The Main Street Economist - Commentaries on the Rural Economy

If you are not aware of The Main Street Economist, a publication from the Center for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, I urge you to become acquainted.  The Center has for the past four years focused much of its work on one major challenge - a challenge that is of interest to all of us - How can rural regions throughout the Nation build new economic engines? This effort to claim new economic frontiers is increasingly well understood by public and private sector leaders, yet what is less well understood is the corresponding need to reinvent how regions reach economic decisions.

Topics recently discussed in The Main Street Economist include: Building New Competitive Advantages for the 21^st Century; Ten Ways to Reinvent Rural Regions; Growing and Training Rural Entrepreneurs; Seizing High Skill Services in Rural America; and, An Update on Rural Broadband.

If you are interested, information on the Center and its monthly publication, The Main Street Economist, (you can subscribe electronically) can be found at: www.kc.frb.org and click on the Center for the Study of Rural America.
     
NASULGC

As you are aware, the Food and Society effort underway at NASULGC, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation was initiated in 2000 in an effort to coordinate growth in federal funding for agricultural research, in the broadest of terms. Three initial foci were agreed upon, Food and Globalization, Food and the Environment, and Food and Health.

Over the past 4 years those involved with the initiative have made some general observations, now that the initiative is winding down, that you might find of interest.

• For the first time in several decades, a strong and growing cadre of NASULGC Presidents and Chancellors are advocates for supporting food related programs and for growing the portfolio of Federal funds available to support research and outreach.
  
• Traditionally, the agricultural components at most Land Grant institutions were viewed at the national level as whiners that felt that they were owed Federal support in the form of formula funds, and relied to a lesser degree on the peer reviewed competitive process.
  
• Developing a matrix of federally funded research and education programs revealed there were a significant number of food related programs supported outside of these agencies typically recognized as partners.
  
• The Food and Society project has evolved to become more focused on food and health issues. The report stemming from the forum sponsored by the National Academies of Science should elevate the area of food ad health as a national priority.
  
• The project has increased the range of traditional partners, added new partners, and attracted the attention of the White House staff.
  
• The project has revealed opportunities for Federal agencies to work together and at higher levels than previous existed.
  
• In support of the "Engaged University Report' that recommended universities

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