There’s a lot of talk about how the economic health of Wisconsin hinges on attracting a young, hip and professional workforce to Milwaukee and Madison. It has been said that cities have an advantage at attracting innovators and entrepreneurs. While I don’t discount that our fates are tied to the Brew City and Mad Town, I do wonder if enough attention is paid to rural Wisconsin’s future.
Population shifts are a reason for concern. Wisconsin’s largest urban areas are growing, but 40 of our 72 counties (mostly rural) lost population between 2010 and 2013, according to the U.S. Census. As recent as 2000, about one-third of Wisconsinites lived in rural areas. Yet a trend that dates back to the Great Depression continues: younger people migrate to larger cities and warmer climates, leaving behind hometowns where the average hair color is increasingly gray.
We’re certainly not alone. Each year there are now more deaths than births in half of our nation’s rural counties. However, this is about more than just babies.
“A new birth simply cannot replace the loss that results every time a college-educated twentysomething on the verge of becoming a worker, taxpayer, homeowner or parent leaves,” wrote researchers Patrick Carr and Maria Kefalas in a column titled, “The Rural Brain Drain.”
As rural counties lose population, Wisconsin’s overall population grows at about 0.5 percent annually. Professors and urban planners seem more concerned that Wisconsin is losing a key demographic (college graduates) to the allures of Minneapolis and Chicago, southern states and both coasts. You don’t have to be a professor or urban planner to realize that losing 9,000 residents between the ages 21 to 29 with college degrees, each of the past five years, is more than a trend. It’s a problem.
Often referred to as “brain drain,” this exodus of the young and educated is usually about more than available jobs. So while broadband availability and mining could be beneficial to pockets of our state, there’s a human side to this equation. Small towns with an apparent lack of culture and diversity look boring to graduates who want to live near the amenities they desire.
Do tomorrow’s young farmers and agriculturists feel the same way? Does rural Wisconsin have the amenities that will make them want to put down roots? Are ample wide open spaces enough, or does their need to have an outlet mall within a manageable drive?
There are critics who want to blame the declining rural population on large farms and agribusiness. Just like many other professions, farming takes fewer human hands than it did a generation ago. The next Silicon Valley we are not, but with ample rains and access to the Mississippi River and Great Lakes trade channels, a diverse agricultural community remains the best economic and environmental assets for our landscape.
What are we to make of the once-vibrant communities that dot the countryside? Some small towns appear a few years away from extinction. Is this something to worry about and fix, or should they just be left to die a natural death?
The spider’s web of issues facing rural Wisconsin like shifting populations and “brain drain” won’t be easy to untangle. This column may leave you with more questions than answers: Does rural Wisconsin need a revamp? What is going to keep your hometown viable in 20 years?
The only thing that I hope these issues make clear is this: Wisconsin’s most valuable exports are not the cows or cranberries…it’s our young people.
Casey Langan
In many ways, Casey Langan has spent much of his life working for farmers. What began as a childhood fascination with his grandpa’s herd of cows yielded him a career. Only this farm hand’s plow is usually a pen. Milking cows and working in the tobacco fields of his native Edgerton eventually gave way to reporting for a weekly farm newspaper, working for a farmer legislator and the Farm Bureau.
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