Table 1.

Characteristics [median (range)] of three groups of counties based on tertiles of 1970–1979 percentage wheat acreage/county.

	Average 1970–1979 percent wheat acreage per county
Characteristics of county groups	Low 0.95 (0.09–4.00)	Medium 8.43 (4.04–14.32)	High 22.91 (14.52–35.47)
No. of selected counties
Minnesota	32	14	10
Montana	1	8	6
North Dakota	0	10	30
South Dakota	18	19	4
Total	51	51	50
County land area, acres × 106	0.37 (0.22–1.92)	0.71 (0.33–3.16)	0.71 (0.28–2.55)
County cropland, acres × 106	0.24 (0.07–0.51)	0.34 (0.15–0.71)	0.50 (0.18–1.24)
1970–1979 percent dedicated land
Corn	21.74 (0.00–39.89)	0.93 (0.00–31.98)	0.06 (0.00–21.59)
Soybeans	4.16 (0.00–38.98)	0.00 (0.00–28.87)	0.01 (0.00–10.25)
Farm size, 1982 (acres)	303 (147–4,726)	1,276 (233–5,154)	984 (453–3,661)
Percent rural population, 1982	79.4 (53.1–100)	100 (52.2–100)	100 (50.7–100)
Percent farm population, 1982	25.1 (6.2–48.6)	30.5 (11.9–64.8)	30.2 (13.9–51.1)
Percent families below poverty level, 1979	12.0 (4.7–38.0)	14.9 (7.5–34.3)	12.7 (6.6–25.7)
Average annual population at risk (percent ≥ 65 years)
1979–1988
Male	447,124 (12.5)	220,924 (15.1)	172,776 (16.2)
Female	452,703 (16.5)	220,884 (18.8)	171,621 (20.0)
1989–1998
Male	479,003 (12.5)	209,192 (16.3)	149,245 (18.1)
Female	482,825 (16.6)	210,840 (20.6)	150,107 (22.9)