Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Kenneth McCormick

Keywords

Farm corporations--Economic aspects;

Abstract

In 1920 there were approximately 6.5 million farms in the United States. 30.1 percent of United States population lived on farms. In 1992 those numbers were down to 2 million farms and less than 2 percent of the population living on farms [Allen and Lueck, 1998, 344].

The farming industry of today bears little resemblance to that of yesterday. Corporate farming has challenged the age-old structure of farming. Proponents of corporate farming say that it is more efficient than family farming and leads to more affordable food supplies. Opponents say the difference in efficiency does not justify the damage done to the rural way of life. Should agricultural states oppose corporate farming trends based on economic theory, reasoning, and research? The paper concludes that corporate farming is economically more efficient than family farming in some circumstances. The assumption that corporate farming is a significant factor in the decrease of family farms is challenged as well.

Year of Submission

2006

Department

Department of Economics

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

5-2006

Object Description

1 PDF file (19 pages)

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