In spring 2019, the Oklahoma segment of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (OK-MKARNS), a significant in-land water transportation segment in the Central Great Plains region of the United States, was forced to close for months due to an extreme flooding event. The OK-MKARNS supports the economy of multiple states and their connection to domestic and international markets through the Mississippi River. However, the flood's direct, indirect, and induced impacts on Oklahoma's economy and the economies of the surrounding states of Arkansas, Colorado, and Kansas are unknown. The disruption's impacts on the region's economies are evaluated at the congressional district levels of these states using a multi-regional input-output model. Disruption of the waterway transportation resulted in a total loss ranging between 66 and 791 jobs, $15.36 to $175.04 million in output, and $6.08 to $72.98 million in value-added, depending on the duration of the delay experienced by industries. The magnitude of economic loss varied for each congressional district, depending on its economic base's composition and proximity to the OK-MKARNS navigational system. These findings could be helpful to legislators and other decision-makers in allocating scarce resources toward the maintenance of navigable waterway infrastructure. The multi-regional focus of the analysis also suggests a potential role concerning collaborative efforts between legislators across state borders to garner federal spending to support navigable waterway services.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federally funded and state adminis­tered program to combat food insecurity. Analyz­ing factors in SNAP participation is important to understanding consumption in food systems and supporting community development. As of 2019, 565,900 Oklahomans participate in the SNAP pro­gram, approximately 84% of those eligible for the program. This leads to two questions: why do those who are eligible participate, and how can we better reach those who do not? We analyzed county-level SNAP participation among the income-eligible to identify explanatory characteris­tics of SNAP usage. Data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) and the U.S. Census Bureau were used to perform a regression analysis on 12 variables, such as store access and number of dependents. The percentage of house­holds with children under 18 and the unemploy­ment rate are associated with increases in SNAP participation among those eligible. Store access and rurality are associated with a decline in SNAP usage. These findings will aid policymakers, SNAP administrators, and outreach education groups in improving program participation by targeting groups susceptible to food insecurity and with low SNAP usage who could benefit from participation.

According to prior research, local food purchases at anchor institutions (AIs) support community development and food system resilience. AIs are placed-based organizations, such as schools, uni­versi­ties, and hospitals, that support their commu­nities by virtue of their mission. The COVID-19 pan­demic presents a unique opportunity to exam­ine how these institutions can support food system resilience during a period of increasing food inse­curity and supply chain disruptions. This study uses mixed methods, including interview and survey data, to investigate how foodservice operations at New England AIs adapted to COVID-19 and sup­ported local food systems throughout the pan­demic. The findings demonstrate that AIs experi­enced shortages of everyday food items among their broadline distributors—large, national distrib­utors that carry a wide variety of food products. However, AIs adapted to these shortages and found alternate sources for these products thanks to mutually beneficial relationships with local pro­ducers. Having relationships with both local and national distributors was an important source of functional redundancy within institutional food supply chains, reducing institutions’ reliance on a single supplier and enhancing their resilience. This finding suggests that local purchasing relationships help AIs adapt to systemic disruptions, further incentivizing farm-to-institution programs. This study also found that AIs engaged in a wide array of food access initiatives during the pandemic, including pop-up grocery stores and serving free or reduced-price meals. These initiatives supported staff members and communities through food shortages and increased food insecurity. We sug­gest that these diverse food access initiatives, some of which were created in response to COVID-19 and many of which were in place before the pan­demic, are an accessible way for AIs to support food system resilience in capacities beyond procurement.

Given the growing interest in local food systems and the complexity of modeling the economic impacts of such systems, the Local Food Impact Calculator (LFIC) was created to provide a simple but methodologically sound tool to assist practitioners. In this paper, we cite four examples, along with discussion of each, to illustrate both the use and application of the calculator, as well as to provide additional insights into using the calculator. Readers will learn that economic impact analysis provides information about industrial linkages in the local economy, and how to understand the implied multiplier's value from the LFIC in the context of their local economy. When used carefully, the LFIC can be a useful tool for use in community conversations around local foods.

Extension professionals may be pointed towards controversial and contentious public issues. Oil and gas issues, such as hydraulic fracturing, are a challenge for Extension in many states. Public policy education is a tested method that helps Extension professionals maintain credibility and relevance. The professional can help assist communities that are divided and unable to find common ground. This article applies public policy education to oil and gas activity, including hydraulic fracturing.

This article provides basic information for Extension professionals about oil and gas exploration and extraction. Information about hydraulic fracturing, land application of drilling mud, potential community outcomes, and Extension education opportunities are discussed. Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), Community and Rural Development, and Agriculture Extension state and field staff can use this basic information to help plan successful programming. The issues associated with oil and gas activity have potential impacts on audiences of Extension education. A companion article frames these topics as a public issue for Extension.

Small and home-based businesses have long been identified by Extension educators as an important component of economic development, particularly in rural areas. The services available to these businesses can take many forms, including management training, accessibility of local funding, providing incubation facilities, or setting up mentoring relationships. Extension educators wanting to promote certain services should be aware of historical rates of use of these programs and their impacts on various success measures for small businesses. State-level survey results of small business owners are used to discuss the services used, different measures of success, and statistical relationships between the two.

The Food Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 included a new provision that allowed managed haying and grazing (including the harvest of biomass), if consistent with the conservation of soil, water quality, and wildlife habitat, in return for partial reductions in the annual CRP payments. The legislation provided for managed (or limited use) haying and grazing on the CRP acreage rather than prohibiting all use. This research analyzed whether or not the alternative grazing and haying scenarios would dramatically impact the price of beef or hay, and we estimated the impact such changes would have on state economies.

Using U.S. county-level population between 2000 and 2006 with two sets of broadband data (Cable and DSL) from the year 2000, we apply several econometric models to test whether the early existence of broadband access significantly affects migration. We find mild support for broadband access impacting net migration in urban areas. In contrast to anecdotal evidence, we find that rural counties with a single type of broadband did not experience a significant in-migration, suggesting that broadband access many not help solve out-migration problems. Only rural counties with both Cable and DSL access saw significant in-migration relative to similar counties without broadband.