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The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in the structures of US farms and lenders and identify prospective implications for federal credit.

Data from US farm operations for 1996-2014 were adjusted to 2014 values using commodity price indices. Farm size groups were constructed by value of farm production to analyze changes in farm numbers, production, assets, debt, leverage, liquidity, profitability, land tenure, commodity type, contract production, organization type, and use of Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct and guaranteed loans by farm size. Bank, Farm Credit System (FCS), and FSA data from 1996 to 2015 were adjusted to 2014 values. Lender size groups were constructed to analyze changes in bank and association numbers, farm loans, and use of FSA guaranteed loans by lender size.

The greatest consolidation has been by farms with over $2 million in production. More farm debt is held by large, complex organizations, frequently with multiple operators, more variable income, and greater reliance on production contracts and operating and nonreal estate credit. Large farms have greater leverage, are more profitable, and have a larger share of household income from the farm. Banks and FCS institutions are fewer and larger, yet smaller institutions use FSA guarantees to a greater extent. Larger farms tend to be more reliant on both direct and guaranteed FSA loans and are likely to become more dependent on FSA credit.

Changing farm and lender structure together with softening farm income may require FSA farm loan program changes to meet any increase in loan demand. Policy alternatives are provided to meet changing demand for farm credit.

This paper bridges the gap between theory and practice in the application of the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST). With an application to the dairy sector, the purpose of this paper is to propose methodology for the quantification of reference income when farm structural change occurs and estimate the role of farm attributes on the probability of income loss, offering an ex ante evaluation of farm resilience to risk.

Based on a balanced Farm Accountancy Network farm-level panel ranging from 2008 to 2014, three hypotheses of reference income calculation are tested to assess whether farms structural changes over the years significantly affect the level of IST indemnification. The role of farm characteristics on the probability of an income reduction is then evaluated by estimating a multinomial logit model.

Results show that farms’ structural changes significantly affect IST indemnities and need to be considered in calculating the reference income. The estimated model suggests that farm characteristics significantly affect the probability of a severe income drop and hence risk resilience. Extensive livestock systems seem to reduce the probability of an income drop, while farms in upland areas managed by young farmers seem to experience increased risk exposure.

The research provides one of the first attempts to define risk profile of dairy farms by modelling the probability of an income reduction on observable attributes. Indeed, among different sectors, dairy farms emerge as the main candidates for the application of the IST.

The agricultural sector in the USA has experienced significant structural changes. For accommodating farm business, households have diversified their operations adopting various strategies—agricultural, structural, environmental, and income strategies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors influencing farmer’s diversification strategies while taking into account the simultaneous decision-making process.

This study uses a nation-wide farm household data from the US. The diversification decisions are analyzed using multivariate probit regressions.

The study suggests that agricultural, structural, environmental, and income diversification strategies are interlinked. Specifically, results indicate that, on one hand, environmental and income diversification strategies are positively interlinked. On the other hand, agricultural and structural diversification strategies are positively interlinked. Additionally, the factors representing location, farm, and farmer characteristics, farm type, and financial condition of the farm are major determinants in the choice of farm diversification strategies.

In this paper, diversification activities are broadly classified under four strategies: agricultural, structural, environmental, and income. Depending on the context and country, the definition and strategy set may need revision.

Strong complementary between diversification strategies suggests that studies analyzing farm household decisions and strategies need to account for the simultaneous decision-making process. As decisions are interlinked, separately analyzing one specific strategy may lead to biased estimates. Farm business households need to develop multiple skills and flexible capacities to tackle farming-related issues, including structural changes, risk management, and income enhancing activities. Improving employment opportunities for the rural farming population can stimulate structural diversification.

This paper contributes to limited literature about diversification by analyzing factors influencing different diversification decisions and finds interlinkage between decisions.

The purpose of this article is to document and evaluate patterns of nontraditional credit use among Wisconsin dairy farmers. Using a survey-based case study approach, this article analyzes farmer and farm characteristics, farmers’ utilization of credit and farmers’ perceptions of nontraditional lenders. The findings are connected to ongoing structural change in the dairy sector and economic theories of trade credit.

Data were collected using an incentivized online survey of Wisconsin dairy farmers distributed through existing university and industry networks. A total of 16 farmers completed the survey. The sample is treated as a focus group case study, and participants’ responses are examined using summary statistics and correlational analyses to describe emergent patterns in the industry.

Among survey respondents who utilize agricultural credit, nearly 80% (11 of 14) borrow from at least one nontraditional lender, and nontraditional credit comprises 17% of their total borrowing, on average. Much of this borrowing occurs through the financial arm of a vendor and is used to finance equipment or machinery purchases. Despite widespread use of nontraditional credit, no surveyed farmers preferred nontraditional lenders over traditional lenders.

This is the first study to analyze the use of nontraditional credit specifically among Wisconsin dairy farmers. Dairy farming is a capital-intensive endeavor, and recent structural change in the sector has increased surviving dairy farmers' demand for credit.

This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to provide a backdrop for the rest of cases analysed in the volume. In this regard, two thesis are discussed: the assumption that farming systems in the South have not followed the process of ‘productivist modernisation’ characterising post-war Northern European agricultural change, and that, precisely due to this reason, most holdings and regions from the South would have more possibilities to adapt to new approaches of multifunctional rural development.Thus, the chapter tackles both the static and dynamic structural traits of Southern agricultures and their differences with the North, as well as several aspects of the organisation of farming in the Mediterranean and other key components of productivist modernisation: farm intensification and specialisation. Later, the diffusion of multifunctional dynamics is addressed, in order to introduce some reflections about their meaning and scope in the Mediterranean regions. The chapter ends with a straightforward typology of Southern farming systems and a concluding section, which goes back to discuss the two initial theses.

While land management can be a subject of conflict in places where the composition of landowners is socially and culturally diverse, it also holds the potential of bringing landowners together across social groups. This chapter uses the case of a peri-urban area near Copenhagen, Denmark, to examine the relations landowners have through their use and management of land within and across social groups. To elaborate the analysis and discussion of social groups, social coherence and fragmentation, this chapter introduces the concepts of homophily and self-categorisation. Interviews with 40 landowners from two parishes addressed four types of land-based relations: (1) exchange of help and services; (2) debate of farming/management; (3) shared interests and (4) friendship. While the pattern of relations overall supported the idea that people interact more with their own social group, the analysis also showed areas of interaction across groups as well. Three overall themes summarise important areas of cohesion/fragmentation: (1) Rented land and contracting, (2) Common interests between landowners including hunting, farming and horses, (3) Urgency and geographic proximity.

The purpose of this paper is to use a linked-farm approach and a cohort approach to estimate farm entry and exit rates using the US Census of Agriculture. The number of new farms entering agriculture was re-estimated and adjusted upward since not all new and beginning farmers are known to US Department of Agriculture.

In addition to a linked-farm approach (linking farms over time), a cohort approach (farms that started operating in the same year) is used to determine exit rates conditional on the number of years a farm has been operating. Linear forecasting, moving-average forecasting, and using data from a later Census are used to re-estimate the number of new farms in their first year of operating.

Using the linked-farm approach, an average annual entry rate of 7.5 percent and exit rate of 8.5 percent is estimated for 2007 to 2012, which vary based on the farmer’s lifecycle. The cohort approach shows that exit rates are lower than 4 percent for the first 40 years of operating a farm business and then exit rates gradually increase. Revised estimates of approximately 70-80,000 new farms entering each year are calculated, which are considerably higher numbers than the 30-40,000 new farm entrants participating in the Census of Agriculture.

The linked-farm and cohort approaches are used to provide updated estimates for farm entry and exit using new Census data and to make comparisons with previous years. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide revised estimates for new farm entrants into US agriculture.

This article aims to investigate the financial constraints and nonlinearity of farm size growth.

Farm size growth is measured with land, labor and output using data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for Hungary and Slovenia. A dynamic panel model is applied to assess financial constraints and nonlinearity of farm size growth.

Results show that, except for land in Slovenia and output in Hungary, liquidity constraints are less important for farm size growth than endogenous factors based on farm size growth expectations and steady farm size restructuring. Smaller farms are growing faster than larger ones. The hypothesis that a higher level of subsidies would increase farm size is not supported for Hungary. When farms reach a certain size, the land area of the largest farms increases. Farm debts in Hungary are linked with land growth and in Slovenia with output growth.

Further research on the impact of liquidity constraints and subsidies can be conducted at a disaggregate farm-type level to examine whether there is variability in the underlying interlinkages at the farm-type specialization level.

The implication that farm size growth is dependent on initial size and that smaller farms are growing faster than bigger ones indicates that it is not necessary to favor the fastest growing smaller farms thus supports the application of a non-discriminatory farm size policy for observing farm size structural changes.

The dynamic panel econometric model that incorporates cash flow as a measure of financial constraints provides insight into farm size growth in cross-country comparison in relation to potential farm liquidity constraints, farm debt and the nonlinearity of farm size, which information is of relevance to policy makers and practitioners.

Agricultural credit markets are dominated by two institutional retail lender groups, the cooperative Farm Credit System (FCS) and commercial banks. Analysis of farm loans made over the 1991S1993 and 2001S2002 periods indicates that FCS lenders were more likely to serve full‐time commercial farmers and farmers located in regions with less competitive credit markets. In contrast, commercial banks were more likely to serve small, part‐time, and hobby farmers. This segmentation of farm credit markets is consistent with federal regulations requiring the FCS to provide credit to “bona fide” farmers with a basis for credit.

In the context of rural development, the question how farmers are interconnected with local rural communities is crucial, as farmers historically have played a key role in rural areas, always shaped by the cultural-systemic context in which they acted. The purpose of this paper is to explore this connection in North-East (NE) Germany and Switzerland, two countries whose agricultural systems can be seen as diametrically opposed to each other with respect to their structure.

The authors conducted a survey on NE German and Swiss farmers to assess the connectivity between farms and rural communities in terms of the farm managers’ perceptions of their social networks, social support, sense of belonging, and active involvement in organizations.

The results show commonalities and differences between both study regions. Smaller farms are characterized by strongly locally based networks and a higher sense of community belonging, whereas larger farms rather have networks with strong ties outside the local dimension. Moreover, farmers’ local origin and farm diversification are positively associated with strengthening the connection between farms and local communities. Off-farm work is a means for this connection only in NE Germany.

This paper contributes to the discussion about adverse effects of farming scale and corporate farming on community well-being by simultaneously delivering insights into two structurally different agricultural systems. At the same time the approach allows for a comparison between the systems.