James A Christenson – författare

This volume paints a critical view of the state of rural data systems in America with a collection of contributions leading scholars in the social sciences arena. It places an important wake-up call social scientists engaged in rural research, alerting them to the problems of existing data systems.

Crisis in rural America is by now an all too familiar complaint, yet the problems presented by changing demographics, economic decline, and increasing poverty persist. They have not vanished with a new administration. However, with a new farm bill in the offing, now is the time for a fresh initiative to assess the difficulties facing nonurban America and to offer positive solutions. Rural Policies for the 1990s, written by some of the foremost experts on rural America, focuses on policy-relevant research. Within a carefully crafted framework, the contributors present stimulating discussions on resolving problems and improving the situation in rural areas. Looking at the crucial issues of employment, demographics, environment, technology, and the global impacts of national and international policies, they offer a broad analysis that is neither regionally based nor biased. The result is not an advocacy book, but one that effectively enhances our understanding of the problems facing rural America and presents concrete proposals for revitalizing it.

The Cooperative Extension Service, a publicly supported educational agency, is continually struggling to define its proper function and purpose in our changing society. Should its mission be broadly based or narrowly focused? Should staff members be generalists or specialists? Should its clients be primarily rural or urban, farm or nonfarm? What role should Extension play in the information networks of the twenty-first century? Professors Warner and Christenson take a broad look at these and other questions concerning where the Extension Service has been, how well it is doing, and where it ought to go. Theirs is, first, the only comprehensive national survey that looks at the total Extension organization rather than at just one program area. Second, it expresses the viewpoint of Extension clients and the public, rather than that of the organization's staff; and third, it combines outside survey information with data recorded in the Extension Management Information System (EMIS) and other routine agency reports. The authors evaluate, among other things, the extent of public awareness of the agency and its four major program areas (agriculture, home economics, 4-H, and community development), determine the users and nonusers of the programs and the accessibility of programs to the general population, identify the level of satisfaction with existing programs, and outline priorities and policy issues for the future.

This volume paints a critical view of the state of rural data systems in America with a collection of contributions leading scholars in the social sciences arena. It places an important wake-up call social scientists engaged in rural research, alerting them to the problems of existing data systems.

Crisis in rural America is by now an all too familiar complaint, yet the problems presented by changing demographics, economic decline, and increasing poverty persist. They have not vanished with a new administration. However, with a new farm bill in the offing, now is the time for a fresh initiative to assess the difficulties facing nonurban America and to offer positive solutions. Rural Policies for the 1990s, written by some of the foremost experts on rural America, focuses on policy-relevant research. Within a carefully crafted framework, the contributors present stimulating discussions on resolving problems and improving the situation in rural areas. Looking at the crucial issues of employment, demographics, environment, technology, and the global impacts of national and international policies, they offer a broad analysis that is neither regionally based nor biased. The result is not an advocacy book, but one that effectively enhances our understanding of the problems facing rural America and presents concrete proposals for revitalizing it.