The papers in this monograph represent the collective comments of speakers at a January 1986 conference addressing emerging issues in the rural economy of the South. The opening paper suggests that prospects for rural southern economic development are tied to new business development, new agricultural products, automated traditional manufacturing, tourist and retirement development, growth industries, foreign investment, vocational education and retraining, financial services, defense spending, and foreign markets. Next, employment patterns in the nonmetropolitan South are presented and discussed. The third paper reviews the role of agriculture in the transformation of the national and southern economy since World War II and provides statistical data and tables illustrating changes in unemployment, manufacturing, mining, farm debt-asset ratios, and land values. The remaining papers focus on four areas of concern: infrastructure and transportation, education, values and attitudes, and agriculture and the community resource base. These papers suggest the need for regional planning and collaboration; greater commitment to education, continuing education, and adult literacy; inclusion of racial and sex discrimination issues in economic development policy formation; and attention to issues such as farm/urban conflicts, land use, environmental regulation, local government finance, and changes in the price and/or availability of inputs. (NEC)