| China
Commodity Markets
China is contributing to a tighter world market
in wheat, corn, and soybeans. China has cut back on corn and
wheat exports and appears poised to increase wheat imports.
China has emerged as the world’s largest soybean importer,
and its huge appetite for soybeans is contributing to soaring
world prices and tight supplies. Two recently released reports—China’s
Wheat Economy: Current Trends and Prospects for Imports
and Is
China’s Corn Market at a Turning Point? —provide
up-to-date information on policy, trade, supply and demand
trends. A third report on soybeans is forthcoming.
Fred
Gale
|
How
Rural Areas Differ: The New ERS County Typology
ERS recently released a new county classification that captures
the broad economic and social diversity among rural areas.
Earlier
ERS typologies have been widely used by policy analysts and
public officials to determine eligibility for and effectiveness
of Federal programs to assist rural America. The new county
typology identifies six discrete economic types of nonmetro
counties based on the primary economic activity of the county—farming,
manufacturing, mining, service, Federal/State government, and nonspecialized. The typology also identifies seven
county types that distinguish important policy themes, including
persistent poverty, persistent population loss, housing stress,
retirement destination, recreation, low education, and low employment.
Also, for the first time, this classification identifies both
metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties by county type. See
the measuring rurality
briefing room for more information on the new ERS County
Typology.
Linda
Ghelfi
|
