Rural infrastructure consists of a complex pattern of facilities, institutions and working arrangements which provide the supporting framework for the rural economic, social and environmental systems. The character of these systems has been determined largely by agriculture, since it is the dominant user of the land base. The economic forces which change agriculture are now primarily related to developing patterns of demand for food products and for the non-food services that rural resources can provide. As farm businesses adjust to these pressures, new economic infrastructure has to develop to support them. Rural economic adjustment then brings with it major changes in the nature of rural society. The growth of a ‘dual’ agricultural structure, increasing numbers of part-time and diversified farm holdings, and the countryside developing more to provide direct consumer services will change rural areas and call for distinctive adaptations and extensions to the rural infrastructure.