ABSTRACT
In the agri-businesses, the "factories in the field" of Californias Central Valley, the corporate farm is commonplace, with its attendant acquisition of economic power. In an evolving, functional economy, the production and distribution of goods and services —the provision of the means of life and experience — requires that a variety of economic functions be more or less continuously performed. The chapter addresses institutional variability and the performance of economic functions. Some surface appearances to the contrary, it is not in design a fascist structure, although the fascists are prepared to modify and redirect corporate structures to their own purposes. Modern industrial corporations are integrated economic bureaucracies which have achieved and largely retain the status of "private" industrial governments. Orthodox capitalist economists are inclined to point to the agricultural sector as a major remaining example of classically competitive markets.
