ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature and patterns of agriculture in Nebraska. Nebraska contains elements of two agricultural traditions: a Midwestern mixed-farming region that is part of Corn Belt and a plains agriculture emphasizing ranching and wheat production in a sub-humid environment. A third, rapidly developing system is that of irrigated farming, which combines a set of desert-land techniques with the humid-land crop of corn. In 1981 the average value of an acre of Nebraska farmland was over $658, more than ten times the value recorded in 1950. Increasingly, farmers rely on nonfarm income to “carry” their costs of farming. Nonfarm income can be produced either by working spouses or by outside employment of farmers, which implies part-time farming. The availability of plenty of pasture lands and feed grains makes beef production a logical choice for Nebraska farmers. Nebraska ranked fifth in the United States in 1981 in total number of hogs, when about four million were reported on state’s farms.
