U.S. Farm Sector: How Agricultural Exports Are Shaping Rural Economies in the 1980's

摘要

U.S. agricultural exports affected rural economies unevenly in the 1980's, benefiting 419 export-dependent counties the most during export trade upswings and hitting them the hardest during export trade downturns. Export-dependent counties are those in which 50 percent or more of total farm sales are generated by five major export-bound crops: corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton, and rice. Of those counties, economic boom-and-bust cycles were most severe in the 173 that also rely on farming for 20 percent or more of all labor and proprietor income. Economic expectations for export-dependent counties are brightening in the late 1980's because of farmers' keener cost competitiveness, lighter farmer debt loads, export-oriented farm legislation, a depreciated dollar, and movement toward freer world trade.