Spring 2012 Newsletter
Spring 2012 RSP Newsletter
Oregon Rural Communities Explorer Update
Be sure to investigate the new data included as part of the Rural Communities Explorer! The Rural Communities Explorer website (www.oregonexplorer.info/rural) has been updated with data for 2006-2010 from the American Community Survey, the 2010 census, and other sources. The Communities Reporter Tool has been updated with 2006-2010 data from the American Community Survey, 2010 census data, and 2010 data from over 25 other sources for all of the 1,431 places and 37 counties in Oregon and Siskiyou County, CA. Now you can upload or download documents with information about your community's economy, environment, or demographics directly in the Communities Reporter Tool! Use this feature to access unique community data, or as an opportunity to share community data that you have gathered, with the public. In addition, the Rural Communities Explorer team is exploring data-sharing partnerships with 211info and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Research Update from Japan
RSP Faculty Affiliate Nancy Rosenberger has spent most of the year doing research in Japan. Her research has been on grants from the Asian American Association's Northeast Asia Council and the OSU Horning Foundation on the topic of Resiliency among Organic Farmers in Japan. Nancy shared some of her preliminary findings – “All of these farmers are affected by the severely aging farming population in Japan and the lack of heirs to take over the farms. This is an even more difficult problem than in the United States because of the existence of water irrigation channels for rice paddies that are still cared for by local water committees. If neighboring farmers become too old to help sustain these channels, the rice paddies of the whole hamlet are affected. In this case "community" has strongly functional meanings. Organic farmers try to take in interns in order to increase the potential number of new, young organic farmers in the community. However, rural farmers that have the added burdens of radiation in their soils and/or reputation for radiation in their prefecture are having trouble selling their organic food.” We look forward to hearing more about her research.
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2012 International Comparative Rural Policy Studies (ICRPS) Summer School
Join Oregon State Rural Studies Program faculty and students for the 2012 International Comparative Rural Policy Studies (ICRPS) Summer School in
Québec, Canada. This dynamic school follows the same academic format as previous summer schools in Canada (Ontario, and Manitoba), Europe (Scotland, Belgium, Catalonia in Spain and Norway), and the USA (Missouri and Oregon). It will mix co-learning academic experiences with field work in different settings. After a few days in Montréal, hosted by Concordia University and the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, we will travel to the Estrie region of the province, then on to Québec City to meet with policy makers involved in the development of Québec’s innovative rural policy. During the last week, we will travel to the Bas Saint-Laurent at the University du Québec à Rimouski where we will be hosted by the Canada Research Chair on rural development and an associated network of regional development researchers.
Publications
RSP Faculty Affiliate Yong Chen and RSP Director Bruce Weber (2012), "Federal Policy, Rural Community Growth, and Wealth Creation: The Impact of the Federal Forest Policy and Rural Development Spending in the Pacific Northwest," American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
Choices Magazine focuses on Rural Wealth Creation (Spring 2012) RSP Director Bruce Weber is one of the guest editors and co-wrote the overview. Bruce Weber and Yong Chen wrote on “Federal Forest Policy and Community Prosperity in the Pacific Northwest” for the issue.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Mark Edwards (2012), “Food Insecurity in Western US States: Increasing Collaboration Between State Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations,” Food, Culture and Society.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Hannah Gosnell and for RSP student Jesse Abrams (2012), “The politics of marginality in Wallowa County, Oregon: Contesting the production of landscapes of consumption,” Journal of Rural Studies.
RSP Faculty Affiliates in the News
RSP Faculty Affiliate Bruce Sorte was featured in a recent Oregonian editorial and guest column. In addition, Bruce was featured on an Oregon Public Broadcasting town hall on the rural economy.
Presentations
RSP Faculty Affiliate Lena Etuk presented on The Rural Oregon Experiment in Community Capacity Building in March 2012 for the North Central Regional Rural Development Center’s Leadership Development Evaluation Committee.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Yong Chen and RSP Director Bruce Weber, along with Dan Cox and Pat Corcoron, on an integrated engineering-economic vulnerability assessment toll to increase Tsunami preparedness in rural coastal counties. Presentation for the OSU Sea Grant All-hands Meeting in March 2012.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Yong Chen on a Spatial Model of Exurban Land Development, Presented at AERE session of the American Economic Association annual meeting, Chicago, IL, Jan 8, 2012.