Some Forces Affecting the Changing Structure, Organization, and Control of American Agriculture

Abstract

The original broad charge given to us by President Hildreth for this address was to consider implications of changing structure, organization, and control of American Upon asking for a possible narrowing of topic, Jim magnanimously agreed to change the to some. Upon our suggestion to Jim of names of several economists who knew something about this topic, he mumbled that he was looking for a couple of appropriate types to go where angels fear to tread. At outset we should say something about direction and scope of our comments. Our emphasis will be on structural change and control in agriculture, interpreted rather broadly. We single out land value escalation as an issue of major importance and deserving of special attention because of possible effects on future structure and control of farming subsystem. It is our contention that driving forces affecting future changes are coming from outside agriculture, rather than from decisions made within. Analyzing past is a necessary first step in understanding present trends and future possibilities. Our procedure, therefore, is to provide first a short overview of structure research in agriculture and indicate how policy/control aspects of agriculture have changed in concert with industrialization. Second, we review some of major changes taking place in food and agriculture system giving particular attention to interface between production agriculture and nonfarm rural interests. We then examine record on rising farm real estate values, considering selected external and internal forces and possible resultant effects on structure and control in agriculture. We conclude with general observations on future developments and problems ahead.