Why Farmers Quit: A County‐Level Analysis

Abstract

We identify the effects of alternative explanatory variables on the propensity of U.S. farmers to cease farming, with a particular emphasis on understanding the roles of off-farm employment and federal farm program payments. Conventional ordinary least squares analysis using all counties suggests that off-farm employment has no statistical effect on the (net) number of farmers quitting between 1987 and 1997, ceteris paribus. A more refined analysis, which separates counties losing farmers from those that gained farmers, reveals subtle and less clear-cut effects of off-farm employment (and federal program payments) on farm exits. Copyright 2001, Oxford University Press.

Explaining farm succession: the impact of farm location and off-farm employment opportunities

“…Farm exit is related to retirement and succession in Germany, with lower exit rates being reported in regions where there is a high share of parttime farmers. Goetz and Debertin (2001) also suggest that the farm exit rate in the US is partially conditioned by off-farm employment opportunities. This paper therefore examines farm succession in a rural area of Spain by analyzing the impact of farm location.…”

The Experience Economy as the Future for European Agriculture and Food?

“…In fact, over the past two decades there is actually a negative correlation between the change in agricultural support and the change in agricultural employment in the OECD countries -which is inconsistent with the notion that agricultural support has a significant positive impact on agricultural employment in the long run. There are several (potential) reasons for this: Goetz and Debertin (1996;2001) find that farm payments accelerate capital-labor substitution and stimulate the takeover of farmers seeking to exit. Petrick and Zier (2010) find that large farms benefited more from farm payments, at the cost of smaller farms.…”

Los factores determinantes del paso de las explotaciones de la leche a la carne en la Cornisa Cantábrica: Análisis empírico para una comarca del interior de Galicia

“…Las características de las explotaciones que cambian de la actividad lechera a la producción de carne no están muy estudiadas, pero sí existen numerosos estudios sobre las características productivas y familiares de las explotaciones que cesan en la actividad agraria (Kimhi et al, 1999;Weiss, 1999;Stilbauer et al, 2000;Goetz et al, 2001;Glauben et al, 2003aGlauben et al, y 2003bLópez Iglesias, 1996). En la literatura se han establecido principalmente cuatro factores desencadenantes de ese cese: el tamaño de las explotaciones, la edad del titular, la carencia de sucesor y la presencia de un empleo extra-agrario -pluriactividad-.…”