ABSTRACT
A particular farm may meet most of the criteria that might be suggested, but there will always be some differences of opinion on such things as size, ownership, and control. The 1977 Act mandated that the Department of Agriculture should issue an annual report on the "Status of the Family Farm." National Farmers Union has been totally dedicated to the family-farm system. To document the human side of the farm crisis, the National Farmers Union held a series of nine regional fact-finding hearings in March and April. The ability of beginning farmers—or existing farmers seeking to expand their operations—to bid for land would certainly suffer by the presence of institutional investors who would not have to pay for the land from their agricultural earnings. Low farm prices and income, accompanied by high interest rates, compound the problems of farmers in sustaining themselves in land ownership and farming.
