Marfa, Texas, may be small, but it has a big newspaper success story

Co-owner Max Kabat keeps the cafe stocked with Big Bend 
Sentinel newspapers. (CBS video clip)

Like many rural newspapers in towns off the beaten path, The Big Bend Sentinel didn't make a lot of money. But that didn't make it any less important. The paper had been serving up local news for tiny Marfa, Texas, in far west Presidio County, for nearly a century. 

When the Sentinel's owners decided to sell the paper, they were lucky and smart. "Maisie Crow and Max Kabat had moved to Marfa from New York City in 2016 in search of community," reports Janet Shamlian of CBS News. "Then, in 2019, the paper's owners approached them about buying it. They said they had never considered it before." Kabat told her, "A newspaper found us. We didn't go and search out to find the newspaper."

Crow had worked with local news outlets as a documentary filmmaker, and both she and Kabat knew how unforgiving the newspaper business could be. Shamlian reports, "The couple knew it would be tough to keep the paper afloat without another source of revenue. That's when they became unlikely restaurateurs."

Location of Presidio County, TX
(Wikipedia map)

The couple opened a cafe to add revenue to support their newspaper's bottom line. Crow openly admits that the coffee shop is the biggest money maker. She told Shamlian, "I don't think it would surprise anyone that the large majority of the revenue comes from the coffee shop, the restaurant, and the home goods that we sell."

When Crow and Kabat took over the Sentinel, it had four employees. It now has nearly 20. Shamlian adds, "It's one of Marfa's biggest employers."

Despite its small size, the town is a tourist location, which helps the business, but it's the local support that keeps the paper going. Presidio County Attorney Blair Park told CBS News, "The other news outlets [are] not really concerned about what's going on in Marfa. So if it wasn't for this newspaper, we wouldn't be seeing our local, community news anywhere."

A vodcast and story about The Big Bend Sentinel appears in Editor & Publisher. Watch it here.

Quick hits: Appalachian brooms; soap science; school lunches on tour; summer train traveling; escaping the heat

Cynthia Main makes handmade brooms, Appalachian style.
(Sunhouse Craft photo via the Yonder)

When a talented crafter with an entrepreneurial bent got busy making handmade brooms, a new sustainable business in Appalachia was born. "Rural arts programs helped Eastern Kentucky maker Cynthia Main develop Sunhouse Craft, a sustainable business with an Appalachian sense of place," reports Kim Kobersmith of The Daily Yonder. "Main is driven by sustainability and community. With larger revenues, she can pay her small staff a living wage and offer her restored historic storefront as a community gathering space, while moving closer to her goal of developing a 100% local supply chain."

Pioneering women of the 1800s spent grueling hours over a fire making soap every spring. Sounds horrible, but soap itself is somewhat of a miracle. "The discovery of soap dates back approximately 5,000 years, to the ancient city of Babylon in what is today the country of Iraq," writes Paul E. Richardson for The Conversation. "Although billions of people use soap every day, most don’t know how it works. As a professor of chemistry, I can explain the science of soap. . . Soap molecules come together and surround the grime on your hands. The water-loving heads of the soap molecules are on the surface, with the water-fearing tails inside the micelle. This structure traps the dirt, and running water washes it all away."

 

Philadelphia children eating a 'three-cent dinner' at school.
(Science History Institute photo via Smithsonian)

Since the late 1800s, Americans have been arguing over kids' school lunches, but beyond the controversies, the topic offers an interesting look at the U.S. diet. "A new exhibition in Philadelphia spotlights the evolution of American nutritional health through a unique lens: the school cafeteria," reports Sonja Anderson for Smithsonian magazine. "Medical inspections revealed that schoolchildren were malnourished. Many had scurvy or rickets, diseases caused by vitamin deficiencies. . . . Philadelphia and Boston became two of the first cities to offer meals to public school students in 1894. According to a statement from the museum, the exhibition features a tiny aluminum token from 1909, which a Philadelphia child would have used to purchase a 'penny lunch' at school."

A California Zephyr trip is chockablock with scenic
views. (Amtrak photo)

Summer is a time for growing gardens, hiking, swimming, dodging mosquitoes, slathering on sunscreen, and, if you're lucky, taking a long vacation. "Here's how one writer used the $500 Amtrak rail pass to criss-cross the U.S. over the course of one month," writes McConnell Quinn for Condé Nast Traveler. "Unlike planes, where everyone stays in their bubble, trains are oddly social — a rotating cast of characters and glimpses into lives I’d never otherwise encounter. With the USA Rail Pass, I crossed the country three times in 30 days. . . I watched the Pacific creep into view on the Coast Starlight, rode the California Zephyr through the Rockies at sunset, and drifted to sleep somewhere in Texas on the Sunset Limited."

July's heat is surely coming, and for those of us with limited air conditioning options, planning where you will go to keep from baking -- beyond grocery store freezer aisles -- is a priority. One of the all-time favorite spots for escaping heat and humidity is movie theaters. AMC theaters must know they are part of some people's melting prevention plans because "beginning July 9, the movie theater chain will offer 50% off adult movie tickets on Wednesdays for those part of the AMC Stubs rewards program," reports Ramishah Maruf of CNN News. 

Summer is also a time for great reads. It could be on a beach, by the pool, in the grass with your horse or any number of amazing places to chill out and read. Not sure which book to kick off your summer escape? Try one from this list of books that will be made or have already been released as 2025 movies. Wilson Wong of The New York Times writes, "Here are some of the thrillers, romances, sci-fi page turners and detective novels coming soon to a screen near you. This is a running list. Check back for more updates as the year goes on."

"The first novella in the Murderbot Diaries series, 'All Systems Red,' follows a security android that secretly hacks its own operating system, allowing it to think and act independently," Wong writes. "But when an expedition goes strangely awry, resulting in several scientists’ deaths, the robot must help the humans in its own unit unravel the mystery before a similar tragedy befalls them." Murderbot premiered on Apple TV+ on May 16.

Goldman Sachs commits $100 million to help rural businesses raise capital and expand

Photo by Andrew Kelly, Reuters via ASBN

In a win for rural entrepreneurship, global investment leader Goldman Sachs has committed $100 million to help "rural small business owners raise capital and grow their enterprises" through its 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, reports Colin Velez of America's Small Business Network. "According to the Goldman Sachs website, the company plans to divide the new $100 million among three groups: community lenders funding rural small business owners will receive $75 million; community college courses hosted by the 10,000 Small Businesses organization will receive $15 million; local entrepreneurs will receive the remaining $10 million in the form of grants."

The rural initiative will launch in North Dakota and Arkansas.

The investment will seed entrepreneurship and business growth that addresses rural businesses' unique challenges and vital role in rural community economics and overall health. The release noted how a lack of capital prevents rural business owners from growing their businesses. It cites an "accompanying survey that found only 7% of rural entrepreneurs felt they received adequate support from non-government entities. Limited access to child care, healthcare and labor were also cited as obstacles to expansion," Velez writes. "Noting such individuals employ roughly 65% of their local workforces, the company argued that these conditions are also holding back economic growth."

Rural enterprises often struggle with investment dollars and are "naturally neglected by typical lenders and education institutions, as they represent a smaller portion of the national economy than competitors in more populous states," Velez reports. "If more entrepreneurs were to leverage private and government programs that prioritize small business growth in underserved areas, this could help reverse these tendencies and ultimately ensure wealth is distributed more evenly between different parts of the country." 

'Radically Rural' event in Keene, N.H., Sept. 27-28 wil be all in-person, with 7 tracks including journalism, with 3 sessions

"Radically Rural," the six-year-old community-development conference co-sponsored by The Keene Sentinel, will be full in person this year, without an online component.

This year's theme is “Reimaging Rural,” which “doesn’t always mean something that’s never been done, because sometimes progress includes reaching back to what’s been done before,” Julianna Dodson, director of Radically Rural, said in the Sentinel. “It’s sort of a prompt to help us rethink in new ways.”

The summit, set for Sept. 27-28, is a series of programs co-sponsored by Keene’s Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship. The opening speaker will be Tony Pipa, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Center for Sustainable Development and leader of the nonprofit’s Reimagining Rural Policy initiative, which launched in 2020. He will discuss rural issues with people who have appeatred on his none-episode podcast. The second day will open with Chris Estes, co-executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group, who will talk about “a more cohesive strategy” in community development, Dodson said.

Radically Rural has seven tracks: arts and culture, clean energy, community journalism, entrepreneurship, All in for Health, land and community, and Main Street. The journalism track will be have three sessions: “Building Sustainability,” “Generating Audience Revenue” and “How Do They Do That?: Groundbreaking Journalism,” The first session will include Taos News Publisher Chris Baker, Joey Young of Kansas Publishing Ventures and Tristan Scott, managing editor of the Flathead Beacon in Kalispell, Mont., which dropped its print edition in April.

Shay Totten, newsroom-success manager for the American Press Institute, will moderate the audience-development session, with Arik Ligeti, director of audience for Canadian environmental magazine The Narwhal, and Christiaan Mader, founder of The Current in Lafayette, La., “These are organizations that have grown their subscriber base and their donor base over time,” said Terry Williams, the Sentinel’s senior advisor for audience and community engagement and its former president and chef operating officer

The third journalism session will be “a deep dive into how … journalists have reported on powerful stories” affecting their rural communities, Williams said. They are North Carolina freelance journalist Victoria Bouloubasis; Adam Ganucheau, editor-in-chief of Mississippi Today; and Samantha Hogan, investigative reporter for The Maine Monitor.

Tickets for the event are on sale, with prices based on a sliding scale using the honor system. A limited number of free tickets are also available for low-income people interested in attending. MOre information is available at www.radicallyrural.org.

Farmers' markets' vendors are as diverse as their offerings; they do it for many reasons, Wall Street Journal reports

Trevor Adams of Night Heron Bread scores and bakes bread in his
garage baking space. (Photo by Cayce Clifford, Wall Street Journal)

Farmers' markets' vendors come with produce, bread, jam and most importantly, all things farm fresh. Elizabeth Garone of The Wall Street Journal examines four vendors in California, one of the most popular states for the markets. She finds out why people do it, how much money they make and why it can be a loving struggle. Here are two:

Night Heron Bread started after the pandemic hit, and with income from their local farmers markets' sales, the business is keeping a family going. "Trevor Adams wanted to keep his baking job in San Francisco, but a congenital heart condition, combined with the bakery's tight working quarters, made it impossible to feel safe. . . . He took what he thought would be a temporary leave of absence. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Robin Adams, a garden educator, brainstormed ways to keep the family afloat. . . . At first, he sold his signature sourdough country loaf to friends and family and offered a subscription service that customers could use. . . . They aimed to land a coveted Saturday spot at the farmers market in their home, Alameda. . . . Night Heron Bread—named after a local bird—finally made it to market last year."

Like any farm effort, weather plays a part. "On days with good weather, they load up 125 loaves of bread to sell at $10 to $13 each, plus 50 baguettes at $5. . . . cookies and jars of jam," Garone explains. "Revenue from a Saturday market is usually between $1,600 and $1,800; expenses run around $400 to $500. . . . That leaves about $1,200 profit per market, according to R. Adams." Rainy days require a different strategy. R. Adams told Garone, "If it's pouring consistently for hours. . . . We'll fulfill our pre-orders and have customers pick them up at our house."

A combination of incomes, which includes Robin Adams's full-time job, has helped make Night Heron Bread successful, Garone reports. R. Adams told her, "There's something kind of wildly satisfying about showing up, working hard and driving away with an empty van. . . . A sunny day at the market is everything: the fast pace, enthusiasm for the products you're putting out there."

Joe Schirmer owner of Dirty Girl Produce
(Photo by Cayce Clifford, Wall Street Journal)

Dirty Girl Produce offers a look at a career of farm-to-table through farmers markets. "Owner Joe Schirmer is a farmers-market veteran. . . . He bought his own farm in 1999 in Watsonville, 90 miles from San Francisco. The 40-acre operation grows everything from beans and broccoli to strawberries and tomatoes." Schirmer told Garone, "People go to the farmers market for the best produce, and our model is quality. We know how to make everything look extra pretty and get it to the farmers market when it's fresh when it's just picked."

Finances are unpredictable. "In 2022, the farm did $74,000 in sales at the smallest market and $500,000 at the largest, according to Mr. Schirmer. In all, he took in roughly $1,000,000, 60% of which was direct off-the-table sales at the farmers markets," Garone writes." But after expenses—the biggest of which is labor—the company posted a net loss of $60,000. . . . There are many reasons for the losses, according to Mr. Schirmer, among them pandemic-related issues, a labor shortage and drought."

Still, he loves what he does. "Schirmer says that some of his best friends are other growers he has met at the markets," reports Garone, quoting him: "It's a pretty good vibe. If you forget a scale or you forget bags or weights or a tent or an umbrella . . . people share and help you out. . . . I love farming; I just wish the economic reality of it wasn't what it is."

Rural businesses struggle with population losses and lack of qualified staffing, nonprofit's study finds

Rural small businesses continue to report more negative consequences from population loss and a shrinking market of skilled labor. "With rural America losing population, rural entrepreneurs (45.3%) are significantly more likely than non-rural entrepreneurs (25.5%) to say that population trends impact their business," reveals a newly released research study of rural businesses by Score, a nonprofit organization that fosters small businesses and started life as the Service Corps of Retired Executives. The research also showed that "rural businesses are hurting for workers: population shifts create challenges for small rural employers, over a third of which (35.9%) say there are few qualified workers in their area."

Rural Vermont and New Hampshire grapple with
staffing shortages. (Image fromThe Directory.Org)

In South Royalton, Vt., pop. 600, rural labor challenges have reduced the town's ability to provide school children's dental care. The town had been utilizing HealthHub, a non-profit mobile dental-hygiene clinic, but HealthHub had to reduce its care schedule due to staffing shortages, reports Nora Doyle-Burr of  the Valley News in West Lebanon, N.H., and White River Junction, Vt. HealthHub's president told Doyle-Burr, "HealthHub now has funds and equipment sufficient to double the dental care it was providing to school children in the White River Valley last year, but instead it has reduced the amount of care it is providing to just 20% of what it was last year." Doyle-Burr reports, "The mobile clinic’s full-time hygienist retired this summer and the nonprofit has been unable to find someone to replace her. As part of a planned expansion, the clinic also had hoped to hire a dentist or dental therapist to staff another mobile unit, as well as another mental health provider, but has so far been unable to do so."

Across the Connecticut River, "The Ammonoosuc Community Health Services dental clinic in Littleton, N.H., has closed due to staffing shortages," Doyle-Burr reports. "And the Mascoma Community Health Center in Canaan suspended its dental service indefinitely in July after the dentist there left and it was unable to recruit a dentist or a hygienist."

John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, a think tank that promotes free-market ideas, who was not involved in the report’s methodology, told Kristi Eaton of The Daily Yonder, “The single biggest challenge for rural communities in the modern era is the fact that the very nature of a rural community is that there just aren’t a lot of people.”

Appalachian greenhouse-farming firm re-engineers its finances but needs more cash flow, and maybe political help

UPDATE, Feb. 16: The company netted $37.1 million by selling 40 million shares at $1 per share, Rick Childress of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. It issued a prospectus saying, “We believe that net proceeds from this offering, together with our current cash and cash equivalents and other potential sources of financing, will be sufficient to enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through the end of calendar year 2023.”

The AppHarvest 15-acre farm just north of Berea, Ky., grows salad greens. (Photo from AppHarvest Facebook page)

AppHarvest, a publicly traded startup that is trying to bring commercial farming back to the Appalachian foothills on a huge scale, sold one of its hydroponic greenhouse farms this week and leased it back to its marketing and distribution partner, "freeing up more funds for the financially struggling fruit and vegetable grower," reports John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The company also announced the opening of its fourth farm, all in Kentucky, and said it is "focused on operations to ramp up production and revenue." That is an existential challenge, according to its earnings report for the third quarter of 2022, which said, “Absent additional sources of financing, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will only allow us to continue our planned operations into the first quarter of 2023.”

The sale-and-leaseback deal of the 15-acre farm near Berea, the company's smallest, provides cash, but it has production problems. "AppHarvest’s chief financial officer, said that the low numbers were due to crop health issues," Liz Carey reports for The Daily Yonder. The company will change the tomatoes it raises to varieties that bring higher prices, a spokesman told Carey.

But James Branscome, a Yonder supporter who started as an Appalachian journalist and ended up evaluating companies for S&P Global, has issues with the firm's business model: “The best high tech in agriculture will not overcome a bad business model based on selling a commodity product – tomatoes – in a highly competitive market,” he told Carey. “AppHarvest does use the highest tech in greenhouse production from the Netherlands, and its commitment to Appalachian Kentucky has rightfully given it a very high profile. The strategy of moving beyond the tomato market to vegetables and berries is a good business strategy; however, the company is in a race against the oldest challenge in business: Can it execute that strategy when the business cash flow is so dismally poor?”

Branscome seems to think not: “At this point their future depends more on financial engineering than agricultural engineering,” he said. “There is value in what they have constructed, but the cash flow from operations is so small that there is no way sales can bail them out over the next few years.”

There could also be some political engineering. Company founder and CEO Jonathan Webb said at the groundbreaking for the firm's 30-acre berry farm in Somerset in July, "Where AppHarvest goes from here is going to be dependent largely on the communities around us." Gesturing to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, he said, "Where we take it from here, I turn to our political leaders, I turn to our community leaders, I turn to our university leaders; we want to partner with you."

Vermont's 'agripreneurs' succeed in 'post-dairy' economy

Joneslan Farm sold its cows and became the biggest goat farm
in the state. (Photo by Zoeann Murphy, The Washington Post)

On Vermont's US 7 in 2017, a 600-acre dairy farm, Nordic Farms, went bankrupt. The cows and farm were sold. "But the land became part of Vermont’s agricultural future. Will Raap, founder of Gardner's Supply, an organic gardening supply company, bought the property with a vision for making it a model of a 'post-dairy agricultural economy in Vermont'," report Laura Reiley and Zoeann Murphy of The Washington Post.

"Dairy once accounted for 70 percent of the state’s agricultural economy. But the number of dairy farms in Vermont decreased from more than 4,000 in 1969 to fewer than 600 in 2021, as the state’s small-scale operations lost out to sprawling ventures in California," they write. "Higher temperatures also contributed to that shift, causing cows to eat less and produce less milk."

With 600 acres to work, Raap created Earthkeep Farmcommon in 2021. "More than a dozen agricultural businesses, including Vermont’s first shrimp aquaculture outfit, share land, equipment and barn space, and together build consumer interest and brand identity with farmers markets and events," Reiley and Murphy report. "A new generation of 'agripreneurs' — often young, sometimes first-time farmers, many women or people of color — are swooping in to try something completely different."

Other newcomers to the agriculture scene include a malthouse, which is "the only malthouse in the state, providing the state’s brewers and distillers with malted grains sourced regionally," they write. Along with the Jones family who lost all their cows to daily decline but gained "1,500 goats parkouring over hay bales and each other. Joneslan Farm in Hyde Park is the biggest goat farm in the state, selling its milk to Vermont Creamery to be made into cheese."

Vermont's agriculture community is pivoting to meet climate and economic shifts. Riley and Murphy write, "The state’s agricultural researchers are looking for ways farmers can 'hedge their bets,' diversifying crops with high-value items that can also expand the growing season."

USDA to invest $770 million to help rural businesses in 36 states with job training, technical assistance and more

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA "is investing $770 million to help create new and better market opportunities for rural businesses and people in 36 states and Puerto Rico. The investments include $640 million for 122 projects to help people living in socially vulnerable communities," Successful Farming reports. "The funding will help a diverse rural America keep resources and wealth right at home through job training, business expansion and technical assistance. It will help companies hire more workers and reach new customers. It will open the door to new economic opportunities for communities and people who historically have lacked access to critical resources and financing. It will also help entrepreneurs and business cooperatives create jobs, grow businesses, and find new and better markets for the items they produce."

The funding will be routed through three programs: the Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program, the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Programs, and the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. Here's the complete list. Projects receiving the funding are in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming and Puerto Rico.

USDA resource guide aims to help rural businesses grow

The Agriculture Department's Rural Development branch has unveiled a resource guide aimed at helping rural Americans start and grow businesses.

The guide has first-hand stories from business owners about how USDA programs helped them start or expand businesses. It also tells how rural entrepreneurs can access USDA and other federal programs to get financing and other assistance to help start and expand their businesses. It includes tools to help them:

• expand their access to capital to create small business incubators
• create value-added agricultural products
• access high-speed internet to connect their businesses to national and global markets
• cut energy costs
• access health care resources to enhance the quality of life for their employees
• access workforce development and training opportunities to improve their skills, products and services, and more

Though recently surveyed Midwestern rural bankers reported strong local economies, chronic labor shortages remain a significant problem. New local businesses could help with that.

Non-profit helps Black entrepreneurs in Mississippi Delta

Tim Lampkin (NPR photo by Kirk Siegler)

"The mostly rural Mississippi Delta has long been synonymous with racial and economic inequality. Yet today there are a growing number of small, economic bright spots, due in part to a grassroots effort that's trying to right some of the wrongs of the past," Kirk Siegler reports for NPR.

Though the Delta's population is mostly Black, relatively few Blacks own businesses, especially Black women. There are a number of reasons: distrust of banks, banks' reluctance to lend to Black entrepreneurs, lack of local role models and more, Siegler reports. But non-profits like Higher Purpose Co. are mentoring Black business owners, assisting with everything from securing grants and loans to navigating everyday operating issues.

Tim Lampkin, 35, founded Higher Purpose when he moved back to his hometown of Clarksdale after working in corporate America. He noticed that most local businesses were white-owned, even though more than 80% of the town's 15,000 residents are Black.

Ensuring that people of color can succeed as entrepreneurs is critical, according to Bill Bynum. He has worked to help Black entrepreneurs in the Delta since the 1990s, and has served as a White House economic advisor to Republicans and Democrats, including Joe Biden. "People of color are an emerging majority and if we leave the emerging majority of Americans on the outside of the economy, then we are really in for trouble," Bynum told Siegler.

MIT-inspired nonprofit in Kentucky is holding its first conference for entrepreneurs and innovators Friday

Rural areas need more entrepreneurs, and the entrepreneurs who are already in rural America often need help to make the most of their assets and find more of them, including innovators with ideas. In Kentucky, there's a nonprofit that aims to connect them to each other and the resources they need; informing them about opportunities, risks, and research; and, perhaps most important, inspire them and other Kentuckians "with visions for the state’s future."

Sam Ford

So says the website of AccelerateKY, which is holding a conference tomorrow in Bowling Green that is named for its mission: "Connect. Inform. Inspire." The keynoter will be Phil Budden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, which chose the region as its first U.S. site. That study led to creation of the nonprofit.

AccelerateKY is the brainchild of Sam Ford, a former rural journalist who teaches at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. In 2016, when he was a media researcher at MIT, world-renowned robotocist Daniela Rus said "I feel like there's a lot of pessimism about the future of work" and asked him if his native state was marked by "the bitter pessimism evident in other parts of Middle America" in the presidential election, as Jeff Howe of The Boston Globe put it. Ford replied, "It's hard to be excited about the future of work if you don't think you're in it."

To view details of Friday's conference and register for it, click here.

Appalachian commission, now under Manchin management, to unveil new strategic plan at Oct. 6 virtual conference

The Appalachian Regional Commission and the Commonwealth of Virginia will co-host ARC's annual conference on Oct. 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET.

During the virtual conference, ARC will unveil a new strategic plan to help Appalachian communities overcome economic challenges, fueled by nearly $46.4 million in recently announced grants for 57 projects in 184 counties. Attendees can see three documentary-style videos and sit in on interactive sessions on outdoor recreation, entrepreneurship development, and leadership and community capacity.

The conference will also feature a conversation between ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin (wife of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.) and States Co-Chair Ralph Northam, outgoing governor of Virginia. Click here to register or for more information.

Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge open until Aug. 20; will award $165,000 in startup funds to 10 businesses

The American Farm Bureau Federation is accepting entries for its eighth annual Ag Innovation Challenge, a nationwide business competition for startups that address issues facing American farmers, ranchers and rural communities. Contestants can address longstanding challenges such as labor access, yield optimization, and operating cost reduction, or new issues.

The competition will award $165,000 in startup funds to 10 businesses: $50,000 to the winner; $20,000 to the runner-up; $15,000 each to two finalists; $10,000 each to six semi-finalists; and $5,000 to the People's Choice Team, chosen by public vote (all 10 finalists are eligible). The application deadline is Aug. 20.

Click here for a timeline of the competition and more details, including profiles of past winners. 

Quick hits: register for Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit March 22-24; programs help young rural entrepreneurs

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Two programs from Kansas and Mississippi are noteworthy examples of how to help young rural entrepreneurs thrive with training and tools. Read more here.

Fires, deteriorating infrastructure, and unusually cold weather strain rural Alaska's already-fragile water systems. Read more here.

Congress is launching an investigation into the "clean-coal" tax credit after evidence emerged that coal plants using the chemically treated fuel produce more smog than others. Read more here.

There's still time to register for the 2021 Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit, coming up on March 22-24. Guests include Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall. Read more here.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice's companies owe millions more in environmental fines. Read more here.

The Rural Health Information Hub has updated its information guide on rural long-term care facilities, including a new FAQ on how the pandemic has affected such facilities. Read more here.

A recent book discusses the reasons estrangement commonly happens in farming and ranching families and how to find a way to reconcile. Read more here.

The Brookings Institution has an in-depth analysis of how an Office of Management and Budget proposal to redefine metropolitan statistical areas would affect rural America. Read more here.

An artist explores the intersection of Black culture and Appalachia. Read more here.

The Women of Appalachia Project dispels stereotypes with poetry, visual art and song. Read more here.

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League found that efforts to spread white supremacist propaganda almost doubled last year in the U.S. Read more here.

Seed and fertilizer make up more than half of the operating costs for corn and soybean producers, according newly released Agriculture Department data. Read more here.

Rural Chamber of Commerce aims to help rural economies; sets March 9 webinar on racial issues in rural America

The Rural Chamber of Commerce, a new organization of rural business leaders and entrepreneurs aimed at encouraging rural economies, is open for business.

"The goals of the Rural Chamber are manifold, but a primary purpose of the organization is to help develop rural economies by supporting rural entrepreneurship," Anya Slepyan reports for The Daily Yonder. "Members have access to services, including trainings from business coaches, mentoring sessions where members can discuss best practices and problem-solve collectively, networking opportunities, and an online sales platform." (Learn more about becoming a member here.)

The organization is the brainchild of Sherri Powell, a native of rural Georgia who wanted to support and connect rural business owners. She and the organization's 11-person board, also want the Chamber to address social issues facing rural America. So, one of their first acts is to launch a virtual panel series discussing "Racial Reconciliation Throughout Rural America and Beyond." The first panel discussion will be held March 9. Click here for details.

"We are digging in, and we are going to attack and focus on and address the social issues facing rural America—it’s going to be a centerpiece of who we are," Powell told Slepyan. "I don’t think that we can talk about rural issues honestly and effectively if we just ignore the social piece."

Etsy helps drive rural sales of hand-made foods

Etsy is a website better known for selling crafts, but it's also becoming an increasingly helpful platform for rural entrepreneurs who want to sell homemade foods and goods—including face masks—online.

Changes in state laws have made it possible. "From 2013 to 2018, 10 states passed so-called 'cottage food laws' allowing home bakers to legally sell their goods in a variety of venues, including online," Christopher Mims reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Many other states amended existing food laws."

Read more here.

Small New England newspapers make Editor & Publisher's annual, renamed list of 10 News Publishers That Do it Right

A theater in scenic downtown Keene, N.H., is the headquarters for Radically Rural, which uses several venues nearby.

A New Hampshire newspaper that started a "Radically Rural" symposium and a Vermont alternative weekly known for investigations and deeply reported features are on Editor & Publisher magazine's annual list of "10 News Publishers That Do It Right," formerly "10 Newspapers That Do It Right."

The Keene Sentinel was recognized for establishing, with the local Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship, Radically Rural, a two-day symposium that features expert speeches and panel discussions on several tracks, a networking event, local food and beverages, and live music. "More than 600 people from 26 states attended all parts of Radically Rural in 2019, a significant increase from the first year," Evelyn Mateos reports for E&P. The next one will be Sept. 23-24.

Sentinel President and Chief Operating Officer Terrence Williams told Mateos that sponsorships, ticket sales and ad revenue are split evenly with the Grimes center, which continues a networking event that gave birth to the symposium. The six program tracks last year were arts and culture, entrepreneurship, journalism, land and community, Main Street, and renewable energy.

"With the nearest airport located two hours away, Williams said if people want to attend the summit they have to be committed," Mateos writes, quoting him: “We can’t be one of those things where we only marginally produce something, it has to be contemporary, it has to be seen as—if not cutting edge—then at least on the leading edge of the issues that are affecting each of the tracks.”

Seven Days of Burlington, Vt., which has a large rural audience, made the list for building on a very personal piece of citizen journalism to take an in-depth look at Vermont's opioid epidemic, Mateos reports:

"In October 2018, Seven Days published an obituary for Madelyn Linsenmeir, a young, local mother who had died of causes related to opioid-use disorder. Shortly after it was published, her obit went viral with more than a thousand comments and about 4 million views online—most likely because the obit had been written by Linsenmeir’s own sister, Kate O’Neill," a former Seven Days proofreader. The paper offered her a new job: "spend a year writing about the epidemic that had killed her sister."

“Kate could write about this in a way that our journalists couldn’t,” Publisher Paula Routly said. “She was able to portray her sister with sensitivity and enough specificity and empathy. You could really understand the predicament. That seemed like a unique perspective that none of our reporters had really managed to tap into and that seemed like a very important part of understanding the problem.”

O’Neill’s series, “Hooked: Stories and Solutions from Vermont’s Opioid Crisis," started in January 2019. It examined "how Vermonters became addicted to opioids and how the epidemic drives sexual exploitation," Mateos reports. There were six stories (at about 12,000 words each), which garnered about 100,000 pageviews with an average time spent of six to seven minutes per page. . . . Seven Days created a companion website called All Our Hearts, which launched last September, to find more stories of those lost to opioids. Through the website, families can submit a form describing their loved one, and someone from the paper will follow up to do an interview." More than 50 have posted.

Others on the list of 10 were The Arizona Republic, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Financial Times, Nevada's Greenspun Media Group, Argentina's La Voz del Interior, the Salt Lake Tribune and WKMG-TV of Orlando.

The News-Gazette of Champaign, Ill., earned an honorable mention for inviting more than 300 high-school athletes to its office for its "Faces of the Fall" project. "Students—nominated by their schools and dressed in full uniform—received a News-Gazette business card designed and produced in-house that each participant scanned with their cellphone to connect with the paper on social media," E&P reports. "About 70 students were invited to record radio spots promoting programming on News-Gazette Media’s three stations. Another 150 students went in front of the newsroom’s green screen and created GIFs for social media channels. Professional portraits were also published online and ran in the print edition each day through the season. The entire experience was filmed, and the video made available at news-gazette.com."

Shared workspaces promote digital economy in rural areas

Rural residents are often less able to access jobs that depend on a broadband internet connection, since rural households are less likely to have such a service. However, an increasing number of small towns are investing in shared, wired-up work spaces to make such jobs more available.

"As remote and digital careers continue to grow in popularity, shared spaces offer workers community, collaboration and connection in remote areas, just like you’d find at the local general store," Sunny Naughton reports for The North Star Monthly in Danville, Vermont.

Click here to read more about what that looks like in small towns across Vermont, and how a statewide tech initiative is helping fund it.

Program to find, train, support buyers for community newspapers seeks applications for fellowships by Dec. 31

Screenshot of NewStart website

A new program at West Virginia University is trying to develop the next generation of community newspaper owners by recruiting, training and supporting them. NewStart, a collaboration between WVU's Reed College of Media and the West Virginia Press Association, aims to recruit, train, and support new buyers with paid fellowships.

Local ownership of weeklies is declining: a quarter-century ago, half were independently owned, but by 2018 fewer than one-third were, according to research by Penny Abernathy at the University of North Carolina. Of the 2,100 papers that have shuttered in the past 15 years, Abernathy says all but 70 published three times a week or less, reports Kristen Hare of the Poynter Institute. Most were rural or suburban weeklies.

NewStart was driven by the inability of some newspaper owners in West Virginia who want to retire and can't find a buyers for their papers, a phenomenon that has surfaced in other states, such as Texas. Small, family-owned weeklies tend to have a common set of problems, according to New Start Director Jim Iovino: Younger family members who have moved away or don't want to own the paper, and long-time owners who can't find a buyer, don't want to sell to a chain, and don't want to quit and close the paper.

Potential owners could be anyone, from laid-off journalists to recent college graduates to entrepreneurs, and even other local businesses that realize the value of a local newspaper to its owners and the community. For the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, Iovino wrote a story about M.E. Sprengelmeyer, a refugee from daily journalism who turned around a New Mexico weekly. It's part of a package about rural newspaper ownership, introduced by a column from Institute Director Al Cross, editor and publisher of The Rural Blog.

NewStart's website says many profitable are available. WVPA Executive Director Don Smith said the owners can make profits of 20 to 25 percent, and the rewards are more than monetary. "There’s a lot of pride in these little papers," Smith told Hare. "Those folks won’t win a Pulitzer, but they are recognized in their community for the job they do, and that’s important, too."

NewStart is taking applications for its first round of fellowships, which will start in June. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree and the intent to buy and run a publication. Fellows don't receive any funding to buy a paper, but they'll get guidance on how to get a loan or direct financing from the paper's current owner. Apply here by Dec. 31.