James M. MacDonald is Research Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland. He previously worked at the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he was the Chief of the Structure, Technology, and Productivity Branch, and shared management of the annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey, the Department’s principal source of information on farm financial and productive performance. His recent research focuses on the changing structure and organization of the farm sector. MacDonald, a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, received a Ph.D. in economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree from Siena College.