Rural Development Policy: Rationale and Reality

America's rural communities have fared poorly in economic terms compared to metropolitan areas. After a spurt of growth in the 1970s that seemed to be closing the gap, rural areas are again losing ground. Rural communities have argued for special help from the national government. Such help can be justified to facilitate balanced economic growth, create “more equal” standards of living, and benefit small farmers, a group for whom the nation has a special regard. The counter-arguments are that special help to rural areas postpones adjustments to an increasingly urban world and that federal rural programs subsidize a favored life-style. In fact, several federal development programs serve rural areas. President Carter announced a rural policy in 1979. In 1980 the Congress enacted legislation requiring future administrations to address rural concerns systematically. The Reagan administration has sent Congress the rural development strategy required by the law, and two annual updates. However, if having a policy means having a systematic approach to reaching defined objectives, the U.S. has had no rural policy. The objectives of federal rural efforts have never been settled on, and approaches to rural problems continue to be unsystematic.