Mot sure what DoA is using, but here is one definition.
Corporate farm vs family farm Main article: family farm Cargill beef processing plant Farms are expensive to operate; input costs include farm machinery, crop insurance, fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, fuel, and seeds. Some people question whether small family farms are still economically sustainable in the United States. However, there is a growing resurgence of interest in organic, free range, and locally grown family farm products.[citation needed] One major difference between independent farming and corporate farming is that a corporate farmer is usually a contracted employee, rather than the owner of the farm. However, ownership itself does not mean independence. An owner-operated farm today faces many constraints that are completely out of the owner's control. Most of these can be seen in light of increasing concentration of ownership, not only of farms, but of the equipment and inputs necessary to farm, and the available sales channels.[citation needed] Production contracts are a primary means of control and vertical integration of family farms. These are of two general types. Production management contracts specify the methods farmers must use. Resource-providing contracts require the contractor to also provide materials (e.g) and equipment. Under the latter, increasingly prevalent arrangement, the family farm owns its land and "sells" its output, but retains no real decision making control over the essential farming activities, like crop selection, equipment purchase, production methods, sales channels, and buyers.[citation needed] A prime example is the drive to constantly improve production efficiency, as measured by farm output. By using successive waves of new technology (in agrichemicals, mechanization, crop varieties, drugs, etc.), output has steadily risen over the past decades. This in turn has contributed to steadily driving down the price farmers can get for their output. As the cost of remaining in production rises, and income falls, only the larger business entities, with the ability to profit from outside of the immediate farming activities (such as through financial services, agrichemical production, food distribution, and so forth) can afford to remain in the game.[citation needed] In terms of income disparity, large family farms, rather than factory farms, have the greatest impact. Although 14% of total food production comes from the two percent of all farms in the United States that are owned by corporations or other non-family entities, 50% of food production comes from the biggest two percent of all farms. In 1900, it came from 17% of all farms.[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_farming#Corporate_farm_vs_family_farm -----Original Message----- From: LRS Scout [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 5:36 PM To: cf-community Subject: Re: Rural kids, parents angry about Labor Dept. rule banning farm chores I read it, and guess or not, you haven't provided any way of measuring the difference between a family run corporate farm and on run by big business. On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 5:38 PM, Eric Roberts < [email protected]> wrote: > > Do you intentionally not read? Hence the phrase "My guess is..." > Simple concept Tim... > > > Seriously... > On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 2:35 PM, LRS Scout <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Mr. Roberts, do you intentionally look for ways not to grasp what > > people are saying? > > > > She is asking what is the LEGAL difference? > > > > How will these rules be implemented differently between the two? I > > own > two > > now defunct business, one sole, one with share holders. How will > > the government legally differentiate between my company and tyson? > > > > Number of employees? Share of the market? What are the metrics? > > > > On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Eric Roberts < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > My guess is it is the difference between your friends farm and a > > > Tyson Chicken farm... > > > > > > On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 12:06 PM, Erika L. Rich > > > <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > But my ex-boyfriends farm, which is family owned, is a corporation. > So > > > > define "corporate". > > > > Most huge farms are family run "corporations" since they are > > businesses. > > > > > > > > On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 3:01 PM, Eric Roberts < > > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > One thing about the restrictions on the farms...apparently > > > > > this > only > > > > > applies to non-family farms. So corporate farms cannot employ > > > > > kids > > in > > > > the > > > > > restricted environments, but mom and pop farms can put thier > > > > > kis to > > > work. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Eric > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:350410 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
