On non-agricultural and non-tourism economic industries in rural areas

The aim of this article is to support another view of rural economies than one focused mainly on agriculture. The reason for such a view is the fact that the economic importance of other than agricultural economic activities (e.g. in manufacturing, services) in rural areas of developed countries is much larger than that of agriculture. Despite this new economic orientation of rural areas, rural developemt policies are still heavily focused on agriculture. To support these statements, a changing nature of rural economies of developed countries is discussed in contrast to the stagnating focus of rural studies and rural development policies.