A FARM-LEVEL LOOK AT THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE

Relatively low crop prices over the past two years, as well as regional weather adversity, has been the catalyst for the passage of "ad hoc" emergency relief. This paper examines the economic and financial status of 41 representative panel farms over the 1999-2002 period. When forecasting through the life of the 1996 Farm Bill, the representative crop farms are assessed by Texas A&M's Agricultural and Food Policy Center to be in the weakest condition observed over the last decade for liquidity and the related need to refinance.