Experts from government, academia, and interest groups met to discuss and explore the impact of changes in agriculture, industry, and government in shaping events in rural agricultural communities. Texts of 15 of the 18 papers are reproduced in the proceedings, along with the letter of submittal, overview, an agenda, and a list of presenters and participants. Titles of papers are: "Rural America: A New Public Policy Frontier,""Agricultural Communities: Economic and Social Setting,""The Changing Nature of Agricultural Communities,""Natural Resources and Agricultural Communities,""Rural America in Passage,""Farm Structure and the Quality of Life in Agricultural Communities,""Past and the Prospective Economic Development of Rural Communities,""Economic Interrelationships in the Rural Community,""Family Farms and Agricultural Communities,""Rural Community Development and Agriculture: A Constructive or Destructive Relationship?""Credit and Credit Institutions in Agricultural Communities,""Trends Affecting and Exhibited by Commercial Banks in Agricultural Areas,""Credit as a Public Policy Tool,""Rural Local Governments,""Agricultural Communities: Capacity To Govern,""The Rural Development Policy of the Carter Administration," and "Better Country: A Strategy for Rural Development in the 1980's." (NEC)