Sustainability and Agriculture

Rural Child Poverty in the United States, 2007

Poverty rates in rural America are higher than in urban areas of the country. Of the 386 counties that are persistently poor (have been poor for decades), rural counties outnumber urban counties by almost 9 to 1.¹ Child poverty rates are higher in rural areas than urban, and rural children are more likely than their urban counterparts to live in extreme poverty² (with family income of half the poverty level or less), and to receive free or reduced-price school lunch.³

Persistent poverty wrecks communities. Outmigration depletes them of human capital; talented and ambitious people, particularly young people, leave because it is too hard to make a living and because basic services like hospitals, schools, banks, and public transportation are disappearing or barely hanging on. Overall, the rural population plummeted from 60 percent of the U.S. population in 1900 to 20 percent in 2000.⁴ At the same time, the U.S. agriculture sector was transformed: less than 2 percent of the workforce is now employed in agriculture, down from 41 percent in 1900.⁵

Small-scale, sustainable farming has been on the rise in recent years, and this trend is quite likely to continue as Americans pay increasing attention to the effects of their food choices on their health and the environment. Farming remains a compelling vision of rural entrepreneurship to many Americans, whether they are rural or not. More entrepreneurs might try their hand at it if they thought it was possible to operate a successful business.

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• On the Farm
• A New Era Could Be On the Way

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