The effect of farm structure on civic engagement in farming-dependant counties in the United States' Corn Belt region

The relationship between farm structure and community well-being has been researched many times. Conclusions were drawn that rural communities had better socioeconomic conditions when small to medium family farms were the norm. Civic engagement has been reported to have a greater impact on rural well-being than farm structure and that farm structure was correlated with civic engagement. The research objective was to determine the relationship between civic engagement and farm structure.; The study population consisted of farming dependent counties in the Corn Belt Region of the United States. These counties had an average population loss of 2% in the 1990's, an average population density of 15.6 people per square mile and an average farm size of 576 acres.; Six farm structure variables and four demographic variables were included in the regression model as independent variables. A hierarchal regression model was used to determine the relationship between civic engagement and farm structure. Civic engagement was measured by voting participation and church membership.; The null hypothesis was rejected in both models that R2 = 0 when adding the farm structure variables. The R2 change was .19 in both models. The complete model containing the dependent variable of voting in the election had three variables that were relatively important and an adjusted R2 of .31. The important variables were home ownership (Beta = .34), part-time farmers (Beta = -.33), and off-farm residence (Beta = -.20). The complete model containing the dependent variable of church membership had an adjusted R2 of .58 and contained six relatively important variables. These variables in order of importance were small businesses per capita (Beta = .40), home ownership (Beta = .29), part-time farmers (Beta = -.26), off-farm residence (Beta = -.20), not sole proprietors (Beta = -.18), and hired farm workers (Beta = .16).; Community leaders need to understand the dynamics of the changing farm structure at work in their communities and find solutions aimed at increasing civic engagement levels where farm structural changes are occurring.