Recession catches rural America.
回顾了2008年经济衰退中美国农村经济的表现，指出初期因高商品价格和出口强劲而相对坚挺，但随后基础动摇，经济开始放缓。
As the recession intensified in 2008, rural economies held firm. Through the first half of the year, strong commodity prices supported robust farm incomes and contributed to relatively stronger gains on Main Street. Moreover, the housing correction was less intense than in urban areas, and the financial crisis was less severe than on Wall Street. While these factors shielded the rural economy from the worst of the recession, rural America was not immune. The foundations of rural economic strength in 2008—high commodity prices, robust export activity, and rising ethanol demand—were crumbling. Consequently, the booming farm economy began to slow, and, following national trends, the nonfarm economy continued to falter. This article reviews the state of the rural economy and discusses prospects for the year ahead. The first section examines the robust farm economy in 2008. The second section describes the weaker, but relatively