THE RURBAN FRINGE

Reap the Benefits of a Corn Maze

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In many rural areas, pumpkin-picking, corn-mazing and hayriding across crisp fields define the fall months - by far the busiest season for agritourism businesses. 
A growing number of tourists – largely urban and suburban families with children - are taking the time to explore such local attractions, [...]

Farmers Become Ag Educators

In Ontario, a rural leadership and capacity-building project is offering communities, agencies and organizations the opportunity to identify and build the skills of local leaders through a series of relevant program and resource tools.
Part of this project asked rural communities to share what makes their communities great … with Harold and Shelley McPhail – the [...]

Ag Boom Misses Small Towns

While many people think small towns and farming activities go hand-in-hand, Adam Belz, in the Des Moines Register, writes otherwise. 
Although agricultural land prices have increased in both Canada and the US, the spin-offs don’t always benefit the communities they surround.  “We have this decoupling of farms from their particular small rural communities,” says Cornelia Flora, a sociology [...]

Betting on the Farm

In the March 21, 2011 publication of Maclean’s magazine, Sarah Elton’s article - Betting the farm – and winning - highlights how farmland, not farming, is providing new opportunities for investors.  Not everyone is exited.
From the article:
“Farmland is food land,” said Kevin Wipf, executive director of the National Farmers’ Union, which authored a report that condemns the trend.  “To have [...]

Rurban Sense and Sensibilities

With increasing numbers of people moving from urban areas to suburban/rural residential developments near farmland, the result is often a mix of dashed expectations or distress.  In the country, farming is often a way of life … with all the dust, noise and smells that go along with it.  But do new residents really understand their [...]

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