...Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. My name is Mark Drabenstott and I am Director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. A new wave of consolidation is spreading throughout US agriculture, a wave that is redrawing the economic...

...invite our first witness to the table. Mr. Mark Drabenstott is the vice-president and director for the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. STATEMENT OF MARK DRABENSTOTT, VICE-PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF...

...of their desire to join the corporate band wagon at the expense of a "few insignificant farmers." I have lost faith in former political leaders like John...second, I think it highlights, once again, how we bete people make the transition out of agriculture and into something else." As I stated earlier, this...

...and head of the Technology Development Corporation of Maryland; Mark Drabenstott, who is the director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City; and Ms. Deborah Wince-Smith who is the President of the Council on Competitiveness. TESTIMONY OF PHILLIP...

...Population Data Center at Louisiana State University. Mark R. Drabenstott is Vice President and Director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. On more than ten occasions, he has testified before Congress on rural and agricultural...

...distinguished members of the committee. My name is Mark Drabenstott. I am Vice President and Director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The Center is the focal point for research on rural economic issues in the Federal...

...are naturally justified in view of the high costs of investment and of the high value of the results. Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for the Study of Rural America, views consolidation in US agriculture as a positive trend, and one that has led to lower-priced, higher...

...rural America, the needs and opportunities facing these communities becomes apparent. According to the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, "Small firms account for 90 percent of all rural establishments." In fact, small business...

...the lock of its monoculture, therefore, the healthier it will be. (One possibility being promoted by people like Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for the Study of Rural America of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, is the cultivation of pharmaceutical crops—"farmaceuticals"—genetically...

...partnerships to access greater financial, human and political resources. EDA works closely with Dr. Mark Drabenstott, Director of the Center for the Study of Rural America and Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank — Kansas City. EDA also works closely with Dr. Michael...