Agriculture•Demography•Economy & Economic Development•Research & Publications • 01/31/2019

The State of Rural 2019

RuralMN Radio

The Center’s new blog and the future of RuralMN Radio

This week we talk about the Center’s newest undertaking: a new blog that will discuss our latest research and other rural issues. We’ll be posting new pieces weekly, at least for now during the legislative session, and at least bi-weekly after that. We also talk about the Center’s new State of Rural report for 2019, active now on our web site, that looks into the most pertinent economic and demographic issues in rural areas right now. And we announce that after 15+ years, we are bringing RuralMN Radio to a close in a few weeks, but we will be …

The political balancing act, pt 2

Reed Anfinson, editor and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson and the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake, continues his conversation this week about the issues our new governor from Greater Minnesota will be working with. Transportation is, of course, big, and so is workforce housing. But the real problem, says Reed, is population. Who’s going to replace the baby boomer employees as they retire at rural Minnesota’s manufacturers and other businesses?

The political balancing act, pt 1

Reed Anfinson, owner of the Swift County Monitor and Grant County Herald newspapers and a CRPD board member, joins us this week to talk about the fact that the new governor of Minnesota is from Greater Minnesota, something that hasn’t happened in 30 years. Gov. Walz’s job now, says Reed, will be to balance the interests of both Greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities as he moves forward in his first term.

Rural broadband and cable providers

Anna Boroff is the executive director of the Minnesota Cable Communications Association and a CRPD board member. This week she joins Jim to talk about broadband. MCCA represents cable providers across Minnesota who represent about one million customers throughout the state. Demand for services and for increased speeds is continuing to grow. Anna talks about the areas of the state where the private business model doesn’t work and about ways to fill in those gaps.

Kevin Paap talks Farm Bill, pt 2

Click to listen: RuralMN Radio, 1/11/19 We’re with Kevin Paap, president of Minnesota Farm Bureau, again this week to continue our conversation on the Farm Bill and some of the big issues with agriculture this legislative session.