agri-buschain.html
Farmers and the "Agri-business Chain"
Approximately three percent of the U.S. population is directly involved with farming. However a full 20 percent of the U.S. work force have indirect involvement in food production. Farmers must buy machinery from equipment manufacturers and they depend on petrochemical industry for their chemicals. The transport and food processing sector handle the raw materials produced on the farm. Companies which provide fertilizers, fuel, seed, pesticides and machinery have grown in number and size. In 1910, U.S. farmers bought 11 billion dollars of inputs. By 1990, farmer expenditures increased to 75 billion. 
In 1910, the marketing sector of agriculture was a 35 billion dollar industry. Forty years later its profits mushroomed to 200 billion dollars. Farming itself went from a 30 billion dollar enterprise in 1910 to a 55 billion dollar enterprise in 1945. Since that time profits for farmers have been falling. Those actually growing the food we eat, find themselves dependent upon the input supply and food processing sectors. On the whole, farmers are not profiting financially from the rationalization of agriculture. While their autonomy and self sufficiency erods, the input and processing industries continue to expand and grow.
Prior to specialization, farms produced a wider variety of food crops enabling farm families to be quite self sufficient. Currently, the commodities farmers produce do not show up their dinner tables. Instead farm products are generally sold as raw materials to food processing companies. Farmer and pastor, Dick Austin, laments the lack of self sufficiency on modern farms. He observes, "The families of wheat farmers eat Wonder Bread. They have no grinding mill and are too busy to bake."
Where Have all the Farmers Gone?
Farmers and the "Agri-business Chain"
Reducing Risk Through Pest Control
Increasing Yields With Chemical Fertilizers
Genetic Engineering and Agriculture
Rationalization Through Mechanization
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