We have examined changes in farmland usage during the period 1949-2002 (latest Census of Agriculture) and have published on this as well as participated in USDA-ERS briefing sessions.
On issue of marketing of agricultural products, participated in creating a GIS-based marketing system which small farmers can use to better identify areas containing the kinds of customers most likely to purchase their products as well as retail outlets located in those areas.

Previous work on periodically recurring fiscal crisis among local governments lead to this idea that rural communities and rural labor have problems different from urban areas. While there are several issues that could have been addressed, I chose to investigate two: changing farming practices and marketing of agricultural products.
The future of rural America depends on decisions made by citizens, businesses, in county courthouses, state legislatures, and Congress. While much of the activity is local, many of the challenges and issues are common across the three thousand counties and fifty states. Through formal and informal university and extension service planning processes, rural stakeholders have identified four issues important for rural people and places:
1. What effect does public policy have on rural areas and rural industries?
Public policy has important impacts on rural people and places. For example, the Farm Bill affects rural economies as well as farms. Other relevant issues regarding the impact of public policy include devolution, allocation of public sector revenues and finance, changes in federal natural resource policy, deregulation of electricity, e-governance and digital democracy, and infrastructure.
2. What are the characteristics of a healthy, successful rural community?
Rural leaders are seeking to understand how to revitalize their economies, and are looking for models that will help them decide what investments are most effective in improving rural economic well-being. This effort would be greatly assisted by a systematic examination of the characteristics of healthy, successful communities.

On the issue of agricultural farming in general we have examined changes in farmland usage during the period 1949-2002 (latest Census of Agriculture) and have published on this as well as participated in USDA-ERS briefing sessions.
On issue of marketing of agricultural products, participated in creating a GIS-based marketing system which small farmers can use to better identify areas containing the kinds of customers most likely to purchase their products as well as retail outlets located in those areas.

No direct impacts to my knowledge. Certainly we have demonstrated the product, MarketScape to various groups of farmers and related professionals, but I cannot cite any jobs created, environmental impacts, etc. resulting from this work.

Land Use Change & Maketing of Agricultural Products