Rural Council Shows Success In Economic Growth

Back in 1997, the rural economy in Loudoun was suffering and the board of supervisors formed a task force, charged with the assignment of bolstering the industry. Out of that task force came the Rural Economic Development Council, which set a goal of increasing the rural economy by 100 percent with 10 years.

Yesterday, representatives from the council and those who sat on the task force told the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors that the rural economy had grown by a total of 154 percent.

"We did it. We did reach the goal," Warren M. Howell. Jr., Manager for Innovative Economic Development for the Department of Rural Economic Development, said. "We still have a fair amount of land left. It's not 200,000 acres, but it's close.

"The rural economic development plan was named The 200,000-Acre Solution, for the estimated amount of acreage in Loudoun's rural area.

In 1997, the rural economy had $26 million in agricultural sales and 185,000 acres in farms. By 2007, agricultural sales had reached $67.9 million, with only 144,000 agricultural acres."We lost close to 21,000 acres between 2000 and 2005. We have suffered the loss of some agriculture there," Howell said. More here.