No abstract

This paper examines the linkages among agricultural total factor productivity, farm size, and farm household participation in the off-farm labor market for the Southeastern states for the period 1960-1996. We find evidence of a simultaneous relationship between productivity and measures of farm structure. The results support the expected relationships between the endogenous variables, namely that productivity and farm size are positively related, farm size and off-farm work participation are negatively related, and off-farm work and productivity are negatively related. We find positive and significant impacts of government policies (investments in public research, extension, and highways) on productivity growth.

Mary Clare Ahearn, Penni Korb, and Jet Yee 2. Panel data for farms have been available in Canada and Israel for some time and determinants of turnover have been compared for those two countries (Kimhi and Bollman 1999). We would expect the results for Canada to most closely resemble the results for the United States. They found that a major factor explaining exits in Canada was farm size; the larger the farm the less likely to exit. Other determinants of exit were off-farm work (negatively related) and age of the operator.

This paper employs a panel data set of 48 states from 1960 to 1996 to investigate the relationships of government policies (public agricultural research and development (R&D), extension, and government commodity program payments) to changes in farm size. Five different farm size measures are considered (acres operated per farm, real land and building value per farm, real cash receipts per farm, real cash receipts plus government payments per farm, and an imputed measure of the real capital service flow per farm) in order to make a more general statement about the impacts of government policies on farm size. It was found that the impacts of government policies on farm size are in general robust to the measure of farm size considered. More specifically, it was found that R&D, extension, and government payments all have positive effects on farm size.

to 71%. Under the same conditions, kaolinitic and montmorillonitic clays, fuller's earth, and phosphate by-product with bulk densities in the range 23 to 40 pounds per cubic foot effected reductions in the range 29 to 41%. Calcium car-