ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the changes that farm operators planned to make in their farm businesses in the five years following the North Central Regional Farm Survey. It discusses the information and training that they perceived needing during that period. The chapter shows that some farmers may increase the contribution of the farm business to household income and well-being through their plans to add new crops or to raise livestock, or by renting or buying additional land. Others, however, plan to quit or retire from farming in the next five years, ending the farm business as a source of financial contribution to the household. The chapter also addresses the diversity of needs for information by contrasting farmers where gross annual sales of farm products are less than $10,000 with those whose sales are $100,000 or more. Larger farmers were more likely to plan to reduce long- and short-term debt, and to buy crop insurance, again with regional differences.
