Chapter Competitive Markets for Goods and Services Start Up: Life on the Farm They produce a commodity that is essential to our daily lives, one for which the demand is virtually assured And yet many—even as farm prices are reaching record highs—seem to live on the margin of failure Thousands are driven out of business each year We provide billions of dollars in aid for them, but still we hear of the hardships many of them face They are our nation’s farmers What is it about farmers, and farming, that arouses our concern? Much of the answer probably lies in our sense that farming is fundamental to the American way of life Our country was built, in large part, by independent men and women who made their living from the soil Many of us perceive their plight as our plight But part of the answer lies in the fact that farmers do, in fact, face a difficult economic environment Most of them operate in highly competitive markets, markets that tolerate few mistakes and generally offer small rewards Finally, perhaps our concern is stirred by our recognition that the farmers’ plight is our blessing The low prices that make life difficult for farmers are the low prices we enjoy as consumers of food What keeps the returns to farming as low as they are? What holds many farmers in a situation in which they always seem to be just getting by? In Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 463