Given recent concerns expressed about the structural transformation of agriculture and the health of the family farm this study provides a measure of the economic health of small and large farms at the state level. We use nonparametric frontier methods to measure and explain changes in the...

The comparative financial performance of Southern Plains and US farm businesses was analyzed for the 1987-1989 period. The results showed no significant differences between the profitability ratios of the two groups of farms, except in the $40,000 to $249,999 sales class, where US farms...

While the growing importance of off-farm earnings suggests large benefits accrue to farmers from efforts to expand off-farm income opportunities, survival still depends on greater efficiency. To comprehensively gauge the economic health of farm operator households we interpret off-farm income as...