摘要：Structure of the farm sector is again a topic of vital interest to farm households and agricultural policymakers, as it was in the mid 1960's and late 1970's -- two previous periods of rapid change. The rapid growthof contract hog production to nearly 40 percent of production in 1998 is the most notable structural concern --perhaps paralleling the growth of contracting in broilers in the 1950's (6). And, concentration of productionamong larger farms, loss of small farms, and the uncertain impacts of the 1996 Farm Act on farm profitabilitycontinue to fuel speculation that the farm sector may be evolving in directions that some deem undesirable. Alater concurrent session of this forum concerns Concentration and Structural Change in Agriculture, focusingprimarily on agribusiness organization, anti-trust, and policy issues. This presentation focuses on the farm sectoritself because the methods and findings of the industrial organization view may not present the whole picture forfarms and farm households.
