American Farms Keep Growing: Size, Productivity, and Policy

Daniel Sumner

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2014, vol. 28, issue 1, 147-66

Abstract: Commercial agriculture in the United States is comprised of several hundred thousand farms, and these farms continue to become larger and fewer. The size of commercial farms is sometimes best-measured by sales, in other cases by acreage, and in still other cases by quantity produced of specific commodities, but for many commodities, size has doubled and doubled again in a generation. This article summarizes the economics of commercial agriculture in the United States, focusing on growth in farm size and other changes in size distribution in recent decades. I also consider the relationships between farm size distributions and farm productivity growth and farm subsidy policy.

JEL-codes: D24 Q12 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.28.1.147
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (58)

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