Diversity Isn’t Just for Pastures

This week, we’re talking about the importance of diversity in our pastures for soil health, resilience, and productivity. But diversity impacts society as well, so I wanted to share a bit of research about how diversity is equally important for our personal productivity and health. As always, what you’ll find here is based on research, and for those who accuse me of presenting my biases, well, I do like to consider research on a topic when I’m doing something, so I can hopefully avoid mistakes others have made before me.

A few years ago, I was trying to learn more about where innovation and good ideas come from. What I learned was that, according to lots of research, more innovation comes from cities than rural areas. When researchers studied why this was so, they determined that it was because in cities, there is greater diversity and interaction among a variety of individuals. Urban areas attract a broader mix of people by nationality, ethnicity, education, profession, etc. This social diversity leads to diversity in thought, driving novel perspectives, cross-disciplinary solutions, and faster idea generation, experimentation, and development. Economists call this “knowledge spillover,” but they could have just as easily said, “More heads are better than one.” It’s the secret sauce behind urban innovation.

But this isn’t just an urban story – it’s a diversity story.

DEI Is a Driver of Innovation, Not Just a Checkbox

Whether in a city or a small town, diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones when it comes to creativity and problem-solving. The research is clear: organizations and communities that include voices from different racial, cultural, and professional backgrounds are more agile, more inventive, and more resilient.

This is why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) isn’t just about fairness—it’s about unlocking potential. In urban centers, that potential shows up as tech startups and cutting-edge research. But in rural America, innovation often looks different and requires different support structures.

Rural Innovation: Same Spark, Different Fuel

Rural communities have always been sources of ingenuity—whether in sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, or advanced manufacturing. But the pathways to innovation are different. They rely on strong social networks, shared purpose, and increasingly, intentional investment in inclusive systems.

Three key players make a difference:

Universities

Regional colleges and land-grant universities are hubs of research and community engagement. When they work with rural communities—not just in them—they become engines of place-based innovation.

Cooperative Models

From credit unions to farming co-ops, rural areas have a long tradition of working collectively. These models promote shared risk and shared reward, and they can also scale innovation by pooling knowledge and capital.

Regional Innovation Hubs

When nonprofits, businesses, and public agencies collaborate regionally, they create ecosystems that mimic the diversity and energy of urban centers. These hubs support rural entrepreneurs, provide mentorship, and connect local ideas to national networks.

The Risks: DEI Rollbacks and University Funding Cuts

Right now, we’re seeing a troubling trend: political attacks on DEI programs, and deep cuts to public university funding in many states.

These moves don’t just threaten fairness and representation—they directly undermine innovation:

• Rolling back DEI limits the range of perspectives in research, policymaking, and entrepreneurship, especially those from historically excluded rural, Indigenous, and low-income communities.
• Defunding universities weakens one of the few remaining bridges between rural America and the innovation economy.
• Restricting inclusive education reduces the talent pipeline for science, engineering, health care, and agriculture—fields critical to the country’s long-term resilience.

While it may have seemed that pulling back on DEI and public investment would be harmless, as always, we find that things are connected in ways we hadn’t anticipated. In short, it doesn’t just harm certain groups. It risks slowing down innovation across the board, and especially in the rural regions that are already under-resourced.

Equity Means Investing Everywhere

Closing the urban-rural innovation gap isn’t about making every town into a mini-Silicon Valley. It’s about recognizing that innovation looks different in different places, and that DEI must be rooted in local realities.

When we bring together diverse voices, build inclusive institutions, and support community-led solutions—whether in bustling cities or quiet farming towns—we don’t just innovate more. We innovate better.

And, personally, I think we all do better when we all do better.

Thanks for reading,

Kathy