Overview

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Small businesses are a vital part of the U.S. economy, creating 80 percent of its jobs and accounting for nearly 40 percent of its private sales. Whether they are farmers exploring new agro-tourism opportunities, start-up companies in high technology, or micro-business entrepreneurs offering services from their homes, small and home-based businesses fuel economic growth in communities, including rural ones, where more traditional job opportunities are declining. Many of those communities are adjusting to changing market, environmental, and policy forces. CSREES' role is to supply science-based information and to help entrepreneurs understand these changes and take full advantage of emerging opportunities. Working with its many partners, CSREES promotes high-quality research to stimulate innovation in the private sector. It also helps build the skills and capacity of outreach professionals whose job it is to help entrepreneurs initiate and expand their businesses.

In Focus

• Women-owned and operated farms and ranches are an important subset of small and home-based businesses in the U.S.
• Rural entrepreneurs invigorate local economies through tourism.
• Small and home-based businesses stimulate rural economies.

Partnerships

• Supported by core funding from CSREES, Regional Rural Development centers link land-grant universities to rural communities with publications and training.
• CSREES is one of several USDA agencies participating in Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Councils, helping local people develop their communities.

Events

• Competitive Grants Grantsmanship Workshops, Washington, DC/Salt Lake City, UT, September/October, 2008.
• Galaxy III Conference: "Celebrating the Extension System: Strengths, Diversity, and Unique Qualities," Indianapolis, IN, September 15-19, 2008.

Selected Results and Impacts

• CSREES funds are helping Oregon researchers understand why not all farmers' markets succeed.
• Oregon researchers draw on CSREES funds to develop tools for organic milk producers to help meet increasing demand.
• Supported by a grant from CSREES, a business skills training workshop provided outreach professionals with tools to help entrepreneurs build their businesses.


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Resources

• Small Business Administration. Advice, information, and business loan support for small and micro-businesses.
• Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource, Internal Revenue Service. Information on tax issues facing small and home-based businesses.
• Alternative Enterprises and Agritourism, Natural Resources and Conservation Service, USDA. Technical resources, publications, and directories.


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Contacts

Antonio McLaren

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