| Michigan's agriculture economy and its participants will face many opportunities and challenges in the future. It was the purpose of this dissertation to assemble a comprehensive collection of Michigan production agriculture baseline data and to apply the statistical methods of ordinary least squares regression, shift-share analysis, and input-output modeling, to determine the trends, shifts, and linkages of the sector during the decades of the 1970's and 1980's. This research effort is one of the most extensive historical reviews of Michigan production agriculture ever generated. Over thirty eight different commodities from the field crop, livestock, fruit and vegetable sectors were analyzed. The analysis of baseline data will aid individuals involved in state farm organizations, farm enterprises, agribusinesses, food processing companies, governmental agencies, universities, environmental groups and input suppliers, in making their future decisions.;Shift-share highlights. (1) Michigan lagged the comparative U.S. growth rates of cash receipts for livestock, fruit, and vegetable crops from 1970 to 1990. Only state field crop cash receipts expanded at a faster rate than U.S. receipts. (2) The commodities with the largest competitive gains in cash receipts were; hogs, turkeys, corn, soybeans, blueberries, snap beans and asparagus. Most Michigan fruit and vegetable commodities cash receipt rates lagged the U.S. rates.;Economic (linkages) highlights. (1) On average, for each job in production agriculture,;The following is a brief highlight of some of the findings: Trend highlights. (1) The number of Michigan farms declined 35.7%, from 84,000 in 1970 to 54,000 in 1990. (2) State soybean production expanded more than any other crop (fruit, field, food or vegetable), increasing from approximately 10 million bushels a year to over 40 million bushels a year, up 300%. (3) Dry bean production fell precipitously, down approximately 33% from 6.70 million Cwt. per year to 4.45 million Cwt. per year. (4) Significant growth occurred in turkey production; from 1973 to 1990, production expanded from 20 million pounds a year to over 125 million pounds a year, up 525%. |
