Giving Compass' Take:

• Harvest Public Media reports on the efforts of rural areas in Kansas to attract Tyson chicken for the jobs, even if that means also attracting environmental degradation. Suburban areas aren't as welcoming.

• This dichotomy between rural and suburban attitudes toward corporate America sets up potential policy-making conflicts, but should also be examined by nonprofits trying to promote sustainable businesses around the country: How can they reach more remote areas?

• Here's how commodity crops are hurting rural Kansas and what that means for the larger agriculture sector.

Many parts of rural Kansas would love to land a big company like Tyson, fully aware that it would bring foul smells and pose a potential threat to the local water supply. Even though the jobs are hard labor with modest pay, the wages would be better than what comes with the dwindling work available now. Enough, at least, to help save towns struggling to keep people.

Larger and more prosperous suburban areas, however, have already chased Tyson away. They’d rather see growth in the tech or aerospace manufacturing industries. Companies offering lower salaries aren’t as enticing when you can commute to a job that pays $60,000 a year. It’s an economic development luxury that many smaller communities don’t have.

In September, Tyson announced plans for a $320 million poultry complex on the outskirts of Tonganoxie, Kansas, that would employ about 1,600 people. Then-Gov. Sam Brownback applauded the plan as a boon for the Kansas economy. But local residents weren’t as excited. They were upset that the project was announced before receiving any input on how the plant would change their lives.

Protests followed by a group called Citizens Against Project Sunset, the code name city and state officials used to discuss the project. The group worried about what the plant, and the chicken farms that would come with it, would bring — water pollution, bad odors, and decreased property values.

Read the full article about the complications that come with large employers such as Tyson chicken by Brian Grimmett at Harvest Public Media.