Greetings from Nebraska!

The economic foundation of rural America has experienced dramatic changes over the past two decades. These changes have made it increasingly important for rural businesses to use e-commerce strategies to strengthen their economic health and stability, improve their market share and catapult the efficiency of their products and services.

In response to these changes, the Southern Rural Development Center, in partnership with CSREES/USDA, administers the National E-Commerce Extension Initiative. This initiative, launched in 2003, is addressing various factors that will dictate the adoption and diffusion of e-commerce innovations in rural areas. These factors include such topics as whether rural areas have the technology in place to embrace e-commerce applications, whether these businesses understand how e-commerce can benefit their operations, and whether Extension educators have the resources to provide adequate educational support to small businesses.

The SRDC conference I am attending now focuses on promoting e-commerce strategies for both communities and individual businesses. I look forward to sharing some of these tools and implementing some new e-commerce initiatives in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties!