Most strikingly, what rural Americans are not is farmers. Only about 600,000 American farms and ranches earn $40,000 or more per year. Only 1.78 percent of rural residents earn their primary living from the farm. Nonetheless, a recent national survey by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation showed an overwhelming perception across the country that agriculture is the dominant industry of rural America. 14

For an example of the tenacity of the agrarian myth, consider the 2002 federal farm bill. This $190 billion piece of legislation was sold to the American public not only as a means to support U.S. food production but as a primary way to alleviate rural economic problems. Legislators spoke in passionate terms of how the bill would sustain rural economies and how the nation needed to make sure farming was a career option for the next generation. In political terms, this conjures images of the family farmer, a symbol that taps deeply and powerfully into American historical identity. And it disguises the fact that other sectors of the American economy—manufacturing and service, for example—have a far greater impact on the economic health of most rural communities than does farming.

While family farmers certainly still exist, their numbers plummeted throughout most of the 20th century, like the numbers of miners, loggers, and other workers whose occupations have fallen away because of changes in the economy and technology. The number of American farmers peaked at about 6.6 million in the 1930s and has declined an average of 88,000 every year for seven decades. Fewer than 2 million Americans (about 2 percent) earn $1,000 or more a year from farming. 15 In contrast, nearly two-thirds of rural Americans work in the service and manufacturing sectors. Through the use of technology, fewer and fewer farmers produce more crops than ever before. This technology has also increased the capitalization costs of farming beyond the means of all but a few. The way rural people earn their living has been forever altered. America is not the land of Jefferson’s small-scale farmer.

The enormity of the problems confronting rural America discourages an enthusiastic response. Rural Americans are poorer, sicker, less well educated, and more likely to be addicted than their metropolitan counterparts. Government programs, such as the farm bill, too frequently serve a small portion of rural Americans while being touted as a solution for the many.

Still, rural America has a bounty of assets from which to fashion a spirited response. Its population numbers in the millions, and it occupies an enormous landmass, replete with vital resources. The mythology of rural America—its inaccuracy notwithstanding—remains powerful. Rural residents, if they find the opportunity, can speak with authenticity about their experiences to a nation that continues to place a rural theme at the center of its cultural and political ideals. Rural Americans live in a place that holds special meaning for the overall population. Most Americans see themselves as no more than a generation or two removed their own rural beginnings. They understand that the yearnings of country people informed the dream of creating a noble nation, one that would be inclusive and fair. And if the sustaining myth of America is that it is the land of opportunity, then certainly Americans can fully understand the gravity of dreams deferred and opportunities denied.

Although the current communications framework may not encourage rural discourse, those systems are not impenetrable. Creative responses that build on the mythic popularity of rural places but provide a greater understanding of the reality of contemporary rural life can perhaps make inroads.

Return to Think Rural

14: Perceptions of Rural America. W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2002.
15: Browne. 7.