THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF NEBRASKA AGRICULTURE 1974 - 1982

This report focuses on changes in the Nebraska farm sector from 1974 to 1982. Items of major interest include number, size, and types of farms; resource use and output; tenure patterns; age of farm operators; forms of farm business organization; and capital investment. A Gini Index procedure is used to measure shifts in concentration of certain structural variables. Data sources are Censuses of Agriculture, with emphasis on the 1982, 1978, and 1974 Censuses. The number of Nebraska farms declined in the period ending with the 1982 Census, a continuation of a long-term trend, both in the state and nationally. The 60,243 Nebraska farms accounted for in the latest Census represented an 11 percent decline from 1974 (Table 1). Similarly, the land in farms dropped to just under 45 million acres, down three percent from 1974. However, the value of Nebraska agricultural commodities sold jumped sharply in the eight year period - from $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion - reflecting both a larger volume of sales and inflation-driven prices, especially in the livestock sector