This article provides a portrait of the challenges and promise of Latino schooling in California's agricultural Central Valley, site of one of the largest and socioeconomically vulnerable Latino populations in the nation's most populous state. Through surveys, interviews, and participant observation, we document a multi-year "Placed-Based…

Calvin Lunsford Beale was born in Washington, DC, on June 6, 1923, and passed away at age 85 on September 2, 2008. He was a city boy born and bred, and while he "never wanted to live in a rural area" he became one of the most astute observers of rural America in the latter half of the twentieth century. Calvin spent the majority of his…

In 1991, 53 percent of hired farmworkers lived in nonmetropolitan areas. Among nonmetro workers, hired farmworkers were more likely to be young, male, Hispanic and to work seasonally. Their weekly income was 67 percent that of all nonmetro workers. About half of nonmetro hired farmworkers had not completed high school. Farm employment was sporadic…

Hired farmworkers make up 1% of all U.S. workers but one-third of production agricultural workers. In 1996, compared to all workers, hired farmworkers earned significantly less and were more likely to be younger, never married, Hispanic, and noncitizens. Over half had not graduated from high school, and three-quarters of noncitizens had only an…

Due to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition of a farm as an "economic unit which produces at least $1,000 worth of agricultural products a year", more than 570,000 farms were eliminated from the 1975 agricultural census. In addition, over 12,000 farms went out of business, continuing a trend begun in 1940. Although American food prices…

Contract foreign workers admitted for temporary employment in U.S. agriculture are tabulated. In 1972 90 percent were British West Indians and the remainder were Canadians. (MS)

This bibliography consists of 87 entries of materials related to population trends in rural and nonmetropolitan areas. This collection is the result of a computerized search of the AGRICOLA database. The bibliography covers topics of rural population change, migration and migrants, farm labor supplies and social conditions, and different patterns…

The number of farms in rural America continued to decline. In 1974, 23,420 farms went out of business. Farm subsidy payments, originally designed to assist small farmers, contributed little to the survival of the small farmer. The 1974 increased costs in fuel and fertilizer alone reduced net farm income by $5 billion--approximately a $2,500…

The attitudes and opinions of rural Michigan residents were surveyed on selected issues and policies in 1970. The sample included 343 respondents drawn from 34 randomly selected sampling points. Each point was a rural township from which about 10 interviews were made. Responses of the 88 farm and 255 nonfarm residents were compared in the study.…

Analysis of public-use samples of 1910 and 1940 censuses of the rural South revealed significant variation in fertility by social class for blacks in both years and for whites in 1940. Farm laborers of both races reported the lowest fertility and steepest declines over the period. A woman's education was negatively related to fertility in all…

The stereotype of rural Hispanic Americans often connotes social problems such as poverty, illegal immigration, and migrant workers. In reality, rural Hispanics are part of a larger demographic trend changing the balance of power and socioeconomic relations among ethnic groups. Part 1 of this paper reviews demographic information.…

As one of a series of surveys constituting a statewide study in Montana, this report presents findings obtained from a survey conducted to determine the state of existing farm operations relative to employment practices and to delineate manpower needs of agribusiness. An analysis of the data collected from survey instruments distributed to…

The author spent a year doing a participant observation and in-depth interviewing project in southeastern Colorado. Although exploratory, the material provides an initial sketch of the female farming population. (BR)

In 1995, an average 832,000 persons aged 15 and over did hired farmwork each week, receiving median weekly earnings of $260 (compared to $440 for all U.S. workers). The large number of foreign (mostly Mexican) farmworkers contributed to low educational levels. California accounted for 25% of U.S. farm labor expenses, followed by Florida and Texas.…

A prestige scale for 50 agricultural and agriculturally related occupations was developed. The scale was constructed utilizing data from a mailed-questionnaire survey conducted during the spring semester of 1977 at 14 universities in the Southern United States. A 15% random sample of undergraduate majors in agriculture at these schools were…