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Experts agree: an effective development strategy builds on local strengths,
adjusts for local weaknesses, recognizes market realities, and attempts
to achieve development that can be sustained for the foreseeable
future. In addition, such a development strategy attempts to meet local
residents' objectives,
since local support is necessary for implementing most development
strategies.
Local strengths and weaknesses vary from place to place.
A community's strengths may include an education
system that produces a highly skilled labor force or natural
amenities that attract tourists and future residents. Local
weaknesses may include inadequate infrastructure, lack
of a highly skilled workforce, or a housing shortage.
Market realities also vary from place to place. For example,
some communities may find it economically feasible to focus
on developing value-added food processors, particularly
if raw food inputs are plentiful, demand for the industry's
output is significant and rising, and transportation links
and other business location factors match the industry's
needs. Communities lacking one or more of these economic
requirements may not find this approach economically feasible.
Rural development strategies have both costs and benefits.
For example, communities have historically tried to attract
or retain industry through the use of tax incentives and
other economic concessions. While in some cases such an
approach may be cost effective, in others the costs may
outweigh the benefits. Strategic planning can help communities
find the most cost-effective rural development strategies.
Strategies Are Evolving
Before the 1900s, most rural communities in the United
States were highly dependent on agriculture, leading
to local development strategies that focused on providing
goods and services needed by the farm-based population.
Today, rural America is no longer dominated by agriculture.
Consequently, rural development strategies, outside of
those in places that remain heavily farm dependent, tend
to focus on the nonfarm economy and are tailored to individual
communities' socioeconomic conditions and trends
(see Policy
Options for a Changing Rural America).
In recent years, rural population growth has slowed,
with a significant number of places experiencing population
decline (particularly in the Great Plains). Rural population
decline often stems from a lack of amenities (see Farm
Programs, Natural Amenities, and Rural Development).
Thus, some affected communities are devising strategies
that rely on technology, such as cable TV and broadband
Internet service, to improve amenities and the local quality
of life. Communities are taking similar approaches to improve
public services, offering such conveniences as distance
learning and telemedicine.
In contrast, many rural (nonmetropolitan) areas, particularly
those with abundant natural amenities, are experiencing
rapid population growth related to recreation and tourism.
Development strategies in these places often try to mitigate
growth-related problems and promote or manage this growth
to meet community needs (see the chapter Amenity-Based
Development).
Changes in demographics are also leading rural communities
to change development strategies. For example, Hispanics
and older persons are increasing as a share of the population
in many rural areas. This population influx has helped
many rural areas reverse population decline and make
progress on other development goals. However, these population
groups often require adjustments in community services,
such as housing, education, and health (see Rural
Hispanics At A Glance).
Policies are also changing in places particularly affected
by the employment effects of globalization. In response
to competition from overseas, farming areas are increasingly
looking to supplement commodity sales with nontraditional
value-added activities, such as agritourism and ethanol
and wind energy production. Local development policies
in agricultural areas can be designed to aid such businesses.
Rural development strategies in the Southeastern region
are focusing on finding ways to either help existing textile
and apparel firms modernize or to find alternative employment
for displaced workers (see background discussion on the U.S.
Textile and Apparel Industries and Rural America).
These strategies often emphasize improvements
in education, training, and technical assistance. Job creation
strategies, particularly those that assist local entrepreneurs
and small business development, can also play a role. These
approaches may include improvements in telecommunications
infrastructure, such as broadband, since businesses today
often must use the Internet to help them to modernize and
gain access to global markets.
Forward-Looking, Comprehensive Approaches Offer More
Promise
In the past, many rural communities tended to wait for
firms to announce a shutdown before initiating a development
strategy. Communities that maintained ongoing development
efforts often adopted narrowly focused approaches, such
as industrial recruiting. More forward-looking and comprehensive
strategies recognize that rural economic growth is affected
by many factors, including education, access to highways
and airports, attractiveness of the community to retirees,
industrial mix, and demographic characteristics (see
Rural Economic Development:
What Makes Rural Communities Grow?).
While some rural communities may succeed with a strategy
that focuses on only one or two objectives, communities
that employ comprehensive approaches comprising multiple
complementary
strategies reduce the risks associated with more narrowly
focused strategies.
Local-Based Policies Benefit From Regional Planning
and Collaboration
In rural areas, regional approaches enable small communities
with limited staff or expertise to capitalize on the
region's
more ample pool of resources available for strategic planning
and implementation. Larger communities also benefit from
regional approaches; collaboration across an entire region
can capitalize fully on a region's many assets, such
as universities, community colleges, airports, amenity
attractions, telecommunications, and water resources. Regional
approaches also often emphasize the creation and nurturing
of regional networks of firms, organizations, and communities,
and the links among them.
Local strategies that do not take into account surrounding
communities may be subjected to negative externalities
(problems originating from surrounding areas), such as
pollution spillovers, crime, and traffic congestion. Working
with surrounding communities can help to limit such problems,
which if left unmitigated could threaten the success of
development strategies (see Development
at the Urban Fringe and Beyond: Impacts on Agriculture
and Rural Land).
Regional planning and collaboration may be informal,
through mutual agreements among locally elected officials,
or formal, through regional (multicounty) organizations,
which generally have economic development staff and ready
access to Federal funding sources. Many existing regional
organizations are associated with Federal development programs,
such as the Economic Development Administration's programs,
the Appalachian Regional Commission (and other multi-State
regional development programs), and USDA's Resource Conservation
and Development program. In addition, local and regional
planning efforts can benefit from the guidance, technical
assistance, and leadership development efforts of various
Federal entities, such as USDA's Extension Service and
its Regional Rural Development Centers.
See related
links and recommended readings covering issues on designing effective rural development strategies.
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