The purpose of this paper is to outline some key policy lessons I believe have been learned in rural development and thereby hopefully stimulate additional thinking on this important topic. The lessons are drawn primarily from the three years I worked in the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C., and to a lesser extent on the observations made at the state and sub-state level in Virginia during the past three years. They are directed largely to U. S. Department of. Agriculture programs.