The Changing Structure of Agriculture and Rural America: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges

When agricultural production and related businesses dominated rural economies, policies that strengthened and improved agriculture tended to strengthen and improve the well-being of most America's small communities and rural residents. As the strength of this linkage declined over the past century, many have felt that the rural policy has been left largely fragmented and unfocused, compromising a patchwork of programs and initiatives rather than a coherent policy. Yet agriculture remains the primary policy framework for Congresses' consideration of rural issues. Significant changes are occurring in the structure of the US agro-food system. These changes are likely to pose important questions about the direction and coherence of current rural policy. Several significant trends in the evolving structure of agriculture are discussed in this book: (1) a continuation in the trend toward fewer and larger farms; (2) a potential acceleration of that trend as production shifts to more tightly integrated and vertically co-ordinated production through supply chains; (3) greater environmental pressures on conventional agricultural production practices stemming from urban and suburban interests; and (4) changing food consumption patterns.