Abstract
We identify the effects of alternative explanatory variables on the propensity of U.S. farmers to cease farming, with a particular emphasis on understanding the roles of off-farm employment and federal farm program payments. Conventional ordinary least squares analysis using all counties suggests that off-farm employment has no statistical effect on the (net) number of farmers quitting between 1987 and 1997, ceteris paribus. A more refined analysis, which separates counties losing farmers from those that gained farmers, reveals subtle and less clear-cut effects of off-farm employment (and federal program payments) on farm exits.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1010-1023 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | American Journal of Agricultural Economics |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2001 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Economics and Econometrics