Raleigh Barlowe

What Has Happened to the Agricultural Ladder

ATHIRD of a century has passed since the concept of the agricultural ladder was introduced and established in economics literature. In that time American farmers have gone through two land booms and an intervening depression. The proportion of farm tenancy climbed from a national average of 38 percent in 1990 to over 42 percent in 1930 and 1935 and then dropped to 27 percent in 1948.1 Also, numerous public programs designed to favor farm ownership and to support farm price levels have been developed. What has happened to the agricultural ladder during this period? Is it still as important as it seemed a generation ago or has it fallen into general disrepute? Do young farmers today go through a sequence of tenures in their climb to farm ownership, or have they found new methods that enable them to move from their status as family workers or landless laborers to farm ownership more easily? These are only a few of the questions one could ask concerning the present status of the agricultural ladder. Numerous recent studies have touched upon this general problem. Many of these suggest that the ladder is working with varying degrees of success. But in a few cases writers have questioned the successful operation of the ladder.2 In view of the confusion that has developed around this concept, it is the purpose of this article to examine the nature and background of the agricultural ladder and to appraise its role in todays agriculture. Much of the data used in this analysis has only recently been made available by the national farm ownership survey.3

Natural Resources and Economic Growth

ATURAL resources and land were treated by the Physiocrats and the early economists of the Classical School as a prime input in the economic production process. Much less emphasis is given to these factors by most present day economists. Many give little or no consideration to the land factor in their writings and teachings, and some have tended to write off land and natural resources as an insignificant contributing factor in the process of economic growth. Many factors have contributed to this about-face in economic thinking. Increased agricultural productivity has made it possible for economists and others to concentrate on problems other than mans age-old concern with the need to secure food, clothing, and shelter for survival. Industrialization, the urbanization movement, and the growing complexities of modern life have favored specialization of labor among economists and have caused many to work on phases of economics only indirectly concerned with natural resources.