Productivity, economies, and efficiency in U.S. agriculture: a look at contracts

The growing importance of production contracts, especially for a certain number of livestock species and in certain regions, proposes that contracts confer economic benefits upon farmers. This trend has, however, stimulated affects about the impacts of contracting upon farm structure and concentration, and environmental degradation, which have l to efforts by the agency of various levels of government to regulate contract production.

For example, in the U porker industry, between 1992 and 1998 the portion of feeder pigto-finish porker operations using production contracts increased from 11% to 34% while the share of output produc below contract increased from 22% to 63% (Key and McBride, McBride and