The priorities of rural entrepreneurs are revealed in a new report from the Community Vitality Center at Iowa State University. The report is based on the responses from entrepreneurs who attended a Rural YES “Young Entrepreneurship Summit” on November 9, 2011.

The Rural YES "Young Entrepreneur Summit" was organized by the US Small Business Administration (SBA), US Department of Agriculture Rural Development, and the Community Vitality Center (CVC) at Iowa State University, and was sponsored by 30 partner groups. The summit was designed to reach out to potential and current entrepreneurs in rural America, and approximately 160 participants from around the state heard presentations from federal and state officials, as well as a panel of rural Iowa entrepreneurs. Participants also had the opportunity to talk about entrepreneurial issues, focusing on the opportunities and challenges.

Dr. Mark Edelman, Director of the CVC, says that the small group discussion results provided some "useful insights." Many young entrepreneurs considered access to seed capital and finance to be the major challenge in the current environement. Perhaps the most unanticipated result was that several young entrepreneur participants reported the burden of student debt would prevent or alter their plans for moving forward effectively with an entrepreneurial venture.

The perceived availability technical assistance and access to resources to help young entrepreneurs get started or to expand was also "lower and more varied across communities than expected," said Edelman. "This response indicates that resources are uneven across communities, or that a better job of promoting the availability of resources is needed."

In terms of emerging opportunities, the local foods movement was perceived to be thriving in Iowa.

Results from the summit are now available for download on the CVC website at: http://www.cvcia.org/

Also, find interviews with four entrepreneurs who participated in the panel discussions on the America Needs Young Entrepreneurs (ANY Entrepreneurs) Facebook page.

For more information contact Mark Edelman at medelman@iastate.edu.

At the beginning of 21st century the sustainability concept was mainly a basis for developing policies consistent with a continued use of resources into the future without causing environmental crisis. But the situation has evolved, and the global economic crisis in 2009 was the ultimate consequence of short-term economic thinking. We need a new form of economic development, addressing the needs of the present without undermining the needs of the future. The International Journal of Sustainable Economy (IJSE) addresses sustainability issues within economic theory and analysis.

The International Journal of Sustainable Economy is listed in the:

• Academic OneFile
• Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities
• EconLit
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
• Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Australian Research Council
• Expanded Academic ASAP
• Google Scholar
• Handelsblatt Ranking VWL – Journaliste 2010
• RePEc
• Scirus

The IJSE maintains a very rapid review and publication process. The turnaround time is on average 5-7 weeks from submission to a first decision. The IJSE has an acceptance rate of 22%. The H-Index (based on Harzing’s Publish or Perish software) of the IJSE is 6. On average, there are 1.32 cites per published paper.

You are kindly invited to submit papers. All papers should be submitted via email attachment in one single MS Word format file to me at egon.zizmond@fm-kp.si or egon.zizmond@guest.arnes.si.

Deadline for submission is 31 January 2012

Applications for 2012–13 are now invited from professorial staff and early to mid-career academics (applicants must have been awarded their PhD between eight and fifteen years before applying for a fellowship) who wish to pursue research in London in any of the areas covered by the School, and to engage in an active relationship with the multidisciplinary scholarly community across the School. The Fellowship is tenable for up to six consecutive months between September 2012 and June 2013.

The Fellowship offers an allowance towards travel, accommodation and research costs up to a determined maximum.

Further information:

E: peter.niven@sas.ac.uk

T: +44 (0)20 7862 8666

Website: www.sas.ac.uk/school-visiting-fellowship

UMD Faculty Research Assistant (Position Number 117822)

The University of Maryland's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics seeks a highly motivated individual to participate in a one-year project examining the status of the organic farming sector in the Mid-Atlantic and other regions of the U.S. Responsibilities of this position include managing and updating a large and unique database on the U.S. organic farming sector, conducting economic analysis of the data, and maintaining contacts with other research, support and regulatory institutions that work with this farm sector. This individual will be part of a research team that is examining the national and regional Implications of market and regulatory changes on the adoption of organic farming systems, including the Mid-Atlantic region. The individual is expected to develop national statistical indicators on the organic farm sector for use by policymakers and the general public, and to assess the data and other infrastructure needs in this emerging sector of agriculture.

See http://www.midatlanticherc.org/c/job.cfm?vnet=0&site_id=4076&sort=date_&... which links to the job listing and online application form (closing date is Jan. 15).