This year's edition of the State of Food and Agriculture examines rural change within the context of economy-wide structural transformation, showing how rural areas are just as important a contributor to alleviating poverty as urban areas. A distinguishing feature of this report is that it looks at rural and urban areas not as separate domains but as a "rural-urban spectrum" that ranges from the farm level to megacities. With economic growth and population dynamics driving many of the transformations now taking place, this publication notably recognizes the dynamic, intermediate roles that rural towns and secondary cities play in boosting the rural economy.