The Economic Determinants of the Number of Minority Farmers in the Southeast Region of the United States, 1969–1997

Abstract

The primary purpose of this research was to identify and quantify the determinants of the number of minority farmers in the Southeast region of the United States during the time period, 1969 to 1997. A second objective was to determine the potential impacts of globalization and international trade agreements on the number of minority farmers in the Southeast region of the United States. Regression results indicated that the number of minority farm owners was responsive to the returns to agricultural labor relative to nonfarm labor returns, as well as to cotton and rice prices. An increase in the cotton price was associated with a smaller rate of minority migration out of agriculture in the Southeast region of the United States. To the extent that globalization is likely to result in higher cotton export prices, international agricultural trade agreements are likely to result in decreased movement of minority farmers out of agriculture in the Southeast region of the United States. A third objective was to compare occupational migration rates out of agriculture of minorities with farmers of all races in the Southeast region. The data demonstrate that minority farm owners exhibited distinctly different migration patterns relative to all farm owners during 1969–1997.