Mark Drabenstott is a vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the director of the Center for the Study of Rural America (CSRA).
He has served as an advisor for the World Bank and has testified before Congress on at least 10 occasions.
In the introduction the report notes that the farm economy is in a deep slump and that there are major economic challenges facing rural communities within the U.S.
and argues that it is important that the government expands its assistance to rural communities.
The article also questions whether concentrated and corporatized agriculture will be beneficial to the majority of rural communities and states, "Agricultural policy no longer cures rural ills."