AbstractsEconomics

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the factors that influenced the continued establishment of the young farm operators who were studied by Crawford in 1968;The major objectives of this study were to: (1) identify the characteristics of farm operators who had been farming since 1968, (2) to estimate the rate at which the young farm operators left farming during the ten-year period, (3) to determine the relationship of social, economic and educational factors to the continued establishment of the farm operators in farming, (4) to identify the strategies used by the farm operators who have become established in farming and (5) to determine the educational needs of the farm operators who have become established in farming;The population of this study was made up of all the farm operators in Iowa who were studied by Crawford in 1968;Of the 307 individuals in the original study, 234 or 76.2 percent, were known to be farming in 1978 and 17.3 percent had left farming. Interviews were completed on 93.6 percent of the 234 persons (or 219 persons);Money or finance was considered by a large majority of the 219 respondents as the biggest single obstacle to their establishment in farming. High price of land and high initial and operating cost of farm equipment had major influence in the farming operations of the respondents;About 60 percent of the respondents considered themselves as being well-established in farming;The respondents were not very active in educational programs, especially young or adult farmer classes and Iowa State University short courses;Most of the respondents operated as individual operators and engaged in both crops and livestock production;Some changes took place in the farming operations of the respondents since 1968. There was an increase in the number of acres owned and operated and in the net income of the respondents. Participation in educational programs also increased.