Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide: Reconnecting People to Land and Each Other

Excerpt from Welcome by Courtney White:
"On behalf of The Quivira Coalition, welcome to our Fifth Annual Conference. This year we tackle something old and something new: bridging the urban-rural divide. It's old in the sense that as long as there have been cities, there's been tension between urban and rural populations. What's new is how rapidly the divide has grown in America over recent decades.

"In 1993, the U.S. Census dropped its long-standing annual survey of farm residents. Farm population across the nation had dwindled from 40% of households in 1900 to a statistically insignificant 2% by 1990. The Bureau decided that a survey was no longer relevant.

"This begs a question then: why bother about the urban-rural divide at all? Why should the 98% of Americans who live in cities care about the remaining 2%? And what can rural residents realistically do to remain relevant?

"One answer can be found in A Sand County Almanac, where Aldo Leopold cautions us that "There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from a furnace."

"Food is relevant, as is heat, water, wildlife, open space and many other essentials that urban needs and rural has. In this sense, the divide may be more cultural than economic. Like squabbling siblings, urban and rural need each other, though they may not get along as well as they should. Understanding each other's needs and wants is a good reason for renewed dialogue."