Welcome to the official webpage for the conference "Developing Rural Policies to Meet the Needs of a Changing World". The conference took place on 13-15 October 2009 in Québec, Canada at the Québec City Conference Centre and was co-hosted by the Government of Canada and the Government of Québec. This event had 3 parts: Pre-conference Activities, the Main Conference and Optional Field Visits (15-17 October 2009).

• Session notes
• Descriptions des séances 

The OECD Annual Rural Development Conference was organised by the Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development to allow policy makers from OECD countries to examine current rural policy issues and to engage in a wider dialogue with the private sector, non-governmental organisations, civil society and academics.

This year, the pre-conference activities included Exhibits and Workshops. At the Rural Innovation Exhibitor Show  participants learned more about Québec’s rural development policy. The pre-conference workshops  provided an opportunity to discuss certain themes in greater detail. In particular they covered:

• A presentation of the preliminary findings from the Rural Review of Québec, Canada  the Rural Review by the OECD study team
• A workshop organised by RIMISP - Latin American Center for Rural Development on rural trends, opportunities and policy responses in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
• Thinking Rural: Rural Lens, Mainstreaming and Rural Proofing, a roundtable discussion by Rural Secretariat, Government of Canada and Rural Division, DEFRA United Kingdom.
• Single Industry Towns in Russia

The conference covered the following:

•  Responding to the financial crisis and recession in rural areas
•  Relaunching devitalized areas and single industry towns
•  Rural tourism: implementing “cutting edge” schemes
•  Reimagining the forests: potential for forest-based rural development
•  New sources of energy production and transmission
•  Rethinking the new demography of rural communities
•  Climate change: policy implications in rural areas
•  Strategies to enhance the local food industry
•  Local government and declining fiscal capacity: adjustment mechanisms
•  Identifying appropriate responses for rural development policy: a roundtable discussion
•  Recap and Way forward: A framework for action