ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the impact of changes in agricultural structure on rural communities, utilizing data for 1970 and 1980. It presents a brief review of the history of change in the region's agriculture. This is accomplished by focusing on the structure of farming and the changes that have taken place nationally and in the North Central Region. The chapter discusses the rural counties of the Corn Belt, specifically those dominated by grain, dairy or mixed agricultural enterprises. It describes the implications for rural communities of future technological changes in production agriculture. Mixed agricultural counties with greater dependence on agriculture are somewhat different from counties with lesser dependence on agriculture. Agricultural technology can be divided into three categories: mechanical, biochemical, and informational/management. Technology induced changes in the agriculture of the Corn Belt will force farm families to leave agriculture and cause many farms not to be passed onto succeeding generations.
