ABSTRACT
Research is needed on the mutual interrelations of structural change in agriculture and rural communities. The impact of the changing structure upon the rural community is a topic of considerable interest to rural sociologists. Greater effort is needed to diversify the economies of rural communities for the well being of both the nonfarm and farm sectors. For the farm sector, percentage changes between 1940 and 1980 in three variables were chosen as indicators of farm vitality — number of farms, number of small farms, and average farm size. Counties in which the farm sector receives strong support from the nonfarm sector tend to have a stronger farm sector, and counties in which the farm sector receives weak support have a weaker farm sector. The chapter examines the origin of the support for the farm sector, that is, the distribution within the functional economic area of possible off-farm employment for the farmer and the farm family.
