Editing Rural flight (section)

===Abandonment of small towns===
[[File:Menkovo - abandoned post office - DSCF5841.JPG|thumb|An abandoned post office in [[Menkovo]], [[Yaroslavl Oblast]], Russia]]The rise of corporate agricultural structures directly affects small rural communities, resulting in decreased populations, decreased incomes for some segments, increased income inequality, decreased community participation, fewer retail outlets and less retail trade, and increased environmental pollution.<ref>[http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/duffy/DuffyOct97.htm "Changes in Iowa farm structure"]; University of Iowa Extension;</ref>

Since the 1990s, China has merged schools into more centralized village-, town-, or county-level schools in rural areas to address some of these very problems.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.07.010|title = Has the compulsory school merger program reduced the welfare of rural residents in China?|journal = China Economic Review|volume = 46|pages = 123–141|year = 2017|last1 = Cai|first1 = Weixian|last2 = Chen|first2 = Gong|last3 = Zhu|first3 = Feng}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/effect-primary-school-mergers-academic-performance-students-rural-china | title=The Effect of Primary School Mergers on Academic Performance of Students in Rural China| journal=International Journal of Educational Development| issue=6| pages=570–585| date=November 2010| last1=Loyalka| first1=Prashant| last2=Rozelle| first2=Scott| last3=Luo| first3=Renfu| last4=Zhang| first4=Linxiu| last5=Liu| first5=Chengfang| volume=30| doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.05.003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/chernobyl-animals-red-forest | title=In the Wake of Nuclear Disaster, Animals Are Thriving in the Red Forest of Chernobyl| date=19 February 2019}}</ref>