Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2015
The U.S. farm sector has long been dominated by independent firms exemplifying competitive free enterprise norms. Individual farm operators have had considerable freedom in controlling their own operations. Certain government programs and financial limitations have been the major restraints on their decision making.
In about the past two decades, however, a number of production subsectors have become organized or structured along lines more closely resembling industrial sectors of the economy than the traditional agricultural sector. At the same time, other production subsectors have remained virtually unaffected by this industrialization process and have retained their traditional independent form of organization. Concern over industrialization in agriculture relates to the question of who will control agricultural resources.