![]() In the contemporary economy, however, this heuristic of the farm has become outdated as more complex organizational forms have emerged and become commonplace. These experiences tend to reinforce the idea that the typical farm is an entity that perfectly overlaps the activities of a farmer who centrally manages a diverse set of production activities. They are taught songs like “Old MacDonald.” And with the advent of electronic gaming devices and smartphones, it is now possible for anyone to “run” a virtual farm. Their toys are likely to include plastic cows, sheep, horses, and tractors. ![]() In the United States, even children who have never seen a farming operation firsthand develop an intuitive notion of what a farm is. ![]() Observing the complexity of modern farms raises the basic question: What makes a farm a farm? It is essential to address this question before turning to others, such as what a complex farm structure is and how such operations should be dealt with in statistics, research, and policy making. The material here bridges the discussions of complexity in the previous chapter and proposals for the statistical framework in the next chapter. In this chapter, we identify and clarify definitions and concepts used in the measurement of the farm economy and propose alternatives that may be more useful for measuring the activities of complex operations. Conceptual Issues: Defining Farming, Farms, Farmers, and Agriculture ![]()
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