March 27, 1990 - On this Midday program, a presentation of a Mainstreet Radio report on rural Minnesota and the debate on how it should be viewed and described. Following report, MPR’s Bob Potter has a conversation with Paul Gruchow, local author and reporter; and George Donohue, a rural sociologist at the University of Minnesota about the differences between rural and urban Minnesota and answer listener questions.
January 2, 1988 - MPR's Mainstreet Radio team presents a documentary entitled "Against the Grain," which collects conversations with rural Minnesotans about how they are adapting to the forces of economic change.
September 28, 1987 - MPR Journal presents the documentary “A Visit to Atwater.” The farm crisis of the early 1980s has taken a toll on small towns. MPR reporters Dan Olson and Stephen Smith spent some time in the West Central Minnesota farm town of Atwater to see how one small community is faring, and what the future may hold.