News

Time to work together: our roles in keeping and attracting residents

    March 2025 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher & Marnie Werner, Vice President of Research & Operations Click here for a printable version of the report. It seems that Minnesota’s regions continue to pit themselves against each other when discussing population growth—specifically, population migration and workforce development—but discussions usually lead to confusing and contradictory ...

Does it have to be so hard?

By Marnie Werner, VP, Research & Operations We’ve been spending some time with mental health and mental health care the last few years here at the Center, and one thing we’ve found, which should be surprising to no one who follows our work or just lives in this state, is that we have a shortage ...

Season 5, Episode 6: State of Rural 2025

On this episode, Marnie Werner, Vice President of Research and Operations, interviews CRPD Senior Research, Kelly Asche, to discuss highlights from this year’s State of Rural report. The State of Rural is an annual report tracking various economic and demographic trends in rural Minnesota.

State of Rural 2025 – Presenting the highlights

Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development provides an update on various economic and demographic data pertaining to rural Minnesota. As policy discussions concerning the various regions of the state unfold, it is important to understand the past, present, and potential futures of rural regions. This report provides historical data points illustrating how ...

The State of Rural highlight – Earnings continue to grow

January 2025 By: Kelly Asche, Senior Research Every year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development publishes the “State of Rural,” a report that tracks various economic and demographic trends in rural Minnesota. The following is a highlight from that report, which will be published the week of January 13th, 2025. It’s common knowledge that ...

With succession planning, earlier is better

By Sarah Harstad, Ph.D., Researcher Why should business owners start planning so early? The Center for Rural Policy and Development’s recent report on business ownership succession showed that 81% of business owners are not prepared for succession or exit when the opportunity comes up or when they decide to go through with it. On the ...

Season 5, Episode 5: Business Succession with Sarah Harstad

In December, researcher Sarah Harstad Ph.D, released a report titled “Rural Minnesota Business Succession and Sale: Barriers and Opportunities“. On this episode, Director Research, Marnie Werner, dives deep into the research with Sarah discussing her findings.