Tag: rural minnesota

Now that we are beginning to exit the pandemic (hopefully), the data from the previous year and a half are being released. In this episode, Marnie Werner and Kelly Asche discuss what they’ve been seeing in the data. And although the illness and deaths associated with COVID-19 hit hard in our rural areas, some of ...

With the pandemic on the wane and people ramping up their transitions back to full-time work, childcare will be right back where it was before the pandemic—under-resourced and hard to find, especially in rural areas. And it has a real impact on our economy.     By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Here ...

On this episode, Marnie Werner discusses her newest research report coming out in February on the rising values of agriculture lands and the rising property taxes associated with these values. We discuss the disconnect between the value of ag land and farm profitability, the increasing role investors and non-farmers are having on the issue, and ...

  In 2007, Minnesota set a goal of reducing the state’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Since then, electric utilities have been making significant progress, but not enough to meet the state’s interim carbon-reduction goals.   What does this shifting energy infrastructure mean for rural Minnesota? On Thursday, January 20, research associate, Whitney Oachs, ...

by Marnie Werner, VP Research & Operations Between 2000 and 2015, the price of farmland went on a tear. Prices climbed to levels unseen before, making people nervous. Now, after a respite between 2015 and 2020 where prices stayed fairly level, the farmland market is heating up again. These record prices have implications not just ...

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

Minnesota has had some of the highest vaccination rates in the United States, but has still struggled among the nation’s highest COVID case rates in recent weeks. This webinar, hosted by CRPD and the COVID Collaborative, is a  conversation about how the pandemic has unfolded in rural Minnesota, what can be done to keep more ...

Every year the Center publishes the “State of Rural” report—a brief overview of demographic and economic trends from a rural perspective. This year’s report will be published in December 2021. Over the next few months, we will be writing here on our blog about some of the trends we’re looking at, taking a deeper dive into the data ...

By Kelly Asche, Research Associate Look around your community or even your nearby economic center where you do your shopping, and you may conclude that the retail sector is tanking. And yes, brick-and-mortar retail firms have been declining. But that doesn’t necessarily mean shoppers are spending less money at our physical retailers. In fact, we are spending more. And that has meant that the surviving retailers are performing rather well.  In our recent research report, “The ...