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INTRODUCTION
 For decades, North American production agriculture
has evolved into distinctly sized segments,
especially the larger “mega-farmers” and other commercial producers as well as
smaller “niche
farmers.” This evolving economic structure begs several important questions
about the
restructuring itself, as well as, about implications for the full agri-food
value chain today and into
the future. As the sector trends toward both the larger and the smaller, more
specialized players, there is a “push and pull” on the mid-sized player to
either "get big” or “get out of the business,” which of course exacerbates the
consolidation process. So the first question is whether there is a viable
economic role for the more traditional mid-sized farmer in North American
agriculture in the next 5-to-10 years?
Moreover, if there is or is not a
“viable economic role” for this group, what are the implications for all of
the other segments of the value chain (i.e., from input suppliers to the
consumer contact points)? And maybe there is another choice for the mid-sized
player other than "get out"; that is, perhaps this producer can "go small" and
develop an economically viable business supplemented by greater non-farm
income.
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