Authors libby rittenberg 463

Chapter 9
Competitive Markets for Goods and
Services
Start Up: Life on the Farm
They produce a commodity that is essential to our daily lives, one for
which the demand is virtually assured. And yet many—even as farm prices
are reaching record highs—seem to live on the margin of failure.
Thousands are driven out of business each year. We provide billions of
dollars in aid for them, but still we hear of the hardships many of them
face. They are our nation’s farmers.
What is it about farmers, and farming, that arouses our concern? Much of
the answer probably lies in our sense that farming is fundamental to the
American way of life. Our country was built, in large part, by independent
men and women who made their living from the soil. Many of us perceive
their plight as our plight. But part of the answer lies in the fact that farmers
do, in fact, face a difficult economic environment. Most of them operate in
highly competitive markets, markets that tolerate few mistakes and
generally offer small rewards. Finally, perhaps our concern is stirred by
our recognition that the farmers’ plight is our blessing. The low prices that
make life difficult for farmers are the low prices we enjoy as consumers of
food.
What keeps the returns to farming as low as they are? What holds many
farmers in a situation in which they always seem to be just getting by? In
Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen
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