Oil, gas and agriculture struggles mean tough times in rural Kansas

[pstokely]

"For a century, the people of this central Kansas town have built a life around the up-and-down businesses of oil and farming.

These days, Russell, like most of rural Kansas, is in recession. Plunging oil, gas and agriculture prices have forced businesses to lay off and families to cut back.

This is the start of the second year of a downturn following nearly a decade of bounty in oil and ag country, and people, employers and governments are trying to figure out just how deeply they need to hunker down.

People are studying 2016 forecasts for oil prices and crop prices — and hoping for a change before things get desperate and temporary cutbacks have to be made permanent.

Those who live in the state’s more populous, more prosperous cities may have missed the rural economic downturn. Relatively few Kansans live in the countryside anymore. The number of people tied directly to farming is small, and the number in oil and gas production is even smaller. The state as a whole is growing, and jobs are increasing.
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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article60404941.html#storylink=cpy