Category: Blog

by Julie Tesch, President At the heart of the Center for Rural Policy & Development are our staff and board of directors.  While we the staff do the research, our board members are also vital to the success of this organization. CRPD’s board is made up of thirteen members appointed by the Governor, one each ...

By Julie Tesch, President The weather is hot and steamy in Minnesota, so that must mean it’s county fair time. Growing up, the county fair was my favorite place on earth. It was the place where I got to see my friends, who I hadn’t seen since school let out, ride some rides at the ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations The beating heart of what we do here at the Center for Rural Policy and Development is our research—research pure and simple on policy issues that matter to rural Minnesota. It’s the beginning of the fiscal year for us, which means a new start to not just ...

The main issue with categories such as “metro” and “non-metro” is that the locations they represent change depending on population and migration patterns. Knowing how to compare these categories over time is vitally important since it can paint very different stories about non-metro areas if done incorrectly.

By Julie Tesch I recently read an article about Willmar in, of all places, the New York Times, and I was surprised and amazed (I’m a bit sad to say) at its positive view of rural Minnesota. I’m a bit sad at my level of surprise not because it was an article on Willmar, but ...

  By: Kelly Asche, Research Associate The most recent report in our Finding Work or Finding Workers series shed light on what it takes to train and help keep employed that percentage of the population that seems to have the hardest time getting and holding jobs: people with high barriers to employment. With the extremely ...

By Syd Briggs, General Manager, Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric The famous Roman orator and statesman Cicero once said, “Not for ourselves alone are we born.” This leads us into two of the seven principles of the cooperative structure: cooperation among cooperatives and community involvement. There are many efforts, I’m glad to say, by various organizations designed ...

By Syd Briggs, General Manager, Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric So let’s start with a brief history lesson on cooperatives. Cooperatives are organizations owned by the customers, employees, or other groups and are organized under a particular set of federal statutes that govern them. Cooperatives have been around since 1498. The earliest one I know of was ...

By Doris Mold On April 11, 2019, the first results from the 2017 Census of Agriculture will be released. I am excited about what the new Census is going to tell us. Why would someone get excited about a bunch of statistics? Because this year there is a very good chance that we are going ...