IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jlaare/31043.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Challenge To Think Big As American Agriculture Shrinks

Author

Listed:
  • Blank, Steven C.

Abstract

A multi-part test is proposed for the hypothesis that American production agriculture is shrinking. The results of the three tests presented here are consistent with a shrinking American agricultural sector that is on the verge of, but not yet in, the final decline stage of its "life cycle." The sector is clearly shrinking in relative size and importance, and in absolute size, and its economic performance has been weak for decades. These changes in agriculture and their implications for the agricultural economics profession are discussed. Finally, (at least) two challenges to American agriculture and the agricultural economics profession are raised.

Suggested Citation

  • Blank, Steven C., 2001. "The Challenge To Think Big As American Agriculture Shrinks," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:31043
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.31043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/31043/files/26020309.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.31043?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. Kym Anderson, 1987. "On Why Agriculture Declines with Economic Growth," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(3), pages 195-207, October.
    2. Olivier Mahul, 2000. "The output decision of a risk-neutral producer under risk of liquidation," Post-Print hal-01952110, HAL.
    3. Hatch, Upton & Atwood, Joseph & Segar, James, 1989. "An Application of Safety-First Probability Limits in a Discrete Stochastic Farm Management Programming Model," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 65-72, July.
    4. Harrigan, James, 1997. "Technology, Factor Supplies, and International Specialization: Estimating the Neoclassical Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 475-494, September.
    5. Duffy, Patricia A., 2001. "Casting Bread Upon The Water: Comments On Technology, Globalization, And Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 1-7, August.
    6. David Bigman, 1996. "Safety-First Criteria and Their Measures of Risk," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(1), pages 225-235.
    7. Oliver Mahul, 2000. "The Output Decision of a Risk-Neutral Producer under Risk of Liquidation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(1), pages 49-58.
    8. Egan, Timothy, 2001. "Failing In Style," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 1-4.
    9. John M. Antle, 1999. "The New Economics of Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(5), pages 993-1010.
    10. Bruce L. Gardner, 2000. "Economic Growth and Low Incomes in Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1059-1074.
    11. Duffy, Patricia A., 2001. "Casting Bread Upon the Water: Comments on Technology, Globalization, and Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 341-347, August.
    12. C. Richard Shumway, 1998. "Values, Changing Forces, Choices, and the Profession," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 887-897.
    13. N. Gemmell & T. A. Lloyd & M. Mathew, 2000. "Agricultural Growth and Inter‐Sectoral Linkages in a Developing Economy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 353-370, September.
    14. Lester G. Telser, 1955. "Safety First and Hedging," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16.
    15. Hatch, L. Upton & Atwood, Joseph A. & Segar, James, 1989. "An Application Of Safety-First Probability Limits In A Discrete Stochastic Farm Management Programming Model," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 21(1), pages 1-8, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Blank, Steven C., 2003. "Where Is American Agriculture in Its "Life Cycle"?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Phillips, Jon C. & Peterson, H. Christopher, 2004. "Product Differentiation and Target Marketing by Agricultural Producers," Journal of the ASFMRA, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, vol. 2004, pages 1-11.
    3. Blank, Steven C., 2002. "Future Prospects For Farm Financial Conditions," Agricultural Outlook Forum 2002 33502, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Outlook Forum.

    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. Steven C. Blank, 2002. "A Portfolio Of Threats To American Agriculture," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(4), pages 381-393, October.
    2. Blank, Steven C., 2001. "Globalization, Cropping Choices, and Profitability in American Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 315-326, August.
    3. Blank, Steven C., 2003. "Where Is American Agriculture in Its "Life Cycle"?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Tadesse, Dawit & Blank, Steven C., 2003. "Cultivar Diversity: A Neglected Risk Management Strategy," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Vercammen, James, 2003. "A Stochastic Dynamic Programming Model Of Direct Subsidy Payments And Agricultural Investment," Working Papers 15847, University of British Columbia, Food and Resource Economics.
    6. Richard Tiffin & Xavier Irz, 2006. "Is agriculture the engine of growth?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 79-89, July.
    7. Paul A. Dorosh & John W. Mellor, 2013. "Why Agriculture Remains a Viable Means of Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Ethiopia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31(4), pages 419-441, July.
    8. Harris, Harold M., Jr., 2000. "Agricultural Economics In The New Millennium: Lessons From The Old Millennium," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 1-8, August.
    9. Roberto ESPOSTI, 2007. "On the Decline of Agriculture. Evidence from Italian Regions in the Post-WWII Period," Working Papers 300, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Chiu, Leslie J. Verteramo, 2013. "Risk Rationing and Jump Utility," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150589, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Chiu, Leslie J. Verteramo & Turvey, Calum G., 2013. "A Risk Rationing Model," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150628, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Vlatka Bilas & Mile Bosnjak, 2015. "Revealed Comparative Advantage And Merchandise Exports: The Case Of Merchandise Trade Between Croatia And The Rest Of The European Union Member Countries," Economic Thought and Practice, Department of Economics and Business, University of Dubrovnik, vol. 24(1), pages 29-47, june.
    13. Pavel Ciaian & d'Artis Kancs & Jan Pokrivcak, 2008. "Comparative Advantages, Transaction Costs and Factor Content of Agricultural Trade: Empirical Evidence from the CEE," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2008_03, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    14. Greenaway, David & Torstensson, Johan, 2000. "Economic Geography, Comparative Advantage and Trade within Industries: Evidence from the OECD," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 15, pages 260-280.
    15. Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "Geographic Localization of International Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 120-142, March.
    16. Rodríguez, Elsa Mirta M. & Lacaze, María Victoria & Lupín, Beatriz, 2007. "Willingness to pay for organic food in Argentina: evidence from a consumer survey," Nülan. Deposited Documents 1300, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    17. Rodríguez, Elsa Mirta M., 2006. "La visión de los economistas agrarios frente al consumo de productos diferenciados," Nülan. Deposited Documents 1264, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    18. William R Kerr, 2018. "Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 163-182.
    19. Harald Fadinger & Pablo Fleiss, 2011. "Trade and Sectoral Productivity," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(555), pages 958-989, September.
    20. Rodolfo Helg & Riccardo Faini & Anna M. Falzoni & Marzio Galeotti & Alessandro Turrini, 2001. "Importing Jobs And Exporting Firms? On The Wage And Employment Implications Of Italy’S Trade And Foreign Direct Investment Flows," International Trade 0103001, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agribusiness;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jlaare:31043. 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/waeaaea.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.