Category: Blog

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations About 18 months ago I was sitting in front of a state senate committee on child care, talking to them about what I had found while researching the child care shortage for the previous two years. When I was done and others were invited to come up ...

By Julie Tesch, President & CEO Have you read a newspaper lately? Was it your local newspaper? Was it in print or online? I’m fortunate to have a daily, regional newspaper delivered to my door every day. I also have two neighboring community newspapers delivered weekly. Why do I spend this money? It is my ...

By Julie Tesch, President & CEO March 6, 2019 I recently moved back to rural Minnesota after living in densely populated cities in the Midwest and East Coast for the past 25 years. This was a conscious choice that I made because of my age and stage in life. After living in St. Paul, Indianapolis ...

Feb. 27, 2019 Next week we’ll be releasing a new publication, “Letters to the New Governor,” a collection of essays written by people from around the state on various topics of importance to Greater Minnesota. One of those articles is on the current child care shortage, and the following is an excerpt. You’ll be able ...

One economic issue getting a lot of attention is particularly associated with rural areas: agriculture. Global trade, relationships with countries such as China and Mexico, and agricultural commodity prices have a major impact on ag and farming due to the large quantity of commodity crops we export around the world. Prices for corn and soybeans ...

February 13, 2019 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development provides a brief report on various economic and demographic conditions in rural Minnesota. The State of Rural Minnesota 2019  provides data points both current and historical, illustrating how rural conditions have changed and where they are at now. ...

Welcome to the Center for Rural Policy & Development’s new blog! Our goal with our newest tool of communication is to provide more insight into issues facing Greater Minnesota. Blog posts in the future will focus on a variety of topics, ranging from the importance of newspapers in rural communities to the role of women ...

  The Center for Rural Policy & Development’s new president Julie Tesch visits with us to go over the Center’s latest research, including on the workforce shortage.

In Clinton, MN, The Inadvertent Café is marking its successes one omelette—and one batch of sauerkraut—at a time. By Brent Olson There are four problems with food in a small town. First, it’s hard to keep a grocery store open, because they can’t compete on price or variety with larger stores. Second, people who are older ...