Investigates the effects of corporate farming on small business and on the economic and social structure of rural America in the Great Plains and upper Midwest. May 20 and 21 hearings were held in Omaha, Nebr., and July 22 hearing was held in Eau Claire, Wis. Includes Committee Print No. 13, "Small Business and the Community -- A Study in Central Valley of California on Effects of Scale of Farm Operations," Dec. 23, 1946 (p. 295-441).

During the early part of the 20th century farming in America was transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial activity. This book explores the modernization of the 1920s, which saw farmers adopt not just new technology, but also the financial cultural & ideological apparatus of industrialism.