ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historical and contemporary literature on the relationships among technological, farm structural, and rural community change in the Northeast region. It presents the results of an empirical study of the interrelationships among changes in farm structure, agricultural technology, and rural communities during the 1970-1980 period. The most comprehensive data on rural communities in the Northeast during the early twentieth century can be found in E. deS. Brunner and J. H. Kolb's compilation of impressively detailed information on 140 rural villages across the US for 1920 and 1930. The major source of data on recent trends in Northeast rural communities is a study by P. R. Eberts on Socioeconomic Trends in Rural New York State prepared for the New York State Legislative Commission on Rural Resources. Eberts New York State data suggest several tentative observations relevant to the contemporary relationships between farm structural and technological change and the socioeconomic condition of rural communities in the Northeast region.
