Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
ENHANCING RURAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES, COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
REVISED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1014522
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
PEN04633
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NE-1749
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2017
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2022
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Goetz, ST, J.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
208 MUELLER LABORATORY
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802
Performing Department
Agri Economics, Sociology & Education
Non Technical Summary
In light of the growing concern about declining rural opportuntity, the proposed contribution from the Pennsylvania State University Agricultural Experiment Station will focus on county-level determinants and impacts of both county-level economicresilience and entrepreneurship development. We will use a variety of data sources to examine these issues, including potentially the Big Data available from thePenn State Census Survey Research Data Center. In addition to applying convential economic theory we plan to use emerging insights from Network science as well as Complex Adaptive Systems in formulating and testing novel hypotheses.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6086110301050%
6086050301050%
Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6110 - Economy of the United States and sectors thereof; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
Enhancing rural economic opportunities and entrepreneurship. This is an exceptionally broad, multi-faceted objective which encompasses both the need for advancing the theoretical structure of community economic development and the need for empirical, focused, policy relevant research. Some of the areas which NE1049 researchers have pursued and will expand in the new project are discussed in the comments section. a. The Theory of “Community capitals” (Flora and Flora 1993, 2008). These seven community capitals include built, financial, political, social, human, cultural and natural capitals (Flora and Gillespie 2009). NE1049 researchers have done substantial research on social capital over the past five years (e.g. Goetz and Rupasinga, 2006; Halstead and Deller, 2015). Research in the capitals overlaps with many sub-topics in both this and the second proposal objective, and helps in the pursuit of a broad paradigm for economic development.<br /> b. Issues of wealth/income distribution and rural economic development. Country-level studies have largely found that income inequality and economic growth are inversely related (e.g. Person and Tabellini, 1994; Alesina and Rodrik, 1994; Banerjee and Duflo, 2000). Income and wealth distribution is also an issue in rural areas. Bishaw and Posey (2016) noted that rural Americans have lower median household incomes than urban households, but rural areas have lower poverty rates than their urban counterparts. <br /> c. Non-agricultural development opportunities. A particular area of research for NE1049 has been the economics of local agriculture. However, many rural communities have tried to expand into tourism and recreation with mixed success; in any case, employment opportunities generated in some of these sectors tend to be relatively low-income. Diversification of local economies (e.g. export base and local agriculture; business attraction and retention) through both expanding the small business sector (Eschker, Gold and Lane, 2017) and fostering retention and expansion of existing businesses (Halstead and Deller, 1997) are key development objectives which clearly affect resiliency in the face of natural and human caused shocks to the system. How entrepreneurs behave socially, exchange information, and procure resources and establish reciprocity, are key areas of research (Markeson and Deller 2015). <br /> d. Infrastructure needs, development, and deficiencies. Infrastructure is a broad concept, including both Economic Overhead Capital (which includes roads, bridges, powerlines, etc.) and Social Overhead Capital (health, education, etc.) (Hansen, 1965). Built infrastructure has been researched by team members since the 1980s (e.g. Johnson et al. 1988). Such investments have the potential to affect virtually all the subtopics in both proposed objectives. Specific topics under scrutiny by NE1049 researchers include impacts of broad band internet availability/deficiency on economic development and availability and affordability of child care as a deterrent to availability of affordable labor, and its effects on rural quality of life. <br /> e. Chronic and progressive labor availability problems, related to the issues raised in the third REE goal listed above. If labor becomes more expensive, more automation may result (Devaraj et al. 2017). This can cause economic distortion, and affect labor participation rates, economic goal setting, and other key features at the community level<br /> f. The impact of entrepreneurship on rural areas. There is evidence from previous research that entrepreneurs can contribute to growth in rural areas (e.g. Sepehns et al. 2013; Rupasingha and Goetz, 2013) and understanding what types of policies can contribute to this growth will be critical to deal with the restructuring of rural areas.<br /> 2. Evaluating Factors and Policies Affecting the Resiliency of Rural Communities. Many of the natural and human induced “shocks” which impact rural communities are external i.e. communities have little or no control over whether the shock occurs. Examples include major storms (Hurricane Harvey, Superstorm Sandy), restructuring of the tax code or health care system, or State and Federal changes in energy, land, and water use policy. However, there are proactive and reactive mechanisms communities can adopt to minimize negative effects and enhance positive effects of these shocks, and to mitigate effects which do happen. The degree to which a community can bounce back from these changes is a measure of resiliency. Proposed and ongoing research areas under this objective are discussed in the comments section. 1. objective are:<br /> <br /> a. Impacts of federal infrastructure investment plans. Funding mechanisms for proposed infrastructure upgrades and expansion are not yet determined and may be quite different from historical funding efforts and effects on tax bases (Deller, Amiel, Stallmann, and Maher, 2013a; Janeski and Whitacre, 2014). <br /> b. Changes in health care availability due to changes in the Affordable Care Act and possible new health care legislation. Many rural counties currently have few or no health care providers, and often suffer from substance abuse issues (Henning-Smith and Kozhimannil, 2016; Skidmore et al. 2014). The disproportionate representation of veterans in rural areas presents both problems and opportunities; veterans may require health care and counseling services difficult to find in rural areas. <br /> c. Why are some areas lagging in recovering from the recession (Stephens, H., Partridge, and Faggian, 2013; Stephens and Partridge, 2011)? What did we learn from the recession? What policies aided resilience and recovery (Deller and Watson, 2016)? There is movement away from extractive industries to retirement/tourism based economies in rural areas, a trend partially offset with opposite effects in, for example, fracking areas; how will this effect community resilience in the face of future shocks? What contexts increase the likelihood a rural community will benefit from retirement-, tourism-, or recreation-based economies as they consider moving away from extractive industries (Hill et al. 2014; Lim, 2016)?<br /> d. The impact of changes in federal policies affect land and water use in rural areas (Chen and Weber, 2012). For example, transfer of ownership of federal lands from federal to state government has been proposed, which might affect income, employment, and taxation at the local/state level. Other issues include changes in public land policy and forest resource management. <br /> e. Understanding the Impacts of changes in the retirement system. For example, the current generation of retirees is the first to experience a shift from traditional pension plans to personal retirement accounts, with implications for intergenerational wealth transfer.<br /> f. Understanding the impact of policies regarding climate change and efforts to support alternative forms of energy on rural areas. What impacts does the renewable energy sector have on rural jobs, income, and household and community well-being? Are some locations better equipped with transport infrastructure, land and forest resources, and human and social capital to support the expansion of this emerging sector? What is the effect of clean energy development on rural counties? Increased focus on sources of renewable energy has raised questions of aesthetic damages, issues of regional vs. local energy, and storage capacity for solar generation. How can rural areas participate?<br /> g. Understanding the impact of policies geared at reinvigorating or encouraging fossil fuels on rural areas. How do rural residents value this development which brings jobs but also can damage natural resources and affect long-term amenity-led growth?<br /> h. Considering the interplay between traditional sources of energy and renewables. How do higher oil prices factor in? How do the interaction between weather and output in solar power link into/with “traditional” energy suppliers? For example, much of the coal fired power of eastern Montana which went to Seattle has been supplanted by other sources. What are the local/regional effects of renewable energy pipelines, powerlines, and other energy infrastructure requirements (Coon et al. 2015; Fortenbery, Deller, and Amiel, 2013)?
Project Methods
Goal/objective 1: Enhancing rural economic opportunities and entrepreneurshipWe will collect data from secondary public sources, including various county-level databases, following standard practices in the field of regional science. Various county-level characteristics will then be related to measures of entrepreneurship using state-of-the art econometric methods, including spatial weights matrices as well as dynamic panel data estimation techniques. Given a long history of successful past experiences in this area, we do not anticipate encountering any problems. The work will be carried out in offices provided by The Pennsylvania State University, and all necessary equipment to carry out the work, including statistical software, is already available. No additional equipment or other resources are needed. (Schmidt)Goal/objective 2: Evaluating factors and policies affecting the resiliency of rural communitiesUsing methods similar to those in the first objective, we will collect data from secondary public sources, including various county-level databases, following standard practices in the field of regional science. A particular challenge will be identifying sound instruments for the econometric analysis of the determinants of resilience. One option will be to use Generalized Methods of Moment (GMM) estimators as well as various lags of the independent variables. We will again use state-of-the art econometric methods, including spatial weights matrices as well as dynamic panel data estimation techniques, and differences in differences as well as matched comparisons where feasible and appropriate. The work will be carried out in offices provided by The Pennsylvania State University, and all necessary equipment to carry out the work, including statistical software, is already available. No additional equipment or other resources are needed.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience members and stakeholders include: Academics; economic and community development professionals and practitioners; natural resource management professionals and practitioners; federal, state and local policy-makers; and general public Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided opportunities for conducting masterclasses on leadership and organizational development for Extension educators, as well as workshops and trainings on community-led management for invasive species program officers and practitioners. Further, presentations made at various venues (see products) provided research updates to research and Extension audience members. As in previous years, several graduate assistantships were funded by studies and research associated with this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through academic and popular publications, as well as workshops, videos, presentations, publicly published reports, press releases and social media to communities of interest which include policymakers, practitioners, and the public. Findings also have been disseminated to academics and scholarly audiences through various papers or via academic journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Throughout the next reporting period we will continue to produce publications surrounding our advancements in researching community resiliency, community engaged scholarship, entrepreneurship, and rural development. Masterclasses and workshops for disseminating knowledge and best practices are also planned. We also will continue to work on the short- and longer-term county-level economic and broader impacts of COVID-19. This also includes assessing how the disease is impacting the food system. We will continue to work on agritourism related issues. Work is expected to conclude on our NIFA-funded agricultural clusters project with New Jersey (Rutgers). In addition, we expect to complete our research on the relationship between the farm and non-farm economies in different regions of the U.S.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This year we advanced scholarship that focused on community resiliency, regional development, leadership and organizational development, participatory engagement for invasive species management, and rural opportunities and resilience in light of the global novel coronavirus pandemic. The Victoria Rabbit Action Network, a community-led, government-supported systems approach to managing invasive rabbit populations, was recognized with the United Nations Public Service Award, one of ten such awards globally, for its contributions to building inclusive and resilient communities, improving life on the land (UN Sustainable Development Goal 15), and strengthening scholarship informing policy and public management for environmental and economic issues -- particularly in rural areas (Goals 1A and 2D). We also contributed to analyzing transformative learning experiences and perceived public value of participation in the Nuffield International Farming Scholars Program with an emphasis on individual and collective capacity building through sustainable leadership (Goal1F). Further, Dr. Alter conducted a personal working philosophy of leadership seminar series with Penn State extension educators designed to enhance their individual and collective capacity to strengthen organizations and communities across Pennsylvania through engaged scholarship (Goals 1A and 1C). Alter also published research focusing on the role of colleges and universities in supporting regional and national economic development with emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship (Goals 1A and 1C). In response to the global novel coronavirus pandemic, our collaborations with several partners focused on the implications of the pandemic on rural opportunities, resilience, and entrepreneurship. With West Virginia and Michigan, we developed and widely distributed an issues brief on the COVID-19 implications for rural broadband availability, in which we conclude that without twin investments in both physical broadband infrastructure and in the human skills needed to use the infrastructure, rural areas will not be able to compete in the post-COVID-19 economy, and rural-urban differences and inequities are likely to become even more pronounced (Goals 1D, 1F, and 2A). With Colorado, we entered into a USDA-AMS cooperative agreement, led by the University of Kentucky, exploring the impacts, adaptations and innovations of COVID-19 on U.S. local and regional food systems (Goal 1D). Additionally, although not formally identified as a project goal, it is worth noting that as a result of our ongoing collaboration, several project team members were involved in the Southern Region Science Association&#39;s effort to pivot its in-person conference to a series of virtual events. Penn State provided technical hosting, with participation from team members in Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Earlier in the project year, our research with Michigan and West Virginia on the community-level factors that influence life expectancy was published in Social Science and Medicine and was publicized with a Penn State news release. We found that American communities with more fast-food restaurants, a larger share of extraction industry-based jobs, or higher population density have shorter life expectancies, findings that can help communities identify and implement changes that may promote longer lifespans among their residents (Goals 1D, 2B and 2F). With our partners at Rutgers, we continued our research on the NIFA-funded grant on agricultural clusters and published research demonstrating a new way of accounting for both the co-location of related industries and the spatial spillover of concentration into neighboring counties (Goal 1C).

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Goetz, S. J., Schmidt, C., Chase, L., & Kolodinsky, J. M. (2020). Americans Food Spending Patterns Explain Devastating Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Agriculture [NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief No. 2020-9]. https://bit.ly/3dppu49
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Meadowcroft, D., & Goetz, S. J. (2020, August 19). The Relationship between Opioid-Related Deaths and High-Risk Jobs. Southern Regional Science Association Virtual Conference Session. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdzR85v44PI.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reid, Michael J., Hull, Lauren A., Alter, Theodore R., Adams, Lisa B., Kleinert, Heidi M., & Woolnough, Andrew P. (2019). New development: Public sector responses to complex socio-ecological issuesno silver bullets for rabbits, Public Money & Management, DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2019.1685168
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: NERCRD 2019 Annual Report. (2020). https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/publications/annual-report.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Tian, Z., Gottlieb, P.D., Dobis, E., Hira, A., Reid, N., & Goetz, S.J. (2019, November 14). Detecting Agricultural Clusters with the Spatial-IO Location Quotient. 66th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schmidt, C., Tian, Z., & Goetz, S. J. (2019, November 15). Local Economic Development Impacts of Agritourism. 66th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Stephens, H. M., & Dobis, E. A. (2019, November 14). Do Urban-Rural Interactions Matter for Economic Vitality in U.S. Regions? 66th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Tian, Z., Gottlieb, P. D., & Goetz, S. J. (2019). Measuring industry co-location across county borders. Spatial Economic Analysis, 122. https://doi.org/10.1080/17421772.2020.1673898
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Claudia Hitaj, Irene M. Xiarchos, Roger Coupal, Timothy W. Kelsey, and Richard S. Krannich. 2020. Shale Gas and Oil Development: A Review of the Local Environmental, Fiscal, and Social Impacts. Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy. 9(2). DOI: 10.5547/2160-5890.9.1.chit
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Lonie, Jean P., Brennan, Mark A. and Alter, Theodore R (2020). Perceived Public Value, Community Building, and Sustainable Leadership Development in Agriculture: A Case Study of Capacity Building through the Nuffield International Farming Scholars Program. Sustainable Development and Leadership Strategies, Edited by Patrick Blessinger and Enakshi Sengupta. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Fortunato, Michael W.P., Alter, Theodore R., with Clevenger, Morgan. R, and MacGregor, Cynthia J. (2019). Higher Educational Engagement in Economic Development in Collaboration with Corporate Powerhouses. Business and Corporation Engagement with Higher Education: Models, Theories, and Best Practices. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Arbogast, D., Eades, D., & Goetz, S. (2019, October 9). The State of Extension and Tourism: Capacity and Opportunities for Cooperative Extension. National Extension Tourism Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation conference, Astoria, OR.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dobis, E. A., Reid, N., Schmidt, C., & Goetz, S. J. (2019). The Role of Craft Breweries in Expanding (Local) Hop Production. Journal of Wine Economics, 14(4), 374382. https://doi.org/10.1017/jwe.2019.17
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dobis, E. A., Stephens, H. M., Skidmore, M., & Goetz, S. J. (2020). Explaining the spatial variation in American life expectancy. Social Science & Medicine, 246, 112759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112759


Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Academics; economic and community development professionals and practitioners; natural resource management professionals and practitioners; federal, state and local policy-makers; and general public. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several graduate assistantships were funded by studies and research associated with this project. Further, presentations made at various venues (see products) provided research updates to Research and Extension audience members. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of the studies and research have been disseminated to communities of interest which include policymakers, practitioners, and the public through workshops, presentations, publicly published reports, press releases, and social media. Findings have been disseminated to academics and scholarly audiences via academic journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Over the next reporting period we will continue to work on long-term county-level determinants of life expectancy with Michigan and West Virginia, as well as on factors contributing to opioids addiction at the county-level using death certificate data. We will continue to work on agritourism-related issues including the impacts of wineries and breweries within local communities. Work will also continue on our NIFA-funded agricultural clusters project with New Jersey (Rutgers) and Ohio. In addition, we will use state of the art panel data methods to investigate the relationship between the farm and non-farm economies in different regions of the U.S.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1 Outcomes Working with West Virginia and Ohio, we published a scientific paper interpreting current economic conditions, "The Economic Status of Rural America in the President Trump Era and Beyond." This shows that rural areas&#39; slower growth is in large part due to the reclassification of rural counties over time as metropolitan. We continued research in collaboration with several partners on the project on food systems (with Colorado and New York), and rural economic opportunities including agritourism, wine and beer economics, economic clustering, and relationships among entrepreneurship-ecosystem-innovation in rural communities. Our research with Colorado examined competition among food hubs, as one entrepreneurial endeavor, and identifies the population thresholds required in a community to be able to support one, two, or three viable food hubs. Impact Our paper with West Virginia and Ohio demonstrably changed knowledge among representatives of the highest level of decision making in the federal government, namely the U.S. President&#39;s Council of Economic Advisors. The Chairman of this committee, K. Hasset, wrote to us that our paper was "insightful and critical to the completion of the 2019 Economic Report of the President." The paper cited in the report, "The Economic Status of Rural America in the President Trump Era and Beyond," explains our finding that rural areas&#39; slower growth is in large part due to the reclassification of rural counties over time as metropolitan. Our work with Colorado and New York produced numerous outputs (data, presentations, publications), which in turn create impacts by changing the knowledge of those who attend our presentations and read our publications. In the process we are also providing training opportunities for future scientists. The findings around food hubs help funding agencies establish criteria to determine whether and where new food hubs should be added, and they help rural communities evaluate the appropriateness of investing in such infrastructure. Our research on rural trends, opportunities, and issues in the NE has generated great interest, resulting in several invited presentations that result in a change in thinking and knowledge on the part of those who attended. For example, in a special session at the PA Planning Association organized by Stephan Goetz (PI), the planning community gained new knowledge on how rural areas can contend with the changing nature of the economy, and specifically on the potential roles they can play in supporting new rural economic opportunities. Goal 2 Outcomes Working with Oregon, we published a paper on the effects of distance from metropolitan areas on economic mobility and lifelong economic resiliency and found that the farther away from a city a person is raised, the more likely they are to climb the economic ladder. We continued research in collaboration with several partners on the project on opioid use and life expectancy (with Michigan and West Virginia). We also published a scientific paper in Applied Economics entitled "Predicting US County Economic Resilience from Industry Input-Output Accounts," which contributes to the science base on factors and policies affecting the resiliency of rural communities. Impact This paper with Oregon contributes new knowledge to inform policy aimed at improving mobility, which plays an important role in economic resiliency and opportunity. It suggests that such policy should not simply consider rural and urban effects but should account for distance as well. This research also found that community characteristics associated with upward mobility actually have different effects in rural and urban locations, suggesting that place-based policies that specifically address these differences are needed if we want to improve mobility. The impact of this paper with Oregon is evident from the fact that it received over 57,000 Yes votes on Reddit. These lines of inquiry produce outputs (data, presentations, publications), which in turn create impacts by changing the knowledge of those who attend our presentations and read our publications. The PI&#39;s research on resiliency led to him being invited to serve on a panel at a scientific conference; his presentation will impact those who attend the session at the conference.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Alter, T. R., Fuller, T. E., Schmidt, C., Sontheimer, T., Hoy, R., Martino, N. (2019). Pennsylvania: Bust to Boom? Great Recession to Recovery & Beyond. Report for the Center for Economic and Community Development, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Adams, LB., Alter, TR., Parkes, MW., Reid, M., Woolnough, AP. 2019. Political economics, collective action and wicked socio-ecological problems: A practice story from the field. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 12:1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cleary, Rebecca, Stephan J. Goetz, Dawn Thilmany, and Houtian Ge. 2019. Excess Competition Among Food Hubs. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 44 (1): 1-S7.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Devlin, Kristen. Study of Northeast Food System Advances Understanding of Regional Potential. Penn State News, October 18, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Goetz, Stephan J. 2019. Rural-Urban Interdependency. Presented at the Mini Land-Grant Meeting, Coral Springs, FL, March 20.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Goetz, Stephan J, Meri Davlasheridze, Yicheol Han, and David A. Fleming-Mu�oz. 2018. Explaining the 2016 Vote for President Trump across U.S. Counties. Edited by Craig Gundersen. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, October. https://doi.org/10.1093/aepp/ppy026.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Han, Yicheol, and Stephan J. Goetz. 2019. Measuring Network Rewiring over Time. PLOS ONE 14 (7): e0220295. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220295.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Miller, M., Gurklis, A., Alter, T. R., (2019) Growing Community: A Penn State Extension Story. University Park, PA: Ag Communications and Marketing
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schmidt, Claudia 2019. Success Factors and Barriers for Pennsylvanias Agricultural Producers to Increase Farm Profitability with Agritourism. Presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Atlanta, GA, July 23.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schmidt, Claudia, Stephan J. Goetz, and Zheng Tian. 2019. Female-Operated Farms and U.S. Agricultural Viability. Presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Atlanta, GA, July 23.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schmidt, Claudia and Alyssa Collins. 2019. Hemp and Hop Outlook. Presented at the Summer Outlook Meeting, Cincinatti, OH, August 15.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Han, Yicheol, and Stephan J. Goetz. 2019. Modeling Spatial Supply Chains Using County-Level Production and Consumption Estimates and the National Input Output Table. Presented at the Western Region Science Association, Napa Valley, CA, February 11.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Han, Yicheol, Stephan J. Goetz, and Claudia Schmidt. 2019. Modeling Spatial Supply Chains. Presented at the 59th Congress of the European Regional Science Association, Lyon, France, August 28.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Griffie, Debra, Lynn James, Stephan Goetz, Brandon Balotti Yau-Huo Shr, Marilyn Corbin, Timothy Kelsey. 2018. Outcomes and Economic Benefits of the Dining with Diabetes Community-Based Lifestyle Modification Program in Pennsylvania. Preventing Chronic Disease. 15:E50.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Berger, Aaron, Timothy W. Kelsey, Stephan J. Goetz, Robert C. Goodling, Jr, and Virginia A. Ishler. 2019. The Financial Impact of Penn State Extensions Know Your Numbers Dairy Program. Journal of Extension. 57:1 (February).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Melvin Myers, Timothy Kelsey, Pam Tinc, Julie Sorensen, Paul Jenkins, Rollover Protective Structures, Worker Safety, and Cost-Effectiveness: New York, 20112017, American Journal of Public Health 108, no. 11 (November 1, 2018): pp. 1517-1522. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304644
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Haggerty, Julia, Kristin K. Smith, Jason Weigle, Timothy W. Kelsey, Kathryn Walsh, Roger Coupal, David L. Kay, Paul Lachapelle. 2019. Tradeoffs, Balancing, and Adaptation in the Agriculture-Oil and Gas Nexus: Insights form Farmers and Ranchers in the United States. Energy Research & Social Science. 47 (Jan): 84-92. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2018.08.012
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Lachapelle, Paul, Kristin Smith, Julia Haggerty, Timothy W. Kelsey. 2018. The National Extension Oil and Gas Initiative. Journal of Extension. Vol. 56:7 (December).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jeffrey B. Jacquet, Anne N. Junod, Dylan Bugden, Grace Wildermuth, Joshua T. Fergen, Kathryn Brasier, Kai Schafft, Leland L. Glenna, Timothy W. Kelsey, Joshua Fershee, Paige Hagley, Richard C. Stedman, and David L. Kay. 2018. A decade of Marcellus Shale: impacts to people, policy, and culture from 2007 to 2017 in the Greater Mid-Atlantic region of the United States Extractive Industries and Society. 5:4. Pp. 596-609. November, 2018.


Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Academics; economic and community development professionals and practitioners; natural resource management professionals and practitioners; federal, state and local policy-makers; and general public. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several graduate assistantships were funded by studies and research associated with this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of the studies and research have been disseminated to communities of interest which include policymakers, practitioners, and the public through workshops, presentations, and publicly published reports. Findings have been disseminated to academics and scholarly audiences via academic journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue investigating the efficacy of collective innovation at the group and community levels and the role of the entrepreneurial ecology in that collective action process. Work will focus on empirically examining the role and impact of the arts and culture sector of the economy, specifically arts incubator initiatives, in driving business, community, and regional economic development and fostering community and regional development, more generally. In addition, research on community-led action initiatives for strengthening natural resource management will continue, with emphasis on invasive animal and weed management and control. In this context, planned work will focus on investigating the human dimensions, broadly defined, of natural resource management. Finally, analyses of state and sectoral-level employment change across the business cycle will be a third major focus of this research initiative. We also will continue to finetune the research using the input output table as a basis for modeling counties as complex adaptive economic systems and also study supply chains for individual sectors that straddle rural and urban county boundaries. The research on arts and creativity also is expected to continue.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Progress was made in several areas related to this project. This research contributed to better understanding of the nexus between entrepreneurship and community development, specifically, the entrepreneurial ecology, broadly writ. Conceptually, the results position entrepreneurship as deeply embedded in - and inseparable from - community, social, and economic structures and frames community entrepreneurship development as a multidimensional and challenging strategy, economically speaking, but one that produces many benefits beyond economic growth. Analysis of state and sectoral-level employment change across the business cycle revealed dramatic spatial variability of employment growth and decline among rural and urbanized areas.Related work focused on the role and efficacy of academics in entrepreneurship development and suggests that university faculty and staff must step outside their roles and, quite often, allow their academic expertise to take a subordinate role to citizen-driven entrepreneurial expertise, thus transitioning from an expert-driven model toward a citizen-expert co-creation model of innovation and entrepreneurship. With respect to the intersection of community and natural resource management, the research contributed to understanding of community engagement and community-led action for managing and resolving resource management issues. This work has highlighted the criticality of better understanding the human dimensions of natural resource management as variables in developing, designing, and implementing more broadly accepted and effective policy and program initiatives. Research and outreach also have continued around local economic resilience measures, including the development of new insights related to how the local industry input output structure influences resilience over time at the county level. Further, a new study was initiated to understand the rural-urban interdependence of counties by examining economic transactions among different industries, including agricultural, automotive and services-based. Attendance at the OECD conference in Edinburgh, Scotland on rural innovation allowed one of the investigators to learn more about the major trends and issues affecting rural areas around the world. These insights were subsequently developed into a presentation with specific focus on the Northeast U.S. This work was shared with the combined NERA/NEED leadership at their joint summer meeting. Preliminary research also was initiated focusing on the roles of creative and arts-related occupations in economic resilience and growth and this works shows considerable promise. The work on rural mega trends and on rural-urban linkages has been shared at a number of venues, including the West Virginia University annual extension conference and a regional National Governor&#39;s Association summit. It also has resulted in an invitation to present at University of Florida annual Extension conference in March 2019.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Alter, T.R., Fuller, T.E., Seigworth, G. & Sontheimer, T. (2018). Pennsylvania Agriculture-Where the Action Is Research report for the Center for Economic and Community Development, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Alter, T.R., Fuller, T.E., Seigworth, G. & Sontheimer, T. (2018). Pennsylvania Employment on the Move Research report for the Center for Economic and Community Development, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Alter, T.R., Fuller, T.E., Seigworth, G. & Sontheimer, T. (2018). Pennsylvania Population on the Move Research report for the Center for Economic and Community Development, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Alter, T.R., Peters, S.J., & Shaffer, T.J. (2018). Jumping into Civic Life: Stories of Public Work from Extension Professionals. Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation Press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Engle, Elyzabeth W., Susannah H. Barsom, Lydia Vandenbergh, Glenn E. Sterner III, and Theodore R. Alter. (2018). Developing a Framework for Sustainability Meta-Competencies. International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Howard, T., Alter, T.R., Frumento, P.Z., & Thompson, L-J. (2018). Community pest management in practice: A narrative approach. Melbourne, AU: Springer Nature.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Martin, P., Alter, T. R., Hine, D., Curtis, P., & Howard, T. (2018). Modern theories and practices for effective community-based control of invasive species. Canberra, AU: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Goetz, Stephan J. 2018. NGA Regional Leadership Workshop: Rural Trends, Issues and Opportunities in the Northeast U.S. presented at the National Governors Association Regional Leadership Workshop on Good Jobs for All Americans, Pittsburgh, PA, September 13.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Haggerty, Julia, Kristin K. Smith, Jason Weigle, Timothy W. Kelsey, Kathryn Walsh, Roger Coupal, David L. Kay, Paul Lachapelle. Other than That, the Income was Nice: Unconventional Oil and Gas as Balancing Act on U.S. Farms and Ranches. Energy Research & Social Science. Forthcoming 2018
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hoy, Kyle, Irene M. Xiarchos, Timothy W. Kelsey, Kathy Brasier, and Leland Glenna. 2018. Farming and Marcellus Shale Gas Development. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Osmane, Sarah, and Timothy W. Kelsey. 2018. Impact of Forced Pooling on Local Drilling Decisions. Journal of Extension.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Myers, Melvin, Timothy Kelsey, Pamela J Tinc, Julie A Sorenson, and Paul L. Jenkins. 2018. Cost-effectiveness of a ROPS Social Marketing Campaign: An Update. Submitted to the American Journal of Public Health. Forthcoming.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Han, Yicheol, and Stephan J. Goetz. 2018. Predicting US County Economic Resilience from Industry IO Accounts. Applied Economics. Forthcoming.