Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
THE NORTHEAST REGIONAL CENTER FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT -- 2009
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0218838
Grant No.
2009-51150-05558
Project No.
PEN04342
Proposal No.
2009-04586
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
UU.R
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2009
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2012
Grant Year
2009
Project Director
Goetz, S. J.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
208 MUELLER LABORATORY
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802
Performing Department
Northeast Center for Rural Dev
Non Technical Summary
The Northeast Regional Center enhances the capacity of Land Grant Universities in the northeast region to foster rural development and regional partnerships. The project encourages and facilitates integrated research and extension activities to enhance the social and economic well-being of rural people and their communities in the Northeast U.S. The project develops and communicates original and other research on rural development policy issues to faculty, educators and decision makers, and facilitates training of investigators and extension staff in the area of rural development. In 2009/2010 the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development will place an emphasis on two primary issues areas: Local Foods and Agricultural Clusters; and Entrepreneurship and Job Creation. Land use will comprise a third but secondary area, with an emphasis on generating outreach materials. In addition, Center staff will respond strategically to new issues and opportunities as they arise and will seek to document systematically the Center?s outreach impact. Specific objectives of the project are to (1) conduct, promote and extend through outreach both think tank-level and peer-reviewed studies of local foods and agricultural clusters; entrepreneurship and job creation; and land use; (2) organize and sponsor multi-disciplinary and multi-state educational efforts in these issues areas; and (3) continue to fulfill the Center?s other multiple networking responsibilities through strategic partnerships, conference participation, publications and by identifying leading edge programs that can be shared across the northeast states. The Northeast Center is uniquely and strategically positioned to help rural communities address the problems they face. It accomplishes this by delivering research-based information, by facilitating community discourse, and by helping build human capital and capacity within communities through formal teaching or educational programs. As a result of the Center?s outreach projects, we expect higher awareness among key stakeholders and decision-makers of the increasing challenges, solutions and science that relate to the forces and opportunities shaping the sustainability and profitability of agricultural and local food systems in the Northeast U.S. We also expect a better understanding and greater awareness among decision-makers of the importance of self-employment and entrepreneurship within their communities. There will be fewer false business starts; more knowledge regarding business potential; and greater interest in rural areas (including especially among youth) in self-employment and small business creation. The Northeast Center seeks to help local governments and rural communities address the social and economic problems they face by disseminating research-based information, facilitating community discourse, and building human capital and capacity within communities through formal teaching and educational programs. This project encourages and facilitates multi-state collaboration on strategic issues throughout the region, thereby making existing activities more effective and avoiding duplication of effort.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
85%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1316050301010%
6056050301010%
6086050301060%
6086050308020%
Goals / Objectives
This project encourages and facilitates integrated research and extension activities to enhance the social and economic well-being of rural people and their communities in the Northeast U.S. The project develops and communicates original and other research on rural development policy issues to faculty, educators and decision makers, and facilitates training of investigators and extension staff in the area of rural development. In 2009/2010 the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development will place an emphasis on two primary issues areas: Local Foods and Agricultural Clusters; and Entrepreneurship and Job Creation. Land use will comprise a third but secondary area, with an emphasis on generating outreach materials. We seek to continue our efforts in the area of agricultural economic and rural development by applying the analytical tools of social network science to clusters of small and medium-sized farms. This research promises to provide critical new insights into sustaining the food system in the Northeast U.S., and it is unique because no other group is studying farmer networks in the same manner as this project does. With the on-going economic retraction, concerns over job creation and new forms of employment have become especially pressing. We will seek to develop additional policy materials to inform elected leaders and other public officials about the prospects for stimulating rural entrepreneurship. In the area of land use our objectives are to continue to leverage the Center's earlier research investments in terms of outreach products, including a policy paper on the effect of natural amenities and federal land-related policies on various socioeconomic factors. The collaborative project with ARS will also draw on the Center's expertise in the area of land use. Last, the evolving development around the Marcellus Shale area of NY-PA-WV-MD has important dimensions that relate to land use and, of course, local and regional foods have potentially important impacts on land use that need to be better documented and understood. As an outcome of the project we expect higher awareness among key stakeholders and decision-makers of the increasing challenges, solutions and science that relate to the forces and opportunities shaping the sustainability and profitability of agricultural and local food systems in the Northeast U.S. We also expect a better understanding and greater awareness among decision-makers of the importance of self-employment and entrepreneurship within their communities. Impacts will include fewer false business starts, more knowledge regarding business potential, and greater interest in rural areas (including especially among youth) in self-employment and small business creation.
Project Methods
We will develop outreach materials on best practices using the knowledge generated within our various collaborator networks and by working with past Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Community Grants recipients. The Northeast Regional Center hosted the Local and Regional Foods Conference, on May 19-20, 2009, in the Hudson Valley Resort, New York. A network of stakeholders has been identified out of this effort and will form the basis of our work as we go forward. Part of our methods and procedures will be to analyze the post-conference network and to compare individuals' scores and positions within the networks with their assessment of the conference and their follow-up activities. We expect to harvest substantial new knowledge based on our earlier investments, and by applying insights from our cluster network efforts. We will also continue our collaboration with NESAWG and Dr. Kathy Ruhf by providing conceptual and spatial mapping and analysis of regional food infrastructure networks. In the area of Entrepreneurship and self-employment we will prepare a policy paper for elected leaders and public officials, as well as county-level factsheets showing the rising importance of self-employment. We will explore the development of other partnerships and outreach funding streams in the area of entrepreneurship of necessity vs. opportunity, and we will develop outreach materials from the Targeted Regional Economic Development work. In summary, over the next year The Northeast Center will continue to serve in its primary capacity of convening experts and educators in the region with the specific goals of improving flows and exchanges of information; enhancing the capacity of the land grant system to engage effectively the pressing problems facing communities while eliminating duplication of effort and programs and; of increasing importance, forming teams around critical emerging issues to develop grant proposals that will lead to increased flows of resources into the region. One particularly important new dissemination tool we intend to use is that of webinars.

Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development encouraged and facilitated integrated research and extension activities to enhance the social and economic well-being of rural people and their communities in the Northeast. The Center developed and communicated research on rural development policy issues to decision makers in the Northeast and facilitated training of Extension faculty and educators in the area of rural development, including foods systems development and entrepreneurship. The NERCRD co-sponsored the 13th National Value-Added Agriculture Extension Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The event was co-organized by The Ohio State and Penn State Universities, and the main themes were: Direct Marketing, Processing, and Distribution. The Case for Supporting Entrepreneurs in a Jobless Recovery was presented as part of the national webinar series of the National eXtension Community of Practice on Entrepreneurs and Their Communities. The conference on What Works! The Future of Rural Entrepreneurship and Community Development was held in Philadelphia, PA. The conference brought together practitioners, researchers, educators, and decision-makers to address critical issues in promoting entrepreneurship in the U.S. A preconference Northeast Regional Community and Economic Development meeting was held to provide an opportunity for engagement and, more specifically, to identify opportunities for and strategies to strengthen communication; increase awareness of research and extension initiatives; and catalyze collaboration among and between participants for the benefit of their respective states and the region. The NERCRD co-sponsored the Marcellus Shale Multi-State Academic Applied Research Conference, which was the first conference dedicated to Marcellus research, outreach and education. The event was unique in that it provided an opportunity for individuals of various fields of expertise to share ideas, develop professional networks, and relay their work's progress. A follow-up event was held in 2012 at Bucknell University, in conjunction with the Southern Regional Science Association. The Center worked closely with its Technical Advisory Committee on the programmatic goals, strategies and activities for the NERCRD, and on identifying the emerging issues in the Northeast region. PARTICIPANTS: Participant included faculty, educators, graduate and students and other stakeholders from around the Northeast region as well as nationally, representing land grant universities as well as private sector entities. Professional traninig opportunities were provided through conferences as well as peer-reviewed publications made available on-line and through other media. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include university deans and directors, as well as elected public officials and other policy decision-makers concerned with policy making that affects rural areas as well as major cities. The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development provides information to faculty and educators who in turn deliver the information and knowledge to their primary clientele. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The Center served an important and highly valued function by bringing together various stakeholders from the land grant universities and the private sector in the Northeast. Members of the NERCRD regional youth entrepreneurship working group received a $25,000 eCommerce Extension education grant to develop a curriculum for young entrepreneurs. The NERCRD developed outreach materials on best practices that were distributed to stakeholders, decision makers and government officials across the Northeast region and the U.S. via the Center newsletter and website. Over one hundred educators and researchers from around the nation gathered in Pittsburgh, PA for the National Value-Added Agriculture Extension Conference, which was co-sponsored by the NERCRD. Conference participants learned about state-of-the-art research and programs on value-added agriculture, improving their knowledge and ability to work with value-added ag business owners. The Case for Supporting Entrepreneurs in a Jobless Recovery was presented to a national audience of 75 Extension Educators in September, 2011, in the webinar series of the National eXtension Community of Practice on Entrepreneurs and Their Communities. Ninety-two individuals from 12 academic, research and environmental institutions and seven States responding to the many facets of development through research and outreach activities were provided an opportunity to meet, share their ideas, and establish collaborative relationships through the Marcellus Shale Multi-State Academic Applied Research Conference, which was held in Altoona, PA, and co-sponsored by the Center. Seventy people attended What Works! 2011, which was held September 19-20 at the Sheraton Society Hill in Philadelphia. Comments from the conference included: "This conference was very worthwhile;" "I am glad I came because this conference is helping me to understand better the connections between agricultural entrepreneurship and community development -- an area in which I am increasingly working;" and "This conference has much more economic development content than the Economic Development conferences I normally attend." Nineteen Northeast Community and Economic Development LGU Research and Extension Professionals attended the Northeast Regional Community and Economic Development Meeting on September 18. Several members of the eXtension Enhancing Rural Capacity Community of Practice CoP) Leadership Team met at the end of the What Works Conference to develop content to expand and strengthen the collective body of national extension work devoted to rural community development. Colleagues were invited to join the leadership team in Philadelphia to learn more about and contribute to the CoP. Two part-time NERCRD Associate Directors received a grant from the National eXtension Office to support this project. The NERCRD funded two NE-SARE Sustainable Community grants, one a successful composting initiative in Lehigh Valley, PA; the other a farm and community connection infrastructure inventory project in New Hampshire.

Publications

  • Goetz, S. J. 2012. Editor, Public Sector Options for Job Creation, Theme Issue, Choices, 2nd Quarter, June. http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/theme-articles/public -sector-options-for-creating-jobs/theme-issue-overview-public-sector- options-for-creating-jobs


Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Over the past year The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development continued to encourage and facilitate integrated research and extension activities to enhance the social and economic well-being of rural people and their communities in the Northeast. The Center developed and communicated research on rural development policy issues to decision makers in the Northeast and facilitated training of Extension faculty and educators in the area of rural development. In June 2011 the NERCRD co-sponsored the 13th National Value-Added Agriculture Extension Conference in Pittsburgh, PA; the Center Director delivered the keynote address at the conference. The event was co-organized by The Ohio State and Penn State Universities, and the main themes were: Direct Marketing, Processing, and Distribution. The Case for Supporting Entrepreneurs in a Jobless Recovery was presented on September 8, 2011 as part of the national webinar series of the National eXtension Community of Practice on Entrepreneurs and Their Communities. The Center was also involved with the launching of two entirely new eXtension Communities of Practice. What Works! 2011: The Future of Rural Entrepreneurship and Community Development was held in Philadelphia, PA, in September 2011. The conference brought together practitioners, researchers, educators, and decision-makers to address critical issues in promoting entrepreneurship in the U.S. A preconference Northeast Regional Community and Economic Development meeting was held to provide an opportunity for engagement and, more specifically, to identify opportunities for and strategies to strengthen communication; increase awareness of research and extension initiatives; and catalyze collaboration among and between participants for the benefit of their respective states and the region. At the end of the What Works conference, a meeting of the eXtension Enhancing Rural Capacity Community of Practice (CoP) leadership team was held to discuss the content of the CoP and provide an opportunity to invite colleagues to join the team. In May 2011, the NERCRD co-sponsored the Marcellus Shale Multi-State Academic Applied Research Conference, which was the first conference dedicated to Marcellus research, outreach and education. The event was unique in that it provided an opportunity for individuals of various fields of expertise to share ideas, develop professional networks, and relay their work's progress. The Center continued to collaborate with its newly formed Technical Advisory Committee on the programmatic goals, strategies and activities for the NERCRD, and on identifying the emerging issues in the Northeast region. PARTICIPANTS: Collaboration continued with members of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee, which includes Extension educators and researchers from the University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, University of Maryland - College Park and Eastern Shore, West Virginia University and West Virginia State University. The NERCRD Board of Directors represent the University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, Delaware State University, Rutgers University, University of Maryland, West Virginia State University, West Virginia University and Penn State University, as well as Farm Foundation, MidAtlantic Farm Credit and the Eastern Regional Conference/Council of State Governments. Other collaborators on the project included research and Extension faculty, Extension educators and professionals with rural development interests from land grant and other universities in the Northeast U.S. as well as representatives from federal agencies and stakeholders from small business and other organizations. The NERCRD collaborated with the other RRDCs, the University of Vermont and Cornell University on a series of Foundations of Practice webinars, and with stakeholders in the Northeast on a series of eight Regional Highlights: Community and Economic Development Research and Extension in the Northeast webinars. In addition, the Center collaborated with NE-SARE on reviewing the proposals for the Northeast Sustainable Community grants. TARGET AUDIENCES: The NERCRD hosted the Foundations of Practice webinar series to provide training to Extension educators to help improve Community Development skills. 33 professionals participated in the fall 2010 semester, and 53 completed FoP training in spring 2011. The Center sponsored a series of Northeast Highlights webinars throughout the past year, with more than 35 people participating in one or more webinars. The NERCRD continued to collaborate with 20 co-PDs from 10 institutions in 9 northeast states on the 2011-2016 AFRI Global Food Security grant, which is exploring food access and affordability for disadvantaged communities. What Works! 2011 and the National Value-Added Agriculture Extension Conference targeted Extension educators, researchers and Community Development leaders from across the U.S., while the Northeast Regional Community and Economic Development Meeting targeted community and economic development Extension and research professionals from the Northeast. The Northeast Regional eXtension CoP meeting, which was held after the What Works conference, specifically targeted rural community development Extension professionals who will provide leadership for developing the content for the Community of Practice devoted to rural community development. The Marcellus Shale conference provided an opportunity for individuals of various fields of expertise to meet, share their ideas, and establish collaborative relationships. Attendees from seven states and 12 academic, research and environmental institutions participated in the event. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The Center continued to collaborate with its working groups and networks on pressing issues in the region, primarily related to local foods/food security, clusters, sustainability, entrepreneurship/economic development and energy. Members of the NERCRD regional youth entrepreneurship working group received a $25,000 eCommerce Extension education grant to develop a curriculum for young entrepreneurs. The NERCRD developed outreach materials on best practices that were distributed to stakeholders, decision makers and government officials across the Northeast region and the U.S. via the Center newsletter and website. Over one hundred educators and researchers from around the nation gathered in Pittsburgh, PA for the National Value-Added Agriculture Extension Conference, which was co-sponsored by the NERCRD. Conference participants learned about state-of-the-art research and programs on value-added agriculture, improving their knowledge and ability to work with value-added ag business owners. The Case for Supporting Entrepreneurs in a Jobless Recovery was presented to a national audience of 75 Extension Educators in September, 2011, in the webinar series of the National eXtension Community of Practice on Entrepreneurs and Their Communities. Ninety-two individuals from 12 academic, research and environmental institutions and seven States responding to the many facets of development through research and outreach activities were provided an opportunity to meet, share their ideas, and establish collaborative relationships through the Marcellus Shale Multi-State Academic Applied Research Conference, which was held in Altoona, PA, and co-sponsored by the Center. Seventy people attended What Works! 2011, which was held September 19-20 at the Sheraton Society Hill in Philadelphia. Comments from the conference included: "This conference was very worthwhile;" "I am glad I came because this conference is helping me to understand better the connections between agricultural entrepreneurship and community development - an area in which I am increasingly working;" and "This conference has much more economic development content than the Economic Development conferences I normally attend." Nineteen Northeast Community and Economic Development LGU Research and Extension Professionals attended the Northeast Regional Community and Economic Development Meeting on September 18. This meeting was co-hosted by the NERCRD and the Northeast NACDEP chapter. Several members of the eXtension Enhancing Rural Capacity Community of Practice (CoP) Leadership Team met at the end of the What Works Conference to develop content to expand and strengthen the collective body of national extension work devoted to rural community development. Colleagues were invited to join the leadership team in Philadelphia to learn more about and contribute to the CoP. Two part-time NERCRD Associate Directors received a grant from the National eXtension Office to support this project. The NERCRD funded two NE-SARE Sustainable Community grants, one a successful composting initiative in Lehigh Valley, PA; the other a farm and community connection infrastructure inventory project in New Hampshire.

Publications

  • Brasier, K. J. el al. 2011. Residents' Perceptions of Community and Environmental Impacts from Development of Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale: A Comparison of Pennsylvania and New York Case Studie. Journal of Rural Social Sciences 26(1):32-61.
  • Goetz, S. J., Y. Han, J. Findeis, and K. Brasier. 2010. US Commuting Networks and Economic Growth: Measurement and Implications for Spatial Policy. Growth and Change 41(2):276-302.
  • Fleming, D., D. Abler, and S. J. Goetz. 2010. The Impact of Agricultural Trade on Poverty: The Case of Chile. Agricultural Economics 26(1):545-53.


Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development encouraged and facilitated integrated research and extension activities to enhance the social and economic well-being of rural people and their communities in the Northeast. The Center developed and communicated original and other research on rural development policy issues to faculty, educators and decision makers, and facilitated training of Extension staff in the area of rural development. In the first year of this project, the NERCRD placed an emphasis on Local Foods/Agricultural Clusters, Entrepreneurship/Job Creation, and Land Use issues. A series of three webinars were held as a follow-up to the conference on Local and Regional Food Systems, and related presentations were made at the October 2009 Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) conference in Albany, New York. We continued to collaborate with NESAWG and Kathy Ruhf by providing conceptual and spatial mapping and analysis of regional food infrastructure networks. A post-conference workshop, Economics of Local Food Markets, was co-sponsored in June 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ. A series of entrepreneurship webinars were held in 2009/2010 as part of the eXtension Entrepreneurs and Their Communities monthly webinar series, and a series of webinars are currently being held to provide Foundations of Practice in Community Development training to Extension educators across the U.S. The NERCRD has been collaborating with West Virginia University and the Appalachian Regional Commission on county-level water quality and quantity research, and is contributing to science-based research on issues related to the Marcellus Shale natural gas project. The annual combined meeting of the NERCRD Board of Directors and the newly formed Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was held October 2010 in Charleston, WV. The Technical Advisory Committee was created to help form the programmatic goals, strategies and activities for the NERCRD, and identify emerging issues in the Northeast region. Information on NERCRD projects and critical issues in the region were disseminated via the quarterly newsletter and other publications, as well as the NERCRD website. PARTICIPANTS: Collaborations were formed with members of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee, which consists of Extension educators and researchers from the University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, University of Maryland - College Park and Eastern Shore, West Virginia University and West Virginia State University. The NERCRD Board of Directors represent the University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, Delaware State University, Rutgers University, University of Maryland, West Virginia State University, West Virginia University and Penn State University, as well as Farm Foundation, MidAtlantic Farm Credit and the Eastern Regional Conference/Council of State Governments. Collaborators on the project also included stakeholders from small business and other organizations, as well as research and Extension faculty, Extension educators and professionals with rural development interests from land grant and other universities in the Northeast U.S. Representatives from federal agencies such as the Economic and Agricultural Research Services also participated with the NERCRD on various projects. The Northeast Center collaborated with the national eXtension Community of Practice, Entrepreneurs and Their Communities on a series of entrepreneurship webinars. The webinars are developed around topics of importance to entrepreneurs and community/economic development specialists. Foundations of Practice webinars are currently being held, with participants from across the region and the U.S. Stakeholders from the region provided information about conferences and other projects in their states for inclusion in the NERCRD newsletter. The Center also collaborated with experts from land grant universities in the region and the other regional rural development centers on land use and other rural development issues. TARGET AUDIENCES: The Foundations of Practice webinar series is providing training to help improve Community Development skills to Extension educators across the Northeast region and the U.S., while the eXtension Entrepreneurs and Their Community, Community of Practice webinars provided strategic information to entrepreneurs and community/economic development specialists across the country. The NERCRD collaborated with 20 co-PDs from 10 institutions in 9 northeast states to develop the 2010 AFRI Global Food Security grant application, which will explore food access and affordability for disadvantaged communities. The NERCRD website, along with various social networking tools such as Facebook, is used to promote Center projects, research results and publications across the Northeast, the U.S. and the world. The quarterly newsletter is distributed widely across the Northeast region and the U.S., and targets a diverse group of Center stakeholders, including local government officials and members of Congress. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The NERCRD developed outreach materials on best practices that were distributed to stakeholders, decision makers and government officials across the Northeast region and the U.S. Networks and working groups were formed to collaborate on pressing issues in the region, primarily related to local foods/food security and entrepreneurship. New partnerships were formed to address clusters and sustainability, as well as economic development, broadband, local foods and energy. One collaborator on the food security project said that it was the most organized group that she has been involved with. Dr. Stu Rosenfeld of Regional Technology Strategies wrote to us: "Your presentation was both informative and insightful, giving the audience an introduction to and appreciation of the value of networking and connections in food systems that they may have been (very likely were) undervaluing." More than 3,000 Center stakeholders received the Network newsletter each quarter, and 92 pages on the NERCRD website were viewed more than 26,300 times over the past year. Nearly 100 people participated in the three components of the Local and Regional Food Systems webinar series, and many Extension educators across the U.S. participated in the eXtension Entrepreneurs and Their Communities monthly webinar series. A Foundations of Practice in Community Development webinar series is being held, with 34 educators currently registered for the training. A conference, What Works: The Future of Rural Entrepreneurship and Community Development in the Northeast is being planned for spring 2011 in Philadelphia, PA with more than 100 stakeholders expected to participate in the sessions. As a result of the Center's Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium, members of the youth working group will be making a presentation on youth entrepreneurship issues at the What Works event. Research prepared by Center staff has been widely used and cited, including in a recent article in The Guardian newspaper (United Kingdom).

Publications

  • The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. 2010. Annual Report 2009. Penn State University, University Park, PA. (Report to Federal Sponsor). 24 pp. http://nercrd.psu.edu/Publications/Reports/AnnualReport2009.pdf