> Hey LBO-ers:
>
> Anyone got a good critique of what's been happening to farmers
> (specifically, midwestern, great plains farmers) over the last twenty
> years or so?
>
> Specifically, anyone have any thoughts on the "Freedom to
> Farm Act"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom Frank
"Get big or get out" is an oft-repeated tag among farmers. That's true in the upper midwest, and even more so further to the west and south. I suppose the phrase sums up as well as anything what's been happening in agriculture over the last 20 years or so.
On ag issues in general, including the "freedom to fail" act, a reasonably good source of information is the Corporate Agribusiness Research Project. The home page is
<http://www.ea1.com/CARP/index.html>
As far as I can tell, CARP is basically one guy, a certain A.V. Krebs. I get his e-mail newsletter, Agribusiness Examiner, which comes out more or less weekly. It covers the ag beat from a progressive point of view. Some of the material in the newsletter was published elsewhere first, but it has the virtue of bringing it all together in one place. There's some original material as well. You can subscribe at
<http://www.ea1.com/CARP/agbiz/examiner1.html>
A word of warning: the newsletter is _quite_ long, so you may want to check out back issues in the archive to see if it's more information than you want or need in your in-box.
Hope this helps.
Jacob Conrad