Spotlight on Rural Resilience

By DTN Staff

Drive through any small town in rural America, and you'll likely find a familiar story: a shuttered clinic, a consolidated school, a Main Street holding on by its fingernails -- and a community that refuses to quit. In our special series "Rural Resilience," DTN/Progressive Farmer looks beyond the fencerows and into these communities that farmers and ranchers both rely on and help sustain.

The challenges facing rural America are undeniable: aging populations, workforce shortages, policy uncertainty and infrastructure gaps. But so is the capacity to respond -- to collaborate across county lines, innovate with limited resources and welcome new people and ideas while preserving local identity. Rural resilience doesn't mean resisting change. It means harnessing it. Resilience, after all, is not about bouncing back to what was -- but about building what comes next.

On this page, you will find links to stories that originally appeared in the special April 2026 issue of Progressive Farmer magazine, "Rural Resilience," as well as links to DTN's latest coverage of issues affecting rural America.

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"RURAL RESILIENCE" SPECIAL PACKAGE

For stories, blogs and bonus content related to Progressive Farmer magazine's "Rural Resilience" special coverage, see:

-- Editors' Notebook: " Rural Resilience: How Small Towns Are Surviving -- and Thriving -- Against the Odds," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/8/2026)

-- "As Farm Belt Tightens, Rural Main Street Economies Adjust," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/8/2026)

-- "Rural America's Population Decline Is Reversing," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/13/2026)

-- "Rural Health Care Is on Life Support. Can It Be Resuscitated?" https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/15/2026)

-- "How Some Rural Hospitals Write Their Own Prescription for Survival," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/19/2026)

-- Family Business Matters: "Build Staying Power Into Your Family Farm, Ranch or Rural Business," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/21/2026)

-- "Rural Schools Fight to Keep Quality Education Alive," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/22/2026)

-- "Rural Broadband Has Come Far, but Gaps Remain," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/27/2026)

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LATEST DTN STORIES RELATED TO RURAL AMERICA

Watch this section for up-to-date DTN coverage of issues affecting rural America.

-- "Chicago Fed Report: Cash Rents Drop, Farm Loans Surge Across Midwest," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/15/2026)

-- "View From the Range: Young Montana Ranchers Making Dream Into Reality," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/15/2026)

-- Ag Policy Blog: "USDA Budget Proposal Signals Shift Away from Food Aid, Rural Development," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (4/4/2026)

-- "USDA Halts REAP Grant Applications as Rising Energy Costs Squeeze Farmers," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (4/1/2026)

-- Ag Policy Blog: "MAHA Groups Push USDA to Overhaul School Lunches, But Costs Loom Large," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (3/31/2026)

-- Ag Policy Blog: "Calling for a Stronger Safety Net, National Farmers Union Pitches a Soil Health Plan," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/26/2026)

-- "Cattle Ranch Creates Ways to Grow," https://www.dtnpf.com/… (5/26/2026)

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