A basis of concern for rural development has been lagging economic growth in rural communities. Many rural areas have long been faced with the dilemma of low income, inadequate or expensive community services, net out-migration and high dependency rates. Numerous programs have been enacted over the years to alleviate these problems. A recent program, the Rural Development Act of 1972, interprets the main objective of rural development as encouraging and speeding economic growth in rural areas providing for jobs, improving quality of rural life, and doing so on a self-earned, self-sustaining basis. One chief component of all these programs has been promoting industry location in rural communities.

During the past eleven years Oklahoma's population has increased by approximately 12 percent. Several counties located in the central and southeastern parts of the state have increased from 12 to 40 percent. Since the rate of natural increase during this period approximated three percent, much population increase was due to in-migration from other states and abroad.

Given the fact that Oklahoma is gaining in population, and specific areas are growing quite rapidly while others are declining, the purpose of this study is to determine why Oklahoma is relatively popular and why certain counties are gaining population while others are losing.1 Emphasis will be on human and economic characteristics of Oklahoma counties assuming a neoclassical economic framework of mobility.

The migration of labor is an important mechanism through which an efficient spatial allocation of resources is achieved and maintained. Many studies were designed to determine the efficacy of the market as an allocator of labor between various regions of the economy. However, most of these have concentrated on the allocation mechanism between major metropolitan labor markets or major sub-regions in the general economy. This study was designed to ascertain the effectiveness of labor allocation between rural and metro regions and between different rural regions in the three-state area of Missouri, Kansas and Illinois.

The Federal Food Stamp Program is consistently under fire for failure to perform according to stated goals. This paper presents a brief overview of the program, and constructs a partial profile of the 1975 federal outlay for bonus stamp coupons. The analysis surveys food stamp benefits across states with the intent of determining whether or not these benefits appear to be reaching states with the greatest numbers of poor people. A cursory review of rural-urban allocations indicates a basic inequity which needs further consideration.

The first food stamp program came about in May of 1939 and lasted for some four years until the war sharply increased demand for food supplies.

The food stamp program as we know it today has its roots in an experimental plan set up by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. This plan was implemented in several pilot areas and was designed to clear the market of surplus food supplies and to raise nutritional food purchasing power of participating low-income families.

During fiscal year 1974 the National Food Stamp Program disbursed $2.7 billion in bonus stamps. Of this amount, Texas received about $208 million. These money injections will increase each economy's final demand, ceteris paribus.

However, an increase in the final demand of low income households will result in a discernibly different pattern of resource allocation than would occur if it came from high income households: the larger the increase in final demand, the greater the impact on patterns of resource use. The amount of bonus stamps distributed has reached a point where impacts may be identifiable.

The source of funds likewise affects such expenditure patterns and resulting resource use. For example, when funds for bonus stamps are raised by increasing taxes of the higher income households, their expenditure patterns will reflect their increased tax payments. In contrast, when funds are raised by sale of government securities, the immediate impact will be different, in part because individuals account for only about 16 percent of the ownership of all federal securities.

This paper reports an investigation of the potential out-migration response to flue-cured tobacco harvest mechanization in an eight county area of eastern North Carolina. The study is unique in that lost harvest earnings and potential out-migration response are reported in a household context. In addition, as the adoption process of mechanization is still in its beginning stages, out-migration responses are those that could be anticipated.

The impact of increased agricultural productivity and substitution of capital for labor are familiar to agricultural economists. So, too, is the social concern about farm-to-city migration which accompanied the mechanization of agriculture.

Descriptive data have been used to show how industrial job creation is growing faster in nonmetro areas than in metro areas. For example, Haren [5] and Till [11] describe industrial decentralization in the 60s. Janssen and Tweeten [7] illustrate how the trend has continued into the 70s. In Oklahoma, Childs and Doeksen [1] report on how industry has decentralized from 1963 through 1971.

The objective of this paper is to examine and statistically test the dispersion of new manufacturing jobs with respect to size of community in Oklahoma from 1963 through 1974. Previous studies have either been descriptive or have used some measure of dispersion, such as entropy, without statistically testing the results.

One objective of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) is to supplement food expenditures of low income households to enhance the household's ability to provide nutritionally adequate diets. A household may consist of any person, or group of persons, who purchase, store and prepare food. Program eligibility is based on net household income, total assets and household size. Eligible households purchase coupons which are used in retail food outlets. Households of equal size receive coupon allotments of equal purchasing value, but the cash purchase requirement varies with net income. Bonus stamps represent the difference between the purchase requirement and the coupon allotment value.

Rapid technological change has been a dominating factor in American agriculture in the last quarter of a century. Impact of this factor on the farm real estate market is well documented in agricultural economics literature. As Heady and Fuller and Van Vuuren have noted, technological change has been both land-substituting and land-embodying. This characteristic has resulted in positive pressure on land prices as farmers bid up prices of land for farm enlargement so they can more fully employ their fixed labor and capital resources. As adjustments in farm numbers and sizes have slowed in recent years, the dominating influence of farm consolidation is expected to be moderated. Fuller and Van Vuuren noted this possibility as: “… given the combination of numbers, ages, and alternatives, intensive efforts to salvage underemployment of operator and family labor by farm enlargement or by substantial employment on other farms have to be approaching an ultimate plateau”. The objective of this paper is to examine impact on farm real estate prices of changing economic conditions in rural areas. Particular attention is given to factors other than farm consolidation. The effect of these structural changes on the land market is empirically tested by reestimating Tweeten and Nelson's model with Georgia data for 1960-1974.

The number of employed health care personnel in an area is the combined result of factors affecting both demand and supply for health care personnel. When service areas are compared, differences between each area's number of health care personnel are related to differences in health facilities' ability and desire to attract these persons.

At any point in time, the potential supply of health care personnel is fixed. The choice facing this segment of the labor force is between alternative locations or non-participation. The location decision is a function of salary, working conditions and such non-working conditions as cost of living in the community, schools, cultural opportunities, employment opportunities for other family members and general amenities associated with a community.

Beaver Lake is nestled in the midst of the Ozark Mountains in the northwest corner of Arkansas. The picturesque lake is actually a multi-purpose reservoir constructed and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 28,220 acre lake offers eleven improved public access areas for use by recreationists. Six additional recreational areas have been planned, to be built as demand requires [16].

Costs for development of the six additional parks were estimated by the Corps of Engineers as of July 1974, to be $6.87 million [16].

Decision makers, comparing production alternatives and faced with risk, normally utilize a large amount of information from many sources. To compare alternatives, information must be organized and net returns calculated. Techniques producing single value estimates, such as partial budgeting, do not adequately utilize available information, produce enough information to facilitate an adequate comparison of alternatives, or account for risk and uncertainty. Furthermore, single value techniques fail to take into account skewed probability distributions of various alternative outcomes. Decision makers need methods to analyze data when making specific recurring short-run decisions in a risky and uncertain environment.

In many areas of the country, there is strong competition among agricultural, municipal, industrial and other users of water. Water managers are faced with the problem of allocating available water among alternative uses.

The study [11] upon which this paper is based was a cooperative effort with the Central and Southern Florida Control District which is typical of many water management districts making decisions regarding allocation of a limited amount of water among uses and users. When the District was formed, it was developed with emphasis on facilities to provide relief from flooding. Water management responsibilities such as water supply, recreation and the preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife have become important to the public and consequently have received recognition by those responsible for managing the water.

As noted in a recent article by Harris, many agricultural economics departments in recent years have expanded their commitments to providing market outlook information. Continuing volatile commodity prices will provide an ongoing demand for such information.

This paper presents results of a study designed to provide short term predictions of the number of cattle and calves on farms, January 1, in each of twelve southern states.1 Such estimates can help outlook personnel in several ways, including providing indications as to how producers are reacting to recent market conditions in each of these states and the region. The models do not require demand estimates for beef, nor are results likely to prove as self-defeating as price predictions might if publicized. Form of the models was suggested by work on an earlier national cattle marketing model.

Production of broilers requires very large quantities of heating energy. Optimum growth of broilers requires that the broiler house temperature be maintained within a narrow range. In Arkansas, chicks are normally started at a house temperature of 75°F with a 3°F per week reduction until a temperature of no less than 60° F is reached and maintained. Feed represents about sixty percent of total production cost, and most studies indicate that feed consumption increases rapidly as the temperature around the birds drops below 65° F. Most grower contracts contain an efficiency clause in which part of their payment depends on how efficient they are in converting feed to meat. They must maintain a certain minimum degree of efficiency to continue growing for their contractor. House temperatures can thus be lowered somewhat, but must be maintained within rather narrow limits for growers to continue to produce. This is mentioned to point out just how vulnerable growers are to rising fuel prices. Approximately 80 percent of Arkansas broiler growers use propane. The retail price of propane ranged from $0.18 to $0.41 per gallon in Arkansas from January 1973, to September 1977.

A significant component of risk in agricultural production systems is yield variability. The ability to predict yield and thus reduce risk would have many potential benefits to both individual decision makers and society. For example, in farm planning, quality crop yield forecasts could be crucial in making decisions on optimal crop combinations. At the aggregate level, an example where a yield forecast would have obvious benefits would be cases in which government manages a grain buffer stock.

The ability of a farmer or group of farmers in a region to produce a specific product profitably depends on the structure of costs of production and marketing and demands of all competing crops. The final decision to grow a particular product is made on the basis of its profitability relative to profitabilities of other alternatives. Relative profitability of a product changes as technological innovations affect yields, resource requirements and production efficiency. Factors affecting demand for resource inputs and products cause changes in profitabilities. Institutional factors can also necessitate adjustments in farm plans by influencing price and/or production of specific products and thereby affecting the profitability of one product relative to other product alternatives.

Forage quality and quantity vary by species, time of year, level and time of fertilizer application and grazing system [6]. Livestock nutritional requirements change with age, rate of gain, weight, date of calving and percentage calf crop [7]. Pasture forage production and livestock forage requirements depicting both quality and quantity need to be compiled by calendar periods to determine optimal pasture programs and livestock systems.

Animal unit months (AUM) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) are the predominant measures of forage quantity produced and required. Neither measurement adequately reflects quality and quantity in forage production and beef requirements throughout the production cycles.

Throughout the southern states and at the federal level, much attention is being focused on the appropriate strategy for controlling cotton insect pests, particularly the boll weevil. This paper presents estimated economic impacts to farmers, regions and consumers of implementing three alternative boll weevil control strategies. One strategy evaluated is a proposed boll weevil eradication program which involves integrating many controls including insecticides, reproduction-diapause control by early season stalk destruction, pheromone-baited traps, trap crops, early season control with insecticide, and massive releases of sterile boll weevils. The plan is to eradicate the boll weevil in the U.S., and then indefinitely maintain a barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent future weevil immigration to the U.S.

Georgia's General Assembly considered differential assessment legislation in 1976, but rejected the final proposals on the last day of the session. Last minute efforts to develop an acceptable legislative proposal concerned the issue of what farmland should be eligible for differential assessment. One proposal considered a single criterion—the proportion of income derived from farming. This proposal stated that operators who derive more than 50 percent of their income from farming should be considered bona fide farmers and their land eligible for differential assessment. While all landowners qualifying as bona fide farm operators would benefit from a reduction in their tax bills, others would probably pay higher taxes than without differential assessment legislation. Consequently, it is important to evaluate criteria used to designate bona fide farm operators.