Center for Rural Affairs records
Scope and Content
The collection consists of project reports, newsletters, correspondence, annual reports, publications, audiocassettes, VHS tapes, photographs, negatives, and slides. Records include documents regarding conferences, workshops, CRA projects, grants, legislation, and subject files on issues of interest to CRA, including the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. Also included are records on the Susan LaFlesche Picotte Center, located in Walthill, Nebraska. Picotte was the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States.
Dates
- 1855-2006, undated
Creator
- Center for Rural Affairs (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
Open for research. This collection is stored offsite. Please contact the department at least 3 working days in advance.
Use/Re-use Restrictions
Consult Special Collections and University Archives
Biography/Profile
The Center for Rural Affairs (CRA) is a non-profit group formerly based in Walthill, Nebraska, a small town on the western edge of the Corn Belt. It relocated to Lyons, Nebraska in 2003. This non-profit was organized in September of 1973 as a response to the closing of federal anti-poverty programs under the Nixon presidency. While the Center advocated for rural interests in politics, they also established experiments in clean energy, lobbied for changes in rural healthcare, and looked to improve the overall welfare of rural Americans. The Center has been actively involved in policy debates including organic farming, tax and credit policy, appropriate technology, and land grant university research. They have been especially concerned with Nebraska's Initiative 300, a state constitutional amendment that limits the ability of corporations to own farmland or livestock. Since its introduction in 1972, the Center has continued to support this legislation in the courts and the public arena. Despite this sponsorship, Initiative 300 was ruled unconstitutional in 2007.
Through the years, the Center has taken on many projects. These include the Market Structure Project, Winnebago Timberlands Project, Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), World Agriculture Project, water projects such as the Mid-West Demonstration Water Project, Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP), Small Farm Advocacy Project, Small Farm Energy Project (SFEP), which evolved into the Small Farm Resources Project (SFRP),Nebraska Public Power Project, and sustainable agriculture projects including Beginning Farmer and Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG), including the Midwest regional version, MSAWG. In addition to these projects, CRA has distributed several publications, including Who Will Sit Up with the Corporate Sow?, Wheels of Fortune, and The Great Trade Debate, as well as many newsletters and editorials.
CRA continues to organize numerous seminars and educational opportunities related to its initiatives. The Rural Institute's purpose has been "to teach agricultural policy analysis skills, to improve understanding of social and economic issues in agriculture, and to provide an alternative to conventional agricultural education." They also have had seminars and workshops on sustainable agriculture, groundwater, and small farms.
The founding members of this non-profit include Don Ralston and Marty Strange, two men originally involved in another non-profit organization called the Goldenrod Hills Community Action Agency. Marty Strange left the group in 1996, and Don Ralston followed him in 2001. Brian Depew is the current Executive Director (2014), taking the place of Chuck Hassebrook who stepped down from the position in September, 2013.
Extent
189.9 Linear Feet (143 record center cartons, 4 oversized boxes)
Abstract
The Center for Rural Affairs was organized as a non-profit organization in 1973 as a response to the closing of federal anti-poverty programs under the Nixon presidency. While the Center advocated for rural interests in politics, they also established experiments in clean energy, lobbied for changes in rural healthcare, and looked to improve the overall welfare of rural Americans. The collection consists of project reports, newsletters, correspondence, annual reports, publications, audiocassettes, VHS tapes, photographs, negatives, and slides. Subjects covered in this collection include conferences, workshops, various CRA projects, grants, legislation, and subject files on issues of interest to CRA, including the Farm Crisis of the 1980s.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following nine series:
Series 1, Administrative Files, 1890-ongoing, undated (chronological)
Series 2, Grants, 1974-2000, undated (chronological)
Series 3, Projects, 1855-2003, undated (chronological)
Series 4, Initiative 300, 1973-1999, undated (chronological)
Series 5, Small Farm Energy Project, 1967-1997, undated (chronological)
Series 6, Publications, 1971-2006, undated (chronological)
Series 7, Legislation, 1969-1998, undated (chronological)
Series 8, Conferences and Education, 1973-1999, undated (chronological)
Series 9, Subject Files, 1921-1999, undated (chronological)
Project records make up the majority of the collection, and two major projects comprise their own series - Initiative 300 and Small Farm Energy Project (SFEP). Additionally, articles regarding the Farm Crisis of the 1980s are located within the collection as well as other agriculture-related publications and not produced by CRA.
A list of acronyms that appear more than once is included at the end of the finding aid, in Appendix A.
The linear feet of each series is approximate and extent does not include boxes due to the scattered nature of the records in the collection.
Physical Location
This collection is stored offsite. Please contact the Special Collections and University Archives at least 3 working days in advance.
Processing Information
Released on 2018-11-01.
Acronyms
CRP.Conservation Reserve Program
EPA.Environmental Protection Agency
FCS.Farm Credit Services
FDIC.Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FmHA.Farmers Home Administration
FOIA.Freedom of Information Act
GATT.General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GIPSA.Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration
IPPA.Iowa Pork Producers Association
LISA.Low Input and Sustainable Agriculture
MAP.Midwest Assistance Program
McREL.Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning
MDWP.Mid-West Demonstration Water Project
MSAWG.Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
NAFTA.North American Free Trade Agreement
NCAT.National Center for Appropriate Technology
NETV.Nebraska's PBS station
NGO.Non-governmental organization
NPPC.National Pork Producers Council
NPPD.Nebraska Public Power District
NPPP.Nebraska Public Power Project
NRI.National Research Initiative
PCA.Production Credit Association
RCVP.Rural Community Viability Project
REAP.Rural Enterprise Assistance Project
SAGE.Sustainable Agriculture Enterprises Project
SAWG.Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
SFEP.Small Farm Energy Project
SFRP.Small Farm Resources Project
UNCED.United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
USDA.United States Department of Agriculture
VISTA.Volunteers in Service to America (now under AmeriCorps)
- Agricultural credit--United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Agriculture and state--United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Agriculture--Economic aspects--United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Annual reports Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Audiocassettes Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Center for Rural Affairs
- Clean energy Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Family farms--United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Grant proposals Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Newsletters Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Photographic prints Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- United States--Rural conditions Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States. Farmers Home Administration
- Video recordings Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Title
- MS-0413. Center for Rural Affairs records, 1855-2006, undated
- Date
- July 1, 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
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Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives Repository
403 Parks Library
701 Morrill Road
Iowa State University
Ames Iowa 50011-2102 United States
(515) 294-6672
archives@iastate.edu