Rural Entrepreneurship Legal Resource Materials
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Entrepreneurship Law Editorial Team
Books
Thomas W. Bonnett, STRATEGIES FOR RURAL COMPETITIVENESS: POLICY OPTIONS FOR STATE GOVERNMENTS (1993).
Abstract:
Good hands-on economic development book, containing sections on entrepreneurship.
Articles
Neil D. Hamilton, America's New Agrarians: Policy Opportunities and Legal Innovations to Support New Farmers, 22 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 523 (2011).
Abstract
(from author):
This Article addresses how law and policy can be employed to create opportunities for new farmers and considers how this relates to the expansion of local and regional food systems. Part I considers the traditional role played by the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) in supporting new farmers and addresses how the work of the USDA can be enhanced. This discussion builds on the leadership of USDA Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack who, in a July 2010 appearance before the Senate Agriculture Committee, articulated a goal of helping create 100,000 new farmers. Further, this Article presents an extensive set of ideas and recommendations on how the USDA can achieve this goal. Part II considers three topics which address key issues facing new farmers. The three topics are: 1) how the local food policy councils proliferating across the nation can incorporate efforts to support new farmers; 2) how a “new farmer fund” generated in part through market-based consumer-oriented support can be used by organizations working to train and assist new farmers; and 3) how a “farm school” model may address the labor law issues associated with traditional models of on-farm “internships” and apprentices” while expanding the opportunities for people interested in learning about farming. The Article concludes with a brief discussion of the connection between efforts to support new farmers and expanding local and regional food systems and how these developments are both part of the growing national interest in healthy food and direct farmer-to-consumer marketing.
J. Wyatt Kendall, Microfinance in Rural China: Government Initiatives to Encourage Participation by Foreign and Domestic Financial Institutions, 12 N.C. Banking Inst. 375 (2008).
Abstract (from author):
An ancient Chinese proverb states: "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." In today's rapidly developing Chinese economy, however, some people need more than a lesson in fishing to thrive. One essential need is access to banking services. In most developing nations similar to China, access to banking services and wealth go hand-in-hand. That is, people with access to banking services live above the poverty line, whereas those without access to banking services live below the poverty line. Studies have shown that exposure to loans and secure banking services, such as standard savings accounts, provide low-income individuals greater opportunities for business and social development. Absent such services, businesses never get started and families never reap the benefits of interest-bearing accounts. Discrepancies in wealth arise in developing countries in part because access to banking services is a luxury that only a fraction of people in such countries enjoys.
Anthony B. Schutz, Toward a More Multi-Functional Rural Landscape: Community Approaches to Rural Land Stewardship, 22 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 633 (2011).
Abstract
(adapted from article):
This Article explores how farms and ranches can adapt to meet consumer demand for outdoor activities like hunting, wildlife viewing, hiking, or simply enjoying the solace of spending time in rural places. These places hold breathtaking landscapes, but they are often privately owned, relatively inaccessible to the general public, and have not been managed to produce the ecosystem services that would support these activities, despite strong evidence of consumer demand. Historically, farms and ranches have been managed for a single dominant use, undertaken wholly upon an individual's landholdings. Entering the emerging market for nature-based experiences requires that farms and ranches adapt from fragmented single-use businesses to multi-functional enterprises that cooperatively operate at larger spatial scales. This Article explains how lawyers can help farmers and ranchers can make such a move. It refers to the emergence of these enterprises as “nature-based entrepreneurship.” Nature-based entrepreneurship attempts to capitalize on consumer demand for nature-based activities, while also furthering the conservation movement on private lands. As a consumer-oriented conservation approach, nature-based entrepreneurship involves an embrace of market liberalism in pursuit of environmental goals. And, as this Article explains, it may be one of the few feasible means of attaining environmental goals on vast, privately owned rural landscapes.
Online Resources
Debora Markley & Don Mackey, Community Environment for Entrepreneurship, Ctr. for Rural Entrepreneurship (June 2003).
http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/content/chapter_4/supporting_materials/1_000024.pdf
Other Materials
Brad D. Cherniak & Cathy Horton-Panzica, Proceedings of the Canada-United States Law Institute Conference on Comparative Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship in Canada and the United States: The Importance of Venture Capital in Promoting Entrepreneurship (April 13-14, 2007).
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