ABSTRACT
Changes in farm ownership, management, and labor may have consequences for farm workers, farm characteristics, and the communities where they are located. The question of who runs America's farms affects nonfarm as well as farm people. Knowledge about present changes in who controls America's farms is important for allocating scarce public, policy, and research resources in the 1980s. Research is needed to improve monitoring of farm characteristics and their changes in the 1980s. Rural areas and communities that presently contain a preponderance of any of the new types of farms could be identified and their major characteristics determined. Information about the types and rates of recent changes in who owns, manages, and works on United States farms is valuable for predicting changes in the 1980s. The family farm and its associated work force are major parts of the social and economic heritage of American society.
