Topeka ? Is $3-a-gallon gasoline necessarily a bad thing?

Not necessarily, if it spurs interest in fuels made with corn, soybeans, wheat straw or even switch grass – and builds an industry that can be big in rural Kansas, a high-ranking U.S. Department of Agriculture official who toured the state this week with Rep. Jerry Moran suggested Thursday.

Moran, R-Kan., and Thomas Dorr, undersecretary for rural development, are bullish on the future of rural Kansas, thinking there are enough economic opportunities to stem population declines.

While they have some concerns, such as the collective aging of community leaders, they see biofuels as a big opportunity. Dorr said the interest is an outgrowth of the war in Iraq and concerns about terrorism and national security.

“If there’s a silver lining in all of this, it’s an acknowledgment that we have to become more energy secure,” Dorr said Thursday during a Statehouse news conference. “Biological sciences, biotechnology have clearly made it possible, with $70-a-barrel crude oil, to begin developing a lot of these new energy resources.”

Dorr and Moran traveled Wednesday to Holcomb, Ellsworth, Junction City and Fort Riley, touring development sites. The U.S. Department of Agriculture spent nearly $235 million on rural development in Kansas during the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2005, much of it on loans.

Projects can be small, such as the construction of the only grocery store in Ellsworth.

“Where I come from, economic development is often whether or not there’s a grocery store in town,” said Moran, who is from Hays and represents the 1st District of western and central Kansas.

Rural development has been a concern of state officials and community leaders for decades. Census data show 26 of the state’s 105 counties lost at least 15 percent of their populations between 1980 and 2000.

Moran said the most pressing issue is developing a new crop of community leaders to replace those now in their 60s, 70s and even 80s. That’s what makes rural development important: keeping enough jobs to hold younger leaders in rural areas.

“From my perspective, Kansans should never give up on any Kansas community that’s willing to fight to preserve itself,” Moran said.

Moran noted that seven ethanol plants are operating in Kansas, with plans for an additional dozen. He and Dorr also said the arrival of high-speed Internet access in rural communities allows people to live in such places and maintain international businesses.

“I think once the word gets out, more will happen,” said Kenlon Johannes, chief executive officer of the Kansas Soybean Assn. “Rural life – and having grown up in a rural community – has its own unique benefits.”