Tag: rural minnesota

Someone moving a chess piece on a chess board.

Upon the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic

  Marnie Werner, VP, Research Two years ago last week, I sat glued to my TV watching the governor and his cabinet as they announced our first covid lockdown. I sat there wondering how this was going to play out, who would get sick, who wouldn’t make it through to the other end. Sitting in ...

Research explainer video – Amazon effect and rural tax revenues

Online sales have permeated everyday life and their impacts stretch beyond convenience of shopping. Local leaders see the evidence every day in their communities: more and more delivery trucks going down their roads, stopping at their neighbors’ or their own houses, dropping off products that were once maybe purchased in their own or a nearby ...

Season 2 Ep 9: Discussing the data trends from the pandemic

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 ...
child with paint on hands

It’s time.

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 ...

Season 2 Ep 6: The rising value of ag lands and property taxes

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 ...

Webinar: Shifting energy infrastructure and rural Minnesota

  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, ...
Farm field with clouds

Can high farmland values be too much of a good thing?

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 ...

State of Rural – 2021 Update

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 ...