Rural economies

David Sparks Ph.D.

There was THE Pandemic and now the post pandemic. But the pandemic left lasting scars on the economy. Particularly hard hit were rural communities where product couldn’t be moved, there were all kinds of difficulties with labor and the frustrations encountered by farmers and ranchers in securing pandemic payments needed to survive.

Well, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack telling a Senate AG appropriations panel Tuesday that according to that report. Speaker2: It appears that rural employment is now back to pre-pandemic levels. It appears that the poverty rate is significantly reduced. The unemployment rate is at an historic low in rural America, and in fact, we've actually seen a reduction in counties that have been characterized as persistently poor. These are counties that have experienced poverty rate of 20% or more for over 30 years. Speaker1: Vilsack said 29 counties have dropped out of that list over the last year, showing that efforts to rebuild rural economies are working. Gary Crawford, reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.