“It’ll continue — people moving out of rural areas because they’ll continue to have a hard time getting services. It becomes nice to visit, but I could never see myself moving out there. There’s just no opportunity.”

— Tyson Paulson, Washburn student, Lawrence

“Urban expansion is growing at an alarming rate — small towns are getting smaller and smaller. Areas like Kansas City and Lawrence will grow.”

— William Tramp, bartender, Lawrence

“It affects the region because the land is losing the family farm and family ranch. It’s environmentally better to have a better land-to-family ratio. People who run commercial operations don’t care if they pollute the land because they don’t live there. That affects us all because we lose the land —we may drive through, but never stop at those small towns to enjoy dinner or something like that because the area stinks of commercial meat production.”

— Barbara Hayford, teacher, Wayne, Neb.

““It affects the aquifers if family farms are replaced by big-time operations that suck up water, making it harder for the family farms that are left. If they don’t depend on the aquifer, they may not care what shape it’s in.”

— Debbie Baker, Kansas Biological Survey, Lawrence