While the adoption of new mechanical and biological-chemical technology has brought revolutionary changes in agricultural production, these changes have also contributed to a decline in employment in many rural industries. There are, however, a number of new technologies, likely to impact on rural areas in the 1980s and beyond, that should level off the trend toward substitution of technology for labor in rural areas. These technologies include closed-environment production, energy self-sufficiency, municipal waste utilization, renewable fuels, telecommunications, alternative farming systems, and genetic improvements. Some of these technologies are related to energy constraints, including rising prices and the possibility of shortages and interruptions. Others respond to local control concerns that have been developing in recent years. The possibilities for wide adoption, the likely impact on the number and kinds of jobs in existence, and new employment opportunities likely to result from each of these new technologies must be examined separately. (Related reports on rural development in America are available separately through ERIC--see note.) (MN)