rossi, J., Woods, T. A., & Davis, A. F. (2018). The Local Food System Vitality Index. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 8(3), 1-22.   Shideler, D., Bauman, A., Thilmany, D., & Jablonski, B. B. (2018). Putting Local Food Dollars to Work: The Economic Benefits of Local Food Dollars to Workers, Farms and Communities. Choices, 33(3), 1-8.   Shideler, D., & Watson, P. (2019). Making change through local food production: Calculating the economic impact of your local food project. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 8(C), 1-13.   Stephens, H. M., & Deskins, J. (2018). Economic Distress and Labor Market Participation. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100(5), 1336-1356.   Tsvetkova, A., Partridge, M., & Betz, M. (2019). Self-employment effects on regional growth: a bigger bang for a buck?. Small Business Economics, 52(1), 27-45.   Toya, H., and Skidmore, M.  2018. “Cell Phones and Natural Disaster Vulnerability?”, Sustainability, 10, 2970.   Van Sandt, A., Low, S. A., & Thilmany, D. (2018). Exploring Regional Patterns of Agritourism in the US: What's Driving Clusters of Enterprises?. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 47(3), 592-609.   Weinstein, A. L., Partridge, M. D., & Tsvetkova, A. (2018). Follow the money: Aggregate, sectoral and spatial effects of an energy boom on local earnings. Resources Policy, 55, 196-209.   Whitacre, B. E., Alam, M. R., & Lobo, B. J. (2018). Econometric error nullifies finding of the impact of broadband speed on county-level employment. Information Economics and Policy.

Impact Statements

Date of Annual Report: 05/30/2020

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 04/02/2020 - 04/02/2020
Period the Report Covers: 01/01/2019 - 12/31/2019

Participants

See attached report

Participants Attachment:

NE1749 Multistate Research Activity Report 2019.pdf

Brief Summary of Minutes

Minutes Attachment:

NE1749 Multistate Research Activity Report 2019.pdf

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

Date of Annual Report: 07/02/2021

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 05/04/2021 - 05/04/2021
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2019 - 09/30/2020