Rural development policy in the United States: a critical analysis and lessons from the “still birth” of the rural collaborative investment program

The development of a comprehensive rural development policy in the United States has been stymied repeatedly. A number of factors account for the low salience of rural development on the domestic policy agenda, from misconceptions about the economic composition of rural areas to the pitting of agriculture against broader rural development constituencies. The Rural Collaborative Investment Program (RCIP) from the 2008 “Farm Bill” is used to illustrate how the latest attempt to give rural communities and regions the capacity to tailor rural development programming to serve local needs ultimately failed due to a prohibition on spending funds to implement the legislation. The RCIP was essentially a stillborn policy because Congress never appropriated the funds needed to give it life. This article suggests that a better approach to advancing comprehensive rural development in the United States is to avoid placing “Rural Development” policy as a stand-alone initiative under the US Department of Agriculture. Instead, major programs in health, education, housing, the environment and other substantive areas should be designed in ways that meet the needs of rural communities and places.