STAKEHOLDER
ANALYSIS
Stakeholder Overview
Stakeholders are defined as those who are affected by or can affect a decision. In the instance of rural depopulation, the key stakeholders include government agencies such as local Economic Development Committees, State and Federal government agencies such as the USDA, local residents, local businesses and organizations. Stakeholders come to the table with different perspectives and interests in the issue, whether it be a problem or an idea of an opportunity. It is widely accepted that rural depopulation is a major national problem; yet, reversing the trend starts by focus on each individual, local community impacted.
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In the instance of rural depopulation specifically, community-led economic development efforts bring the highest chance of success because the local government agencies, businesses, workers, residents, students and teachers must all be engaged and working continuously to drive forward any redevelopment plan. These stakeholders must all engage and participate, coming together to discuss the problem facing the community, analyze the constraints of the systems involved and then establish an action plan.
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In the instance of Moffat County, Colorado for example, the local Board of Commissioners has taken it upon themselves to organize efforts to develop an actionable plan to drive job creation and reverse the negative trends impacting the county. They funded the Moffat County Economic Development Department who was responsible for allocating funds to various community improvement efforts. They also commissioned a study by a national organization to create an action plan to guide the county’s economic goals and allow access to federal grants.
Local Workers
Historically, the lure of big cities was counteracted by the fact that farming and ranching needed to be located where the land was most productive. In 1950, U.S. agriculture directly employed more than six million people. The agricultural businesses supported a whole infrastructure of local businesses. Additionally, coal mining accounted for over half a million jobs in rural America. The combination of the thriving industries fueled the overall prosperity of those communities. Although the population has doubled since then, the number of farmers has fallen by two-thirds and number of coal miners has decreased to 50,000.
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The trend of out-migration has the most notable impact on the workforce of the local community. Incremental technical innovations in original core industries like agriculture and coal-mining mean less people are needing to accomplish the same output. As the advancements continue to increase efficiency, the working age population (20-64 years old) continues to leave for better employment opportunities. This leaves an aging population (65+) to fill the jobs available, which results in a reduction of output levels, less income and a gradual increase in poverty level. Additionally, the workforce who stays has a lack of more advanced technical labor skills, which decreases the opportunity for workers to obtain higher paying jobs to reverse the poverty trend.
Government Agencies
Government agencies at the federal, state and local level each have distinct programs to promote investment in growth in rural America. At the federal level, the U.S. Small Business Administration supports economic development, business development, and business growth for the country’s small businesses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also has a long history of supporting rural economic development. Since 2009, the USDA Rural Development has invested $11 billion to start or expand 103,000 rural businesses. There are also over 2,000 state-level economic development incentive programs in place across the 50 states according to a study in 2015 by LeRoy et al. Lastly, local municipalities also promote economic development activities and programs.
Schools
33 percent of all U.S. public schools are classified as rural, which means 32,00 rural schools serve 9.7 million children. These rural schools are deeply important to their identity as a town as they not only maintain the social and economic livelihood of the town, but they also offer services that reduce the effects of poverty such as health services, continuing education classes and community literacy programs. However, schools are being forced to shut down across rural America as more families move to urban areas and funding sources dry up. Closures cause logistical challenges, emotional fallout and community divisions and also perpetuate the "brain drain effect" because the talented students leave to pursue superior academic opportunities in cities. Compounding and perpetuating the issue, rural school districts throughout Colorado continue to experience significant difficulty finding qualified teachers and school leaders.
Children
A number of serious problems confront young people in rural areas: high unemployment, a level of education below that available to children in cities, poor career prospects and a lack of appropriate resources. Also, a recent study done by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should that the percentage of children with chronic conditions such as obesity, asthma and diabetes is highest amongst teenagers living in small rural areas. Many studies have shown that early childhood education is most impactful and that a lack of sufficient early education can have profound long-term effects. Approximately one in five Americans live in rural areas, and, according to the Center for American Progress, and 59% of rural areas have fewer spaces available for child care than there are children in need of them. Even more concerning, there’s no guarantee that those available spots even offer high-quality preschool instruction. With more than a quarter of rural children coming from economically disadvantaged families, cost is also a significant issue because pre-school options can often cost as much as $200 per week. Additionally, transportation provides issues because many families are geographically isolated or parents who work full-time do not have flexible enough working hours to take them.
Farmers & Business Owners
Rural communities that rely on agriculture as their main economic driver have been most impacted by rural depopulation. With technology advancements, farming today requires fewer workers. An average American farmer provides food to about 155 people today compared to 26 people in 1960.
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A 2015 study done by the USDA shows that innovations in animal and crop genetics, chemicals, equipment, and farm organization have enabled continuing output growth while using much less labor and farmland. As the chart below, total agricultural output nearly tripled between 1948 and 2015 as the amount of labor used in farming declined by about 75 percent and the amount of land used in farming declined 24 percent.
U.S. Wage and Salary Employment (# of jobs)
Source: USDA Economic Research Service
U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth
Source: USDA Economic Research Service
Small, labor-intensive family farms have grown into, or have been replaced by, heavily mechanized and specialized industrial farms. Large industrial farms typically use large machinery and high-output systems that require a fraction of the labor per unit produced. The decreased need for workers to produce the same output means there are fewer families benefiting from farm wages. That trend is clearly depicted in the below graph, which shows the decline from 7.60 million workers in 1950 to 2.01 million in 1990, a 74-percent reduction.
Family and Hired Farmworkers on U.S. Farms, 1950-2000
