Rural Life Poll

North Dakota Rural Life Poll

The poll is a project of ND Rural Life at the University of North Dakota. The objectives of the North Dakota Rural Life Poll are to: 1) monitor the changing conditions in rural North Dakota; 2) to collect timely and relevant data on the conditions of rural North Dakota; 3) and to disseminate the results to state and national policy makers as well as other interested groups, organizations and individuals.

The poll has been conducted several times at the University of North Dakota and once at North Dakota State University. It has been funded by contributions from various rural and farm organizations, farm magazines, government agencies, NDSU Extension, and the UND Center for Community Engagement..

Because the poll does not have a permanent source of funding, it tends to be conducted on an episodic basis, typically whenever a state agency or a rural organization is able to provide at least half of the costs of the poll and we try to raise the remainder. If you are interested in supporting the ND Rural Life Poll, please contact the webmaster Curtis Stofferahn.

Download the 1999 ND Rural Life Poll Report (Pdf) and Presentation (Pdf). The purpose of this poll was to gauge the impacts of the farm crisis on farm families. It includes questions about the perceptions and causes of the farm crisis, impacts of the farm crisis on families and communities, social support and community involvement, financial adjustments, future plans, policy changes, and credit problems.

Download the 2006 ND Rural Life Poll Report (Pdf) and Presentation (Pdf) This poll was designed to identify the obstacles prohibiting conventional farmers from transitioning to organic production and to try to identify the characteristics that predispose farmers to adopt organic farming techniques.

Other States Rural Life Polls

Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll

Nebraska Rural Life Poll Reports and Press Releases

Illinois Rural Life Panel

Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture, and the Environment

Delta Rural Poll

A Prospectus to Contributors on Re-branding the ND Rural Life Poll as the North Dakota Survey of Food, Agricultural, Energy and Environmental Issues:

Pending funding commitments, the ND Rural Life Poll will be re-branded as the North Dakota Survey of Food, Agriculture, Energy and Environmental Issues. The purpose of the survey would be to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of North Dakotans related to emerging -- and potentially contentious -- food, agricultural, energy and environmental issues. A variety of topics could be explored including residents’ views of agriculture and energy's importance; attitudes about the environment and land use; food safety concerns; attitudes and behaviors related to local and organic foods; attitudes about animal welfare; concerns about large scale livestock development; opinions and concerns about renewable and non-renewable energy development, and views about tourism and recreational development. The telephone survey would be conducted biennially. In the years between surveys, the sponsors of the survey and the principal investigator would hold a conference to discuss the results of the survey as well as to involve residents, activists, politicians, and sponsors in a dialogue about the implications of the survey results.

UPDATE TO PROSPECTUS: I now have official and polite "thank you but no thanks" replies from ND Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, ND Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives and Basin Electric Cooperative. These three organizations contract with DH Research to do their own polling for internal uses and didn't see any need to do additional polling. Two of these three organizations have been supporters of previous rural life polls. Neither the Grand Forks Herald or the Fargo Forum responded to the inquiry, but the papers are going through a reduction in force through early retirements. The ND Farmers Union has also declined to be a sponsor of the survey.