Futurist Ivan Potter on Purchase's Frontier Future

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Credit West Kentucky Journal

Map of western Kentucky counties potentially affected by FAR designation.

You could say that the Jackson Purchase hasn’t been frontier territory since, well, since Andrew Jackson was President.  But now, in the 21st century, the federal government is proposing a new system that would classify the Purchase as Frontier and Remote, or FAR.  Researchers and policymakers with the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services say the new FAR area codes will help such regions improve access to public services as well as food and household goods. Futurist Ivan Potter is also the publisher of West Kentucky Journal, an online publication, and in a recent article, he writes that even though this possible reclassification has slipped under most people’s radar, it could have far-ranging effects. Todd Hatton speaks with Potter to get a sense of what the pros and cons of living on the frontier.