Paul Ortman
Board Member – Treasurer
I care deeply about our rural community and feel that those communities which organize, advocate and are proactively creative have the opportunity to determine their future; I want our community to be self determinate.
** **
Nathan Torberson
Board Member – Secretary
Strong, inter-connected rural communities are important because they allow us to maintain
independence through self-sufficiency. Those who do not or cannot produce are at the mercy of those who can and do. Building a strong local foods system is essential to our survival.
**
Board Member
I believe we need to create as broad a variety of viable economic models as we can which encourage people to remain on, or come to, a life on the land. These options will not emerge magically, they will be created by people with a common interest in rural communities and the lifestyle/values which have been a part of our shared heritage.
**
Board Member
As a pastor of rural congregations for 4 decades, I was distressed to see rural churches and communities decline as farms grew larger and young people left and never came back. I am concerned that the land is being consolidated in fewer hands and local communities are losing control over it. But I am excited about the local food movement, especially among urban people and youth, and I see local food production as a primary way for rural communities to be revitalized and repopulated.
Larry Eisenbeis
I am a member of Rural Revival because I appreciate a group that grapples seriously with community building issues. Issues that warrant educational efforts and more are: land succession, food production models that require little land, and common services that can serve as incubators for enterprises. The goal is to attract and keep warm bodies here for an abundant quality of life for all.