| Abstract: | Abstract This study compares the logic of agricultural production across two dairy farming communities in the Northeast using a measure of agricultural performance as the dependent variable. Both communities have similar farm structural and environmental characteristics, but significantly different levels of agricultural performance. Our analysis indicates that dairy farmers in both communities are following the same basic path toward the optimization of milk production, but achieving quite different results. A comparison of structural factors shows that the high-production community is in a more advantageous position than the low-production community in terms of opportunities for formal education, access to markets, and proximity to an urban center. Acknowledgment of structural differences across agricultural communities is crucial to the development of adequate sociological theory, agricultural policy, and extension programming. |
