Patterns of Farm Management and Organization in the Southern Highlands

It has been suggested that perhaps the most outstanding feature of American farms today is their lack of common attributes. Today’s farms vary in size, organization, geography, location, commodities provided and growth (O’Rourke, 1978). Farming in the Appalachians reflects this suggestion, providing unique attributes and patterns occasioned by geographic, political, economic, and social factors. The fate of the “family farm” remains a central issue of American agriculture. Nationwide, many family farms are inefficient and will continue to disappear from the landscape. Yet the day of the corporate farm does not appear to be looming on the Appalachian horizon. Instead, it