ABSTRACT
During the 1970s, no issue commanded as much public attention as the "energy crisis." Much of the rural economy and rural services are predicated on the assumption of relatively cheap and available energy. Educators, health officials, and other policy makers are faced with an infrastructure which has become increasingly centralized and vulnerable to energy problems. Industrial planners are forced to reconsider rural plant locations as the cost and reliability of transportation become increasingly problematic. Policy makers concerned with the future will be forced to reach a compromise between their image of what rural society should look like and what locally uncontrollable energy problems will allow it to be. Despite the rapid expansion of energy-related research, the state of knowledge pertaining to the consequences of energy restrictions, developments, and policy alternatives for rural society remains extremely limited. Modern commercialized agriculture requires substantial energy resources for the operation of mechanized equipment such as tractors, milking machines, and heating and cooling equipment.
