The rural exodus accelerates (Wichita, Salina: assessor, income, taxes)
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Better have your gas tank full to go chasing groceries (or heading for the country, for that matter) because most gas stations go dry in a couple days or less.
Believing that the 12/21/1012 Doomsday stuff is fiction, I really hate to give any mention of the least bit of time. Believe in the Doomsday or not a full pantry or cellar of the foods you eat regularly can never be a bad practice.
Some of it is probably people not having as many kids. The majority of the houses for sale in my area belong to elderly people who either passed away or went into a nursing home. When you have a large elderly population and a younger generation who only have one or two kids (or none) you can expect a population decline.
A brood of kids or only a few, all will leave if they can't make a living. In time even the Elderly are going to have to move as well. I really believe we should look to the Australian outback for what may be in store for the High Plains. Only the working parents and younger kids at home. Older kids living in the cities for their education, grand parents retiring to the city.
But see, that's what this topic is about. We don't have the population to support a lot of things. Yet, our country still wants to be fed. Which means, we still need those of us out here in the hinter lands to do so. But, how can we stay out here if we only have access to poor schools, health care, etc??
It's a vicious circle.
Thing is the work being done today in the hinterlands will be done by SOMEONE. Most of use here today because our ancestors WHERE that someone, we can be displaced as easily as indigenous inhabitants where displaced.
Not that I going to say it's going to be easy or that success is guaranteed, but those who desire to stay better start making up for lost time and start investing in their communities, both the community at hand and the community at large. Other stating the obvious fact employment oppurtunities are needed to halt the exodus or perhaps reverse to a degree, I wouldn't have much else to say. Look to your local economic directors for help with details. You have hired Economic directors, and held a torch to their feet haven't you?
of course.
But economic directors aren't miracle workers. They can't part the Red Sea, either.
BTW, it's been my discovery that most towns that are hanging on are doing so due to community teamwork. Not economic directors...
of course.
But economic directors aren't miracle workers. They can't part the Red Sea, either.
BTW, it's been my discovery that most towns that are hanging on are doing so due to community teamwork. Not economic directors...
Nope economic directors aren't miracle workers, but, where they are employed, they they are a part of that community teamwork. I have to admit I'm at loss as to what it is that is hoped that this thread will or can accomplish. Very unlikely that Agriculture will ever drive the economy in rural ares to the degree it did in the early 20th century. Anyway I'll stay tuned in.
IMO Regional Economic Development would go a long way at helping small and rural towns retain population, But economic development directors tend to be far too territorial, They want to spend money on their respective building facades instead of collaborating on a five county transportation system to link up their Region, I know of a community college in a rural Kansas throwing good money after bad in a program to train kids in music recording and music business, not withstanding the fact that the computer has put a recording studio on everybody's desk top, but there is no recording or music industry in rural Kansas.Why not put in regional technical industrial parks and use all the community colleges in out lying counties for training in high tech jobs
Nope economic directors aren't miracle workers, but, where they are employed, they they are a part of that community teamwork. I have to admit I'm at loss as to what it is that is hoped that this thread will or can accomplish. Very unlikely that Agriculture will ever drive the economy in rural ares to the degree it did in the early 20th century. Anyway I'll stay tuned in.
If there are no people other than farmers there, it's the only thing that can drive the economy in rural areas.
If there are no people other than farmers there, it's the only thing that can drive the economy in rural areas.
That's the problem in a nutshell isn't? Only agriculture, and Agriculture hadn't been able to support it's own generation for quite some time, much less drive a local economy. Billions in agricultural assistance in one form or the other had been sent to rural Kansas, but the celebrated "trickle down" to the local economy hasn't occurred or even help young families from a an agricultural back ground get a toe hold in their own operation.
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Originally Posted by pvlman
That's the problem in a nutshell isn't? Only agriculture, and Agriculture hadn't been able to support it's own generation for quite some time, much less drive a local economy. Billions in agricultural assistance in one form or the other had been sent to rural Kansas, but the celebrated "trickle down" to the local economy hasn't occurred or even help young families from a an agricultural back ground get a toe hold in their own operation.
Not quite. The biggest agriculture subsidies are given to the farmers that have enormous land holdings that don't need it. Meanwhile, the average farmer or struggling farmer receives very little in the way of subsidies in terms of percentage that is doled out. The way the system is configured continues to benefit the big player while squeezing many others out over time. This just leads to the perpetual cycle of more consolidation of family farms. The average farm or ranch size in western KS is now several thousand acres.
Not quite. The biggest agriculture subsidies are given to the farmers that have enormous land holdings that don't need it. Meanwhile, the average farmer or struggling farmer receives very little in the way of subsidies in terms of percentage that is doled out. The way the system is configured continues to benefit the big player while squeezing many others out over time. This just leads to the perpetual cycle of more consolidation of family farms. The average farm or ranch size in western KS is now several thousand acres.
Very true. For some corporate farms, subsidies are probably their biggest source of income. There is a map somewhere that shows a huge number of subsidies going to addresses in New York City.
Even in eastern Kansas, the average size of a farm or ranch is probably in the thousands of acres. By that, I don't mean as one contiguous piece of property but the total land holdings when put together. There are almost no family farmers left. I would guess in my county that twenty or so families farm 80 percent of the tillable acres. There are no grain elevators left; all these big operators have tractor trailers and haul their grain directly to commercial elevators, cutting out what used to be the middle man.
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