A New U.S. Farm Household Typology: Implications for Agricultural Subsidies

Changes in American agriculture have yielded a diversity of farm types. These changes have extended beyond the farm business and into the farm household. The objective of this research is to motivate, develop, and discuss the policy implications of a new typology of U.S. farm households that is based on household economic theory. Using the 2003 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and statistical analysis, six mutually exclusive groups of U.S. farm households are identified as the U.S. Farm Household Typology. This typology is then compared to the current Economic Research Service Farm Typology and used to investigate the distribution of government payments