central Ohio
my hometown of st. Paris is the kind of
place where the County Fair Queen is
treated as real royalty and the high
school football quarterback is better
known than most Hollywood celebrities
the election of 2016 has painted rural
towns as blighted rusted out communities
with little opportunity for progress I’d
like to provide a few explanations for
the rising angst in rural America and
also pose a few possible solutions I
will soon be the fifth generation to
inherit a small portion of my family
farm this is a photo of my late
grandparents Melvin and Phyllis bode who
took great care of the farmhouse that
they’re pictured here in front of with
the intent to pass it down for
generations to come
however there are a number of things
that separate me from Melvin and Phyllis
I’m the first in my family to move away
from home and the first in my family to
obtain a college education however I
want to emphasize that I am by no means
unique in this endeavor in fact I am
part of a growing trend that is swept
rural America in the last one or two
generations a trend in which young
people move away to the urban center
seeking higher education often never to
return to their small sleepy towns a
phenomenon known as the rural brain
drain imagine the top 30 to 40% of a
high school graduating class in a rural
area
these students are told that they are
destined for greatness
perhaps they excel in academics or
extracurricular activities these
students are put on a path for college
prep they often find themselves moving
to the cities seeking higher education
and once there experience diversity
unlike they’ve seen before not just
diversity in race or religion or ethnic
affiliation sexual identity but also in
diversity of Economic Opportunity
they’re exposed to higher paying jobs
that perhaps themselves and their
parents have yet to see in their young
lives young people who move away often
can find it difficult to return to a
place that is perhaps stuck in the times
when
comes to social progress I know for me
coming out as a gay woman was a surefire
way for me to be the topic of
conversation in the local diner for at
least the next year but those who choose
to stay behind face their own slew of
problems these young people may be
working multiple minimum-wage jobs to
get by perhaps they’re commuting long
distances to one of the few
manufacturing jobs left or maybe they’re
drowning in millions of dollars in farm
loan debt trying to keep alive the
promise and tradition of their family
farm what’s more is as it becomes
difficult to attract and retain talented
teachers public school systems begin to
fail and sometimes close as the
population ages there are fewer left to
take care of the rural elderly what’s
more is as those young people move away
there are a few people left to run
successful small businesses the
heartbeat of a rural economy they also
choose not to take on the family farm
selling it off into larger and larger
corporate agriculture operations but
perhaps the most tragic is when rural
Americans turn to the promise of a pill
or a pipe or syringe to escape the
economic hardship they never imagined
that they would have to endure I
strongly believe that the unraveling of
rural America is the great silent
tragedy of our time but the rural brain
drain has a profound impact on two
things I care deeply about agriculture
and politics starting first with
agriculture we know that in the last 30
to 40 years our food system has become
more and more consolidated as farmers
who were once producing diverse ranges
of crops and products like my own family
farm where there was once dairy and
vegetables and corn and wheat and
soybeans these farmers are forced into
monoculture crops just to keep the
lights on what’s more is these ventures
are forced to grow to larger and larger
sizes with greater implements in order
to maintain a profit margin that’s worth
keeping furthermore it’s nearly
impossible for young people to start
farming in America the capital
investment is
simply to great and without access to
that capital young people who wish to
become stewards of the land be it those
who have moved off into the urban
centers in wish to return or those who
have never lived in a rural community
before it’s very difficult for them to
do so as the urban centers cry out for
local and diverse and sustainable food
there are a few young people left to
take on those risks or who are simply
able to do so what’s more is that the
rural brain-drain has a profound impact
on politics as we’ve seen in the
election of 2016
political polarization in the United
States has increased and I would argue
that the flight of young people from
rural America has a lot to do with it
with less diverse perspectives and fewer
young people available in rural
communities to be voters and civic
leaders there are fewer people who are
able to take on new ideas of progressive
change but it’s not just national
politics that are impacted who will run
for County Commissioner or the local
school board if there’s not the next
generation of young agriculturalists and
young business leaders in rural America
Thomas Jefferson freely wrote of a rural
America that was maintained by farmers
farmers see an investment in their
community as an investment in their
business these are the people who will
wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to
bottle-feed a calf and stay up until
midnight at the school board meeting
because they see this investment unravel
day in and day out in their daily lives
I wish I could say that I had one
solution for the growing issues in rural
America but I think there are certainly
a few places that we can get started as
the national conversation around rural
communities really begins to
reinvigorate itself first there’s a lot
we can do when it comes to our food
system thankfully our country has
decided that investing and local and
sustainable food and a more diverse food
system is now socially desirable and I
applaud all of us for that however
buying local food and investing in local
food systems shouldn’t just be a feel
good thing for ourselves that we’re
somehow putting something better on our
plate it should be seen as an economic
investment
for the kinds of places like my hometown
places that need that economic boost
more than anyone else I would also argue
that by investing in small farmers and
in young farmers
we also invigorate rural economies
perhaps we could begin to invest in
diversified loan programs or grant
programs for young people who want to
start farming maybe a young woman could
transform a sleepy close small-town
storefront into an innovative kitchen
space to produce cottage products for
Ohio’s farmers markets maybe we will be
able to transform land to begin growing
hops for Ohio’s craft beer industry or
perhaps by investing in broadband
internet access we can expand services
like blue apron to include local Ohio
products at faster paces with the
greater economic impact on Ohio farmers
but furthermore there’s a lot we can do
when it comes to politics by investing
in young farmers I would argue we invest
in their communities as well again not
just nationally but those who are going
to be a volunteer at the local public
library or those who take on the role of
PTO president I strongly believe that
rural America will begin to see a new
wave of economic invigoration
thanks to the investment in agriculture
but those of us who perhaps are a little
bit disconnected from a rural community
perhaps we’ve never lived there
or have long taken apart from our rural
cousins as those who don’t deserve our
attention will begin to elevate them to
the national political conversation
these folks have unfortunately been left
out of the conversation unless they are
a ploy for winning a national election
and then simply walking away from them I
would argue that neither party truly
represents rural America and that both
have a significant amount of work to do
if those of us in the room who want to
be a part of the party of righting
inequalities have to start to take
action in rural communities as well but
furthermore as a university we have
obligations as well the Ohio State
University has a presence and nearly
every
in the state of Ohio thanks to the
Cooperative Extension system and we must
continue to invest in Cooperative
Extension
thanks to this week and assimilate
research that happens here at the
University into every county in the
state of Ohio be it that we disseminate
research in clean energy technology to
invest in the next generation of rural
jobs or in agriculture or civic research
as well the Ohio State University has an
obligation to its land-grant mission and
we must continue to adhere to that
mission but finally I have obligations
of my own obligations to my country and
obligations to my grandparents Melvin
and Phyllis they took great care and
passing on their family farm because
they knew that being an agricultural
list and an active member of civic
society was the greatest role in
American could take on and I have to say
that I strongly agree with them in fact
I would say if Melvin and Phyllis had it
their way I would move home and farm for
the rest of my life in their beautiful
little farmhouse but I think that I can
live in both worlds I think as I move in
to this precipice this next part of my
life I can be a farmer and also make
positive public change on a national
scale on a state scale on a local scale
and I would ask many of you in the room
to consider doing the same consider
elevating rural communities to the
greater conversation they are one of the
few places where everyone is your
neighbor and the American Dream still
lives and is hung on to by everyone who
lives there I would ask each of you to
reconsider the way that you talk about
your rural counterparts and perhaps
begin to elevate them into your own
conversations ask questions about how
you can include them in your next great
idea I know that for me I will be
working day in and day out to preserve
these communities and will stay
alongside them in their pursuit for the
American dream thank you [Applause]