| Abstract: | Jan L. Flora is Professor of Agricultural Economics and Sociology at Viriginia Tech, specializing in the areas of community,
agricultural, and rural change in the United States and in developing countries. Current research projects include assessing
the role of agrarian reform in Latin American development; a study of adequacy of services to small, minority, and female
North Carolina farmers; and directing a nationwide study of rural community grassroots development efforts funded by the US
Department of Agriculture. He founded and directed the Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives at Kansas State University from
1987 to 1989. He was a member of the Latin Amercian Studies Association Commission on compliance with the Central American
Peace Accords in 1988.
Jointly with Cornelia Flora, he has studied dominant approaches to international development in the post-World War II ear.
They served as Program Advisor for Agriculture and Rural Development for the Ford Foundation in Bogota, Colombia, from 1978
through 1980. At Virginia Tech, he recently served as campus coordinator for the SARSA project, a cooperative agreement with
USAID for conducting research in Third World countries in the areas of natural resource management, rural-urban linkages,
and women’s roles in these processes. |
