The Countryside Council is a citizen-based non-partisan public interest research group based in 19 counties of rural southwestern Minnesota. Each year the Council identifies particular problems or needs of the region and sets up task forces to study each problem and make recommendations for resolution. During 1977-79 six task forces were at work. The 135 member School Finance Task Force focused on the way agricultural land was assessed for tax purposes, challenging the notion that "current market price" was the proper basis for valuing farm land. The group noted that, while land prices in southern Minnesota have gone up 345% since 1972, the farmer's income has not gone up nearly that fast. The task force on the economic status of women concentrated on the need for child care; financial issues such as inheritance laws, credit, and social security; and employment practices related to wage levels, sex discrimination and awareness of Affirmative Action programs. Members of the Telephone Task Force suggested ways to improve rural telephone service, and the Young Farmers Task Force studied the obstacles confronting young people who wish to enter farming today. Other task forces looked at energy supply and consumption and how communication technology could overcome some of the problems of rural isolation and sparsity of population. This report presents task force activities and recommendations and describes some of the programs of the Countryside Council itself. (DS)