This panel is to focus on three questions: What is happening demographically in the rural areas of the United States? Can the recent growth trend be expected to continue into the future? And, what does this imply as far as public policy and programs are concerned? The first question has been dealt with very capably here and elsewhere by Calvin Beale. There is little room to doubt his statistical evidence. As the latter two questions lend themselves more to non-statistical arguments and as I have little data, I will concentrate on them.