Investing in Rural Illinois: Promoting Economic, Workforce, Healthcare, and Educational Development

Recommendations from the report include that the state of Illinois, and constituent agencies and councils such as the GRAC continue to adopt a holistic approach to rural development that emphasizes the synergistic relationship between the agricultural and rural non-farm economy. [...] In recognizing this mutually reinforcing relationship between the farming and rural non-farm economy, the report further emphasizes the importance of agencies working together to solve rural development issues, while building on rural assets to improve the quality of life in rural Illinois. [...] Origins of the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council While the seeds of the Farm Crisis were sown in the 1970s, the worst impacts of the Farm Crisis weren’t felt until the middle of the 1980s. [...] In addition to the already established Rural Fair Share Initiative and the GRAC, the final report recommended the passage of the Rural Diversification Act, and the creation of four research and technical assistance centers including the Office of Rural Community Development, the Center for Value- Added Agriculture, the Center for Forestry Industry Development, and the IIRA, to be located at WIU. [...] The purpose of the GRAC continues to be resolving the paradox explored at the beginning of this section of the report.