My topic of research focuses on the challenges facing today’s American ranchers. In the June 2008, Volume 73, Number 2 print of Rural Sociology, I found an article addressing one of these challenges. Carla Barbieri, Edward Mahoney and Larry Butler collaborate to write the article, “Understanding the Nature and Extent of Farm and Ranch Diversification in North America.” In this article, the three authors outline the reasons why North American farms and ranches are needing to diversify in the services they provide and ways they use their lands. They write that this need to diversify comes from developments in technology and government policies as well as the changing market, competition, and demands of consumers. To name just a few, these diversifications come in the form of renting out properties for events, repurposing properties as hospitality operations, and producing other merchandise (yarn, wine, gift baskets) not normally associated with their field of production. While a question is never posed in the article, the hypothesis of the study is stated and can lead the reader to understand what question is being answered with the data collected: do different characteristics of the farmer/rancher as well as different characteristics of the farm/ranch make a difference between lightly, moderately, and highly diversified farms/ranches? Using an online survey, Barbieri et al. collected demographic data by looking at public records and obtaining a list of names from the North American Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA). They emailed the survey to members of the NAFDMA as well as farmers and ranchers not involved with the association and asked recipients to pass on the survey to others who might be able to provide data as well. In the end, they obtained 1,135 usable surveys, 934 of which were obtained through snowball sampling.  The data obtained was analyzed by classifying the diversifications reported in the surveys into the three levels (light, moderate, high) using multiple linear regression and a-posteriori. This article and data collected provide me with some of the most interesting information that I have found on my topic thus far.

Barbieri, Carla, Edward Mahoney, and Larry Butler. 2008. “Understanding the Nature and
Extent of Farm and Ranch Diversification in North America.” Rural Sociology73(2):205–29.