Great Plains: Rural Communities

Rural Communities

Rural communities have been under considerable stress in recent years. Many have been in a decline evident for decades. There are numerous reasons for this decline, some at arms length from the price of grain. A primary reason for the decline has been the substitution of capital for labour on the farm. Mechanization has increased productivity per person enabling consolidation of farm units with an attendant out-migration of people formerly on the land. The recent change in grain production technology is the latest example of a long line of similar developments. All have resulted in less people remaining on the land.

Fewer people left on the land reduces the potential customers for businesses in the local towns and hamlets. However, another factor has also been at work ¹. That is the advent of continuous improvement in the road transportation system. Coincident with this improvement has been a change in the shopping patterns of rural dwellers who have developed urban tastes which can only be satisfied at larger centres where a greater variety of goods is available at competitive prices. Rural dwellers are now prepared to go to the larger centres to obtain the services desired and in the process bypass the local centres, eventually leading to the demise of the latter. Thus while these local centres have suffered the major centres have expanded.

Perhaps in no other area is consolidation more evident than in the school system. The demand for provision of improved school services at an acceptable cost has given rise to the busing of students from rural areas to central towns or cities. The role of the school as the centre of many farm communities has now disappeared. As well, many rural post offices have closed.

Provision of infrastructure in rural areas initially absorbed much of the labour surplus to agriculture. Other local industries such as farm machinery manufacturing also provided jobs along with other activities. However, over time jobs from these sources tapered off as service industry jobs increased. This did little to stabilize rural communities.

Recently, however, two developments changed the dismal prospects of some local communities. The desire of persons in the city for a more tranquil living environment has resulted in communities adjacent to the cities becoming "bedroom communities". In addition, telecommunications have taken over service tasks in remote areas formerly performed by people. Examples include insurance record keeping and payroll services. Improvements in computer controlled automation have enabled specialized farm production units, such as those for broiler production, to achieve the economies previously only attainable by large "factory in the field" types of operations.

The depopulation of rural areas has major implications on local services for those remaining. The previous local social centres, such as the school, the church and the community hall have been replaced by those more remote. Health services have likewise changed, with doctors and hospitals being located in the larger rural centres. The services remaining tend to be at a distance and entail additional transportation costs.

The decline of the local community has been said to bear a relationship to the sustainability of agriculture ². Such a relationship can only be considered indirect as it reflects changes in farm technology and markets which may or may not be conducive to sustainability. The new rural map being drawn as a result of the redistribution of population on the plains reflects changing tastes and social structures. In as much as the redistribution is the result of economic forces, it can be stemmed only by greater employment opportunities in rural areas. While nostalgia may prevail for rural living, government policies should be built on economic opportunities which foster diversification in these areas³.

The situation in Saskatchewan provides valuable insights into the impact of greater diversification in agriculture upon service centres. Southern Saskatchewan is marked by either large farms following a grain monoculture or large scale ranches. Both require relatively few individuals to operate with the effect that population declines. A somewhat different situation prevails in northern Saskatchewan. Agriculture there is more diversified, with the population increasing. This growth becomes important both for the well-being of service centres and for the development of manufacturing. However, evidence of any reversal of a decline in trade-centre status as a result of manufacturing is uncommon ⁴. The same situation applies to mining operations at a distance from major wholesale/retail centres. Manufacturing or mining centres in relative proximity to the major wholesale/retail centres take on the attributes of bedroom communities without a commercial structure.

Stabler et al ⁵, indicate that provincial and federal governments have taken advantage of emerging technologies in an effort to provide services in a cost-effective manner. The same governments selectively attempted to offset the negative effects that inevitably followed by retaining unused or seldom used facilities or distributing infrastructure investment so that expenditures were made in as many communities as possible. In the process, consolidation was accelerated while funds were wasted which could have been used to ensure a complete complement of infrastructure at selected locations. While it would be theoretically possible to create employment opportunities in enough rural communities to slow or prevent further consolidation, this option is not realistic⁶.

Pursuit of cost-minimizing efficiency in infrastructure investment would be less expensive than the course followed previously but would result in further consolidation of rural communities. By coordinating the efforts of governments and private organizations, the preservation of more rural communities without a major sacrifice in efficiency would become possible. Stabler et al are partial to trying the coordination approach in an attempt to preserve more rural communities at a minimum cost to society.

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