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Abstract
Farms today vary by size, type, organization, and concentration of production. The result is a very diverse farm sector. The farm resource regions provide a framework for analyzing regional diversity among farms, farmers, and households; and for identifying economic differences across regions. The primary purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the diversity within and across regions from a geographic perspective. Household income data, characteristics of the farm business, and the relative importance of international trade and U.S. government support to each farm resource region are analyzed to assess the diversity of farms. Some of the conclusions drawn from the analysis include: income averages were not very different across regions, there appeared to be large differences between levels of income for different farm typologies within regions, and diversity related to the importance of trade and government support was found to exist across farm resource region.