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Farm Structure and Chemical Use in the Corn Belt 1
Author(s) -
Lighthall David R.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1995.tb00587.x
Subject(s) - agriculture , production (economics) , agricultural economics , scale (ratio) , agricultural science , geography , economics , environmental science , microeconomics , cartography , archaeology
Why do certain full‐time farming operations embrace low‐chemical input production practices and not others? Historical records of production from 25 randomly‐sampled participants reflecting the conventional approach to production were systematically compared with 14 purposively‐chosen low‐input farming operations in three Iowa counties. Empirical indicators revealed a consistent relationship between increasing scale and chemical use intensity. In addition, younger family farm operators were more likely to adopt low‐input practices. The causal mechanisms that account for these differences in chemical use are presented and related to long‐standing debates regarding farm structure and class differentiation in capitalist agriculture.