The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Oregon State University established the Emery Castle Endowed Chair in Resource and Rural Economics in direct response to three developments:

1. The problems associated with natural resource management and rural welfare have never been more acute. The need is great.
2. The Department aspires to expand its intellectual leadership role in this arena even as public support for higher education declines.
3. After a half century of research, teaching, and public policy involvement in resource and rural economics, Emery Castle has found it necessary to curtail his professional activities. He approved the creation of the Chair and has pledged to support it both financially and professionally.

Support

Gifts and pledges to the Castle Chair Endowment can be made through the
Oregon State University Foundation
850 SW 35th Street
Corvallis, OR 97333.
The phone number is 541-737-4218 or 800-354-7281.

Or, you can go online https://osufoundation.org/giving/online_gift.shtml. Please designate "Castle Chair Endowment" in the Other Designation section.

Relevance

There is no better way to judge how people in different locations are faring economically than to compare their income over a period of time. From 1969 to the year 2000, average earnings per job in the United States increased approximately 30 percent. For this same period, earnings per job in Oregon increased 20 percent. Earnings per job in rural Oregon, however, declined sharply in the 1980s. Some recovery has occurred, but only recently has the 1969 level been reached. In summary, over a thirty year period, earnings per job have increased 30 percent in the United States, 20 percent in Oregon, but have barely held their own in non-metro Oregon.

Historically, resource-dependent industries (i.e., farming, fishing and forestry) drove rural Oregon's economy and were major contributors to the economy of the entire state. In the 1970s, other economic sectors developed and grew, causing fundamental structural change in the state's economy. The reasons for this change are varied and complex, but technology, globalization, and changing demographics were all involved, and were global and national in scope.

Even as the resource dependent industries were in relative decline, public policies affecting natural resources and the environment were receiving greater national attention. Oregon was often in the forefront of such policies, as might be expected in a state with such remarkable natural resources. These policy decisions have direct impact on rural places, even though they are made in Washington, D.C. and in Salem.

Rural Oregon has become the stage on which these fundamental forces have had major impact. The relative decline in rural wages and employment opportunities have taken their toll on rural families, and, in turn, on rural communities and institutions. The ongoing conflicts over water management in the Klamath Basin provides a vivid, visible example of the challenges facing rural Oregon in the application of natural resource and environmental public policies.

One perspective, common in rural areas, is that environmental concerns and regulations are a major cause of the decline in resource-dependent industries. An alternative perspective, more common in urban areas, is that resource-dependent industries are on their way to extinction, and that the future of natural resources in Oregon is a source of "second paychecks" for urban residents.

The juxtaposition of the two overly simplistic perspectives has helped fuel the perceived rural-urban divide and has obscured the interdependency of rural and urban Oregon. They preclude a dialogue about a realistic, sustainable rural Oregon that would include both space-dependent natural resource based industries, and an environmental and natural resource base for all Oregonians to enjoy. Such perspectives neglect the essential dimensions of rural places-space, distance, and population density-and make it difficult to relate resource and environmental management, social problems, jurisdictional issues and spatial considerations.

The current situation in Oregon evokes Lewis Mumford's words, spoken to the City Club of Portland in 1938. "I have seen a lot of scenery in my life, but I have seen nothing so tempting as a home for man and woman as the Oregon country... You have here a basis for civilization on its highest scale, and I am going to ask you a question you may not like. Are you good enough to have this country in your possession? Have you got enough intelligence, imagination, and cooperation? Or, do we take Oregon all too much for granted."

Mumford could just as easily have been talking about rural areas and natural resources throughout America. Have we taken rural areas and our natural resources all too much for granted? How will we address the complex problems and challenges facing rural areas throughout the nation? The Castle Chair is being established to focus attention on and bring intellectual leadership to these tasks.

The Opportunity

The Oregon State University Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics is known for anticipating the emergence of difficult real world issues. Once these issues are identified, the Department has brought rigorous analysis and relevant economic and political concepts to bear. The Department has earned a national reputation for the quality of its research and for the credibility of information it brings to the policy process.

A recent study ranked the Department among the top ten academic departments in the world in quality-adjusted research publications in agricultural and resource economics. The Department has four Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association, the highest award given by that professional society. Two faculty are included in International Who's Who in Economics, determined largely by frequency of citation in the economics literature.

Given the social and economic need, the Department is now accepting the challenge issued by Lewis Mumford more than three decades ago. The Department proposes to establish an endowed Chair to provide the intelligence, imagination, and continuity needed at the interface of resource and rural economics. The person filling this position will be expected to furnish the intellectual leadership in resource and rural economics at Oregon State University. There is no better way to honor Emery Castle's legacy to his Department, University, and adopted State of Oregon.

Professorship to Address Rural Challenges

(Original Press Release) by Sara Zaske

CORVALLIS - Mill closings, water-right battles, urban sprawl, development pressures, rising hunger and poverty rates - today, every rural community faces a unique set of complex economic challenges. Oregon State University has taken what leaders say is an important step in addressing these problems, announcing a new professorship and launching a $1 million fund-raising drive. Professor JunJie Wu has been named the first holder of the Emery Castle Professorship in Resource and Rural Economics, a newly-endowed position that will provide additional resources to study rural issues. "This is for the people of Oregon and for Oregon State University," said OSU Professor Emeritus Emery Castle, who initiated the effort to establish the professorship. "It will help address some of the broader issues in rural Oregon that have typically not been studied."

In the short-term, Wu will use the funding from the endowment to sponsor a symposium and a seminar series to discuss important challenges facing rural communities. In the long-term, he plans to work with colleagues to create a top resource and rural economics program at OSU to help Oregon communities adapt to changing economic times. "As the initial holder of the Castle professorship, I will devote my energy to research, education and outreach programs that help us better understand the issues facing rural communities and develop better strategies to address those issues," said Wu.

The appointment of Wu marks the halfway point in a $2 million fund-raising effort inspired by Castle, a leading authority in rural and resource economics. Castle had a 53-year career at OSU and served on state and national policy and research boards. This includes a 10-year stint as vice president and then president of Resources for the Future, the Washington D.C. think-tank on issues dealing with natural resources and the environment. Supporters, including many of Castle's former students and colleagues, have helped raise nearly $1 million, enabling the start of the professorship, but more funds need to be raised to create a fully-endowed chair. "The professorship has allowed OSU to retain a world-class scholar who will create and catalyze efforts to achieve a deeper understanding of the economic challenges confronting rural Oregon," said Bill Boggess, head of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. "Fully endowing the position will help anchor and leverage the university's commitment to assisting rural communities over the long haul."

In the past 30 years, there has been a deepening economic divide between rural and more urban communities in the United States. Nationwide, unemployment is 10 percent higher, and poverty 28 percent higher, in rural areas than in urban and suburban areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. Rural Oregon, which historically has relied on natural resource-based industries including farming, fishing and forestry, has been hit particularly hard by the changing economy. Starting in the 1970s, resource industries began to decline due in part to changes in technology, global markets and demographics as well as new state and federal natural resource policies. Over a 30-year period, while the rest of the nation saw incomes rising 30 percent, earnings per job increased only 20 percent in Oregon, and in the state's rural areas, earnings per job actually declined. While many areas face major economic challenges, it is important not to generalize about rural areas even within Oregon, Wu pointed out.

"There are a lot of variations among rural communities, and every community faces different issues," he said. "In Eastern Oregon, people may be concerned for their economic future, health care, and educational opportunities for their children. In Western Oregon, people may be more concerned about urbanization and the loss or fragmentation of farmland." In addition to establishing the chair, OSU is working to address the complex challenges confronting rural communities through the Sustainable Rural Communities Initiative, which was recently selected as one of six priority programs for funding under the university's strategic plan. Though this initiative, OSU is creating a statewide interdisplinary program involving faculty from five colleges to help improve the environmental, economic, social and cultural well-being of Oregon's rural communities.

Professor-Chair in Rural and Resource Economics

by Emery Castle

(May 4. 2005. Dr. Castle's remarks from the reception announcing the Castle Professorship)

When I first took steps to establish an OSU professorship I anticipated a public announcement would happen when I was no longer around. But the fates intervened and here we are, talking not just about a professorship, but an endowed chair. The fact that so many of my colleagues, family and friends have made today possible causes this to be one of the most satisfying days of my life. But today is not about me, it is about the people of Oregon, rural and urban. It is about OSU, CAS, and AREC. It is about colleagues Wu, Weber, Boggess and others, and the important work they do.

When we say rural, we are talking about a part of the United States - the rural areas - that constitutes more than 90 percent of the land area, the natural environment in which we all must live. We are talking here about 20 - 25 percent of the population of the United States. We are talking here about 20 percent of the non-farm labor force, the highest percentage of the total labor force that is rural of any high-income nation in the world. We are talking about some highly educated, prosperous people. And we are talking about places with social pathologies that are as bad, or worse, as those of any place in our nation.

Yet it is essential that we not consider rural in isolation from urban. I know of no significant rural problem that can be solved apart from urban and global influences. A rural program that is narrow and parochial is doomed to failure.

Approximately 20 years ago I wrote an article entitled "The Forgotten Hinterlands." At that time it also became known that I was considering devoting a significant part of my remaining years to study of people and places in "the forgotten hinterlands."

During this period I happened to be at a meeting that included a professor from one of the most prestigious universities in the land. He was a friend and had learned of my tentative plans to spend some of my remaining years studying rural America.

In a one on one conversation he told me that early in his career he spent some time in a poverty area in rural Mississippi. He concluded neither he nor his discipline - economics - had anything to contribute to the betterment of those people, nor to that place. It was clear he was advising me to forget my plans about rural America.

I thought deeply about his advise for some time. It was clear to me he was really saying his discipline would have to be modified if he was to work on the problems of rural Mississippi. He was also saying the payoff to him, measured in academic prestige, would be less than if he were to work on a different set of problems (say) urban or environmental economics.

After deep reflection on the reasons for the advice he was giving me, I concluded I surely must be on the right track. And when I look around this room today and see who is here, and why they are here, I know I made the correct decision.