Changing Trends in rural America (farm, converted, prices, community)

[tin2019]

Hello -

I am a graduate student and I am trying to research on changing trends in rural America. I would like to identify a changing trend in a rural community that is having a negative impact on residents and then research and write a paper to suggest solutions to the problem.

Are you aware of any problems in the community where you live? It has to be a small town, a few hundred or a few thousand people.

I will appreciate any suggestions. Those who share suggestions will receive a copy of the final paper to read when it is written. Thanks for your kindness in doing so.

[TurtleCreek80]

Maybe you should post in a forum that covers a rural area??? The Dallas Fort Worth area has 8 million residents, none of whom live in a rural community.

[Treasurevalley92]

Originally Posted by tin2019

Hello -

I am a graduate student and I am trying to research on changing trends in rural America. I would like to identify a changing trend in a rural community that is having a negative impact on residents and then research and write a paper to suggest solutions to the problem.

Are you aware of any problems in the community where you live? It has to be a small town, a few hundred or a few thousand people.

I will appreciate any suggestions. Those who share suggestions will receive a copy of the final paper to read when it is written. Thanks for your kindness in doing so.

This is the wrong forum for this. DFW is the 4th largest metropolitan area in the country. Nothing rural about it.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Maybe you should post in a forum that covers a rural area??? The Dallas Fort Worth area has 8 million residents, none of whom live in a rural community.

Not entirely true. The definition of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex includes some of the outlying counties, such as Wise, Parker, Kaufman, etc. There are rural areas within those counties.

With that said, the Dallas forum itself is the wrong placement, as the Dallas forum is mostly Dallas and Collin County residents. There's not a lot rural anymore about Collin County, although Celina and Prosper are rural-ish. I am completely opposed to the growth in Celina and Prosper, just as in 2000 I would have been opposed to the growth in Frisco.

[turf3]

Originally Posted by RJ312

Not entirely true. The definition of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex includes some of the outlying counties, such as Wise, Parker, Kaufman, etc. There are rural areas within those counties.

With that said, the Dallas forum itself is the wrong placement, as the Dallas forum is mostly Dallas and Collin County residents. There's not a lot rural anymore about Collin County, although Celina and Prosper are rural-ish. I am completely opposed to the growth in Celina and Prosper, just as in 2000 I would have been opposed to the growth in Frisco.

Thing is, though, the changes to towns like Celina that once were farm towns, are basically being converted to bedroom suburbs for Dallas/Plano/Frisco.


This is very different from the changes ocurring to rural towns that remain rural, like - let's say, Eustace TX in Henderson Co. Eustace is not being converted into a bedroom community car-commuting suburb with subdivisions replacing pasture as far as the eye can see, which is what's happening/has happened to - in succession - Plano, Wylie, Frisco, Celina, Prosper, Van Alstyne, and so on.

[Treasurevalley92]

Originally Posted by RJ312

Not entirely true. The definition of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex includes some of the outlying counties, such as Wise, Parker, Kaufman, etc. There are rural areas within those counties.

With that said, the Dallas forum itself is the wrong placement, as the Dallas forum is mostly Dallas and Collin County residents. There's not a lot rural anymore about Collin County, although Celina and Prosper are rural-ish. I am completely opposed to the growth in Celina and Prosper, just as in 2000 I would have been opposed to the growth in Frisco.

Celina and Prosper were once rural, but they are Exburbs at this point. Virtually everyone who lives there works in one of the Dallas burbs.

I think to be considered actually rural the majority of people need to be involved in some form of Agg or agg support. The town needs to be a standalone thing, not a bedroom community. I suppose a small factory town could also be considered rural.

[TheOverdog]

I grew up and spend time in a rural town, but I'm not sure what you are looking for. In my opinion, the problems small towns are facing are pretty well known, and I'll list them but I'm not sure I have anything to add or any special insight into solving them.


They are:

braindrain, lack of jobs (school district was the largest and highest paying employer in my town), average at best education (50% of my teachers were straight out of college), few advanced learning opportunities (no AP for example), 'suburbanization' - where the old part of town was replaced by large lots without the tax base to support that.

discrimination - my town was 50-50% white to hispanic.
lack of businesses/lack of shopping

lack of technology either by choice or due to economic constraints (the local tv provider refused to carry MTV even into the 1990s) (lots of rural communities lack decent internet service)
drugs & crime (way more than DFW suburbia)

lack of public money for libraries, street repair, sidewalks, public services like pools.
Almost no public amenities (all the best land and stuff is privately owned)

dilapidated housing/lots of junk piles/ unleashed dogs/general decay
teen pregnancy (1st girl in my class had a baby at 13. by 18 years old, 7 of the 15 had had babies).
No access to state funding for anything other than schools and highways due to lack of knowledge how to apply.
Since doctors are far away, most old people die of things that are generally considered preventable in larger towns.

[Acntx]

Moderator note: The thread has been moved to a more appropriate forum.

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by tin2019

Hello -

I am a graduate student and I am trying to research on changing trends in rural America. I would like to identify a changing trend in a rural community that is having a negative impact on residents and then research and write a paper to suggest solutions to the problem.

Are you aware of any problems in the community where you live? It has to be a small town, a few hundred or a few thousand people.

I will appreciate any suggestions. Those who share suggestions will receive a copy of the final paper to read when it is written. Thanks for your kindness in doing so.

Changing trends in the rural community in which I was raised (born late 80's) and witnessed until my move to a larger city (mid-2010's) were multiple:

- Small opportunity for jobs paying much above $10/hour unless you were a city government employee. Saw home prices rise despite this. Many people supercommuting to cities 45 min away, many people retired with pension + SS + healthcare that no longer offer such retirement or benefits into retirement to new entrants.

tl;dr ... wages for locals flat, prices rise in response to a surge of retirees or supercommuters. Only option for young people is to supercommute.

[numsgal]

The Overdog listed most of what I would say. My only minor difference would be that I think the lack of medical care impacts the whole community. Toddlers aren't getting vaccinations at the right time, many diseases that could be easily taken care of when caught early are not caught, and any type of minor surgical care may be non-existent without a considerable drive.



If the town can get good internet, shopping and advanced courses can then become available. The problem is that satellite internet is not consistent and service companies aren't interested in running wires/fiber optic to small towns.