The effects of adverse economic conditions in U.S. agriculture upon the structure of farming have been given wide publicity. At the same time but less widely noted, a quiet revolution has taken hold of the ancillary industries supporting agriculture as they struggle to adapt to the changed...

For sixty years farm numbers have declined as "larger farms" absorbed "smaller farms." Some people were comforted that most exiting farmers sell to neighbors who continue the farms. But the land resources were used differently. Farms became more specialized as they became larger. Larger amounts...