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Structural Changes in U.S. Agriculture: Implications for Small Farms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Tesfa G. Gebremedhin  and
Ralph D. Christy
Tesfa G. Gebremedhin
Affiliation:
Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University
Ralph D. Christy
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics, Cornell University
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Abstract

A descriptive analysis and a survey of literature were used in this assessment of the transformation of the structure of production agriculture. The changes in production agriculture have important implications for resource use, population distribution in rural communities, and the survival of small farms. The shifting structural change in production agriculture as a response to economic and technological adjustments is not a temporary phenomenon. The economic and natural base of agriculture will change toward greater capital intensity and concentration of ownership, and will raise public policy questions in relation to the survival of a large farm population.

Keywords

production agriculturesmall farmsstructural changes
Type
Invited Paper Sessions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 1996 , pp. 57 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1996

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