To effectively leverage their assets for long-term, shared prosperity, rural communities need a robust local capacity with solid connections at the regional, state, and federal levels.

While rural America is in no way a monolith, many rural communities have in recent years been confronted by challenging economic, demographic, and climatic trends that have limited their ability to achieve durable, inclusive economic prosperity.

Today's event forum will focus on agriculture's social and policy implications and environmental science-based policy. While economists recommend using market incentives, policymakers often use regulation to achieve agricultural and environmental resource management objectives

Agriculture is unique among most sectors in the economy, as agriculture's mitigation potential from both an enhancement of removals of greenhouse gases (GHG) and reduction of emissions through management of land is significant. Agriculture provides food for humans, fiber, livelihoods for billions of people worldwide and is a critical resource for sustainable development in many regions.