IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersrr/262221.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Farm Size and the Organization of U.S. Crop Farming

Author

Listed:
  • MacDonald, James M.
  • Korb, Penni
  • Hoppe, Robert A.

Abstract

Cropland has been shifting to larger farms. The shifts have been large, centered on a doubling of farm size over 20-25 years, and they have been ubiquitous across States and commodities. But the shifts have also been complex, with land and production shifting primarily from mid-size commercial farming operations to larger farms, while the count of very small farms increases. Larger crop farms still realize better financial returns, on average, and they are able to make more intensive use of their labor and capital resources, indicating that the trends are likely to continue. The report relies on comprehensive farm-level data to detail changes in farm size and other attributes of farm structure, and to evaluate the key driving forces, including technologies, farm organization and business relationships, land attributes, and government policies.

Suggested Citation

  • MacDonald, James M. & Korb, Penni & Hoppe, Robert A., 2013. "Farm Size and the Organization of U.S. Crop Farming," Economic Research Report 262221, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:262221
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.262221
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262221/files/39359_err152.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/262221/files/39359_err152.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.262221?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Boehlje & Allan Gray, 2009. "Biological Manufacturing And Industrialization Of Production Agriculture," Working Papers 09-12, Purdue University, College of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    2. Nickerson, Cynthia & Ebel, Robert & Borchers, Allison & Carriazo, Fernando, 2011. "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2007," Economic Information Bulletin 291937, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Schimmelpfennig, David & Ebel, Robert, 2011. "On the Doorstep of the Information Age: Recent Adoption of Precision Agriculture," Economic Information Bulletin 291945, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Low, Sarah A. & Vogel, Stephen J., 2011. "Direct and Intermediated Marketing of Local Foods in the United States," Economic Research Report 118025, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Olmstead, Alan L. & Rhode, Paul W., 2001. "Reshaping The Landscape: The Impact And Diffusion Of The Tractor In American Agriculture, 1910–1960," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(3), pages 663-698, September.
    6. Horowitz, John K. & Ebel, Robert M. & Ueda, Kohei, 2010. ""No-Till" Farming Is a Growing Practice," Economic Information Bulletin 96636, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Whatley, Warren C., 1983. "Labor for the Picking: the New Deal in the South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(4), pages 905-929, December.
    8. Key, Nigel D., 2004. "Agricultural Contracting and the Scale of Production," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Dimitri, Carolyn & Effland, Anne & Conklin, Neilson C., 2005. "The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy," Economic Information Bulletin 59390, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Andrew Schmitz & David Seckler, 1970. "Mechanized Agriculture and Social Welfare: The Case of the Tomato Harvester," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 52(4), pages 569-577.
    11. Boehlje, Michael & Gray, Allan W., 2009. "Biological Manufacturing And Industrialization Of Production Agriculture," Working papers 54025, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    12. Joseph W. Glauber, 2013. "The Growth Of The Federal Crop Insurance Program, 1990--2011," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(2), pages 482-488.
    13. Hoppe, Robert A. & MacDonald, James M. & Korb, Penelope J., 2010. "Small Farms in the United States: Persistence Under Pressure," Economic Information Bulletin 58300, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. James M. MacDonald & Sun-Ling Wang, 2011. "Foregoing Sub-therapeutic Antibiotics: the Impact on Broiler Grow-out Operations," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(1), pages 79-98.
    15. Thomas J. Holmes & Sanghoon Lee, 2012. "Economies of Density versus Natural Advantage: Crop Choice on the Back Forty," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Mishra, Ashok K. & Nehring, Richard F. & Hendricks, Chad & Southern, Malaya & Gregory, Alexandra, 2007. "Off-Farm Income, Technology Adoption, And Farm Economic Performance," Economic Research Report 7234, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Michael J. Roberts & Nigel Key, 2008. "Agricultural Payments and Land Concentration: A Semiparametric Spatial Regression Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(3), pages 627-643.
    18. Derek Byerlee & Klaus Deininger, 2013. "The Rise of Large Farms in Land-Abundant Countries: Do They Have a Future?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Stein T. Holden & Keijiro Otsuka & Klaus Deininger (ed.), Land Tenure Reform in Asia and Africa, chapter 14, pages 333-353, Palgrave Macmillan.
    19. MacDonald, James M. & Korb, Penelope J., 2011. "Agricultural Contracting Update: Contracts in 2008," Economic Information Bulletin 101279, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Barrett E. Kirwan & Shinsuke Uchida & T. Kirk White, 2012. "Aggregate and Farm-Level Productivity Growth in Tobacco: Before and After the Quota Buyout," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(4), pages 838-853.
    21. Claassen, Roger & Carriazo, Fernando & Cooper, Joseph C. & Hellerstein, Daniel & Ueda, Kohei, 2011. "Grassland to Cropland Conversion in the Northern Plains: The Role of Crop Insurance, Commodity, and Disaster Programs," Economic Research Report 262239, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    22. Reimund, Donn A. & Martin, J. Rod & Moore, Charles V., 1981. "Structural Change in Agriculture: The Experience for Broilers, Fed Cattle, and Processing Vegetables," Technical Bulletins 157701, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    23. Carriazo, Fernando & Claassen, Roger & Cooper, Joseph C. & Hellerstein, Daniel & Ueda, Kohei, 2010. "Grassland to Cropland Conversion in the Northern Plains: The Role of Markets and Policy," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 61625, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    24. O'Donoghue, Erik J. & Hoppe, robert A. & Banker, David E. & Ebel, Robert & Fuglie, Keith & Korb, Penni & Livingston, Michael & Nickerson, Cynthia & Sandretto, Carmen, 2011. "The Changing Organization of U.S. Farming," Economic Information Bulletin 291938, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    25. Key, Nigel D. & McBride, William D., 2007. "The Changing Economics of U.S. Hog Production," Economic Research Report 6389, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    26. Roberto Mosheim & C.A. Knox Lovell, 2007. "Scale Economies and Inefficiency of U.S. Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(3), pages 777-794.
    27. Ebel, Robert M. & Schimmelpfennig, David E., 2011. "The Information Age and Adoption of Precision Agriculture," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-1.
    28. Stacy Sneeringer & Nigel Key, 2011. "Effects of Size-Based Environmental Regulations: Evidence of Regulatory Avoidance," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1189-1211.
    29. Dohlman, Erik & Foreman, Linda F. & Da Pra, Michelle, 2009. "The Post-Buyout Experience: Peanut and Tobacco Sectors Adapt to Policy Reform," Economic Information Bulletin 56628, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    30. Bechdol, Elizabeth & Gray, Allan W. & Gloy, Brent A., 2010. "Forces Affecting Change In Crop Production Agriculture," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 25(4), pages 1-6.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. MacDonald, James M., 2011. "Why Are Farms Getting Larger? The Case Of The U.S," 51st Annual Conference, Halle, Germany, September 28-30, 2011 115361, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    2. Daniel A. Sumner, 2014. "American Farms Keep Growing: Size, Productivity, and Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 147-166, Winter.
    3. McFadden, Jonathan R., 2017. "Yield Maps, Soil Maps, and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from U.S. Corn Fields," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258120, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Hoppe, Robert A., 2014. "Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2014 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 262118, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. He, Xi, 2018. "Bigger Farms and Bigger Food Firms-The Agricultural Origin of Industrial Concentration in the Food Sector," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274206, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Jeremy G. Weber & Conor Wall & Jason Brown & Tom Hertz, 2015. "Crop Prices, Agricultural Revenues, and the Rural Economy," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 459-476.
    7. Petrick, Martin & Götz, Linde, 2019. "Herd growth, farm organisation and subsidies in the dairy sector of Russia and Kazakhstan," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 70(3), pages 789-811.
    8. Burns, Christopher & Prager, Daniel, "undated". "Do Direct Payments and Crop Insurance Influence Commercial Farm Survival and Decisions to Expand?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235693, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Xiaodong Du & David A. Hennessy & Hongli Feng, 2014. "A Natural Resource Theory of U.S. Crop Insurance Contract Choice," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(1), pages 232-252.
    10. MacDonald, James M. & Hoppe, Robert A. & Newton, Doris, 2018. "Three Decades of Consolidation in U.S. Agriculture," Economic Information Bulletin 276247, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Wang, Sun Ling & Newton, Doris J., 2015. "Productivity and Efficiency of U.S. Field Crop Farms: A Look at Farm Size and Operator’s Gender," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205344, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Schimmelpfennig, David & Ebel, Robert, 2016. "Sequential Adoption and Cost Savings from Precision Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-19, January.
    13. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Nehring, Richard & Osteen, Craig & Wechsler, Seth James & Martin, Andrew & Vialou, Alex, 2014. "Pesticide Use in U.S. Agriculture: 21 Selected Crops, 1960-2008," Economic Information Bulletin 178462, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. Jonathan R. McFadden & Alicia Rosburg & Eric Njuki, 2022. "Information inputs and technical efficiency in midwest corn production: evidence from farmers' use of yield and soil maps," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(2), pages 589-612, March.
    15. Lisa A. Emili & Richard P. Greene, 2014. "New Cropland on Former Rangeland and Lost Cropland from Urban Development: The “Replacement Land” Debate," Land, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Miao, Ruiqing & Hennessy, David A. & Feng, Hongli, 2016. "The Effects of Crop Insurance Subsidies and Sodsaver on Land-Use Change," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(2), May.
    17. Rachel M. Shellabarger & Rachel C. Voss & Monika Egerer & Shun-Nan Chiang, 2019. "Challenging the urban–rural dichotomy in agri-food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(1), pages 91-103, March.
    18. Rachael Goodhue & Leo Simon, 2016. "Agricultural contracts, adverse selection, and multiple inputs," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-33, December.
    19. Pardey, Philip G. & Alston, Julian M. & Ruttan, Vernon W., 2010. "The Economics of Innovation and Technical Change in Agriculture," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 939-984, Elsevier.
    20. Olen, Beau & Wu, Junjie, 2013. "Supply of Insurance for Specialty Crops and its Effect on Yield and Acreage," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150787, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:262221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.