Rural

For years, incumbents, state legislative allies, and public broadband detractors relied on CTIC and others analysis reports to influence anti-municipal laws, lawsuits, and adverse telecom policies. Communities intend to change the narrative by conveying how they, rather than incumbents, define broadband success. Generating revenue sufficient to cover on-going operating costs and retiring debt incurred to build the original network is considered financial success. Sebewaing Light and Water (SLW) built a gigabit network in 2014. [node:read-more:link]

Governor Steve Bullock  announced $1,124,030 in economic development grants to assist Main Street businesses across Montana with creating 116 jobs, providing workforce training and developing plans for growth and expansion. “As Montana’s strong economy continues to grow, Main Street businesses in communities across the state are adding jobs and seeking a skilled workforce to fill them,” Governor Bullock said. [node:read-more:link]

The global pet care market cracked the US$100 billion sales ceiling in 2016, thanks to a healthy 4.7 percent increase over the year before. Euromonitor International projects that growth to continue, with sales for all pet products and services globally reaching US$117 billion by 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 2.4 percent at constant prices. Pet food will maintain its significant contributions; it accounted for US$75.25 billion of the 2016 sales (at 4.8 percent growth), or nearly 73 percent of all pet care. [node:read-more:link]

Scarcity of capital for small businesses has accelerated the crisis described in “Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City’” by stunting the growth of young businesses. Businesses in rural towns are starving for equal access to capital that has benefited urban areas for decades. Scarcity of capital for small businesses has accelerated the crisis described in “Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City’”  by stunting the growth of young businesses. [node:read-more:link]

America has a chicken snuggling problem. That's right, snuggling. Not smuggling. Chicken smuggling is an entirely different — albeit equally despicable — problem that I'll address in a future column.The pressing poultry issue for today is that too many Americans are pressing poultry to their faces, giving pet chickens or adorable, fuzzy chicks a hug or a kiss.The U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Casey Jelinski was sure it would be easy to run a graphic design company from her new home when she moved with her family to Aitkin County from the Twin Cities area a decade ago. But internet speeds were shockingly slow. Sometimes it took hours to upload files to clients in China and Europe. She’d occasionally drive more than 60 miles to Duluth and check in at a hotel to work.“It never dawned on me that it would be such a detriment to my business,” Jelinski said of inadequate broadband access. [node:read-more:link]

Many states have victim's advocates or child advocates, people in the judicial system who represent those affected by crime or abuse. Now, one state has created legal advocates for abused animals, an experiment being watched across the nation for signs of success. There are eight approved volunteer advocates across Connecticut - seven lawyers and a UConn law professor, working with her students. It's up to a judge to decide whether to appoint one, but they can be requested by prosecutors or defense attorneys. [node:read-more:link]

We write to express our opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget for Rural Development. This budget if enacted, along with the ill-advised recommendation to eliminate the position of Under Secretary for Rural Development, will substantially diminished resources dedicated to improving rural communities and the lives of rural people.  We believe a better choice for rural America is to continue USDA Rural Development programs at no less than the FY 2017 levels included in Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (115-31). [node:read-more:link]

Fierce global competition, agricultural automation and plant closures have left many rural towns struggling for survival. In areas stripped of the farm and union jobs that paid middle-class wages and tempted the next generation to stay put and raise a family, young people are more likely to move on to college or urban centers like Des Moines. Left behind are an aging population, abandoned storefronts and shrinking economic prospects. Yet Storm Lake, hustled along by the relentless drive of manufacturers to cut labor costs and by the town’s grit to survive, is still growing. [node:read-more:link]

Webinar: Recent Developments in Agriculture & Food Law: Impacts on States

Wednesday, June 14 at 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm CT) 

State Agriculture and Rural Leaders is collaborating with the National Agriculture Law Center in a pilot webinar on recent developments in agriculture and food law. Agriculture and food law at the local, state and national level is changing constantly and impacting our farmers, food producers and rural residents. [node:read-more:link]