The . food and agricultural sector is undergoing rapid change in production, distribution, and consumption of food and fiber, and in technology. There have been dramatic increases in production and marketing coordination, market contracting, concentration of agricultural output by fewer and fewer operations, and consolidation of agricultural operations. These increases are manifested in significant long- and short-term changes in farm size, number, distribution, and location. Production that once relied on small, independent, family-based farms increasingly occurs in large, consolidated, global operations. Small- and mid-sized operators often struggle to remain competitive and to adopt recent developments in technology and information
