Self-study
P1
The prevailing trend in agriculture toward massive and highly mechanized production, with its heavy dependence on debt and credit as a means of raising capital, has been linked to the growing problem of bankruptcy among small farms. ███
Problem ·
Modern agriculture has bankrupted lots of small farms
Solution ·
Watley: guidelines for small farms
Watley proposes guidelines which, in addition to smart management and hard work, can help small farms become profitable again.
P2
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Solution Details ·
Grow a variety of crops
Grow at least 10 different crops to hedge against crop failure and generate year-round cash flow.
Solution Details ·
Clientele membership club
Instead of loans, get consumers to pay first. Get them to harvest the crops for you. Grow only what your consumers want. Grow it how they want (e.g. pesticide free?).
P3
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Solution Details ·
Decrease costs
50% of costs are from harvesting so outsourcing that to your consumers allows you to lower your price.
Solution Details ·
Sell direct to consumers
Eliminate middle man (distribution) costs.
Solution Details ·
Estimates
25 acre farm needs about 1,000 people from metropolitan areas.
P4
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Solution Requirements ·
Location
Locate farm near big towns. Have your consumers travel to you to get the food.
Solution Requirements ·
Irrigation and liability insurance
Some crops don't be drought resistant. Someone is going to fall and hurt themselves on your farm.
Main Point ·
This solution will enable small farms to operate profitably
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Main point
The passage focuses on
a
In reaction to ████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █ ███ ██ ███████████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ███████
This best captures the main point of the passage, which is that
b
Booker T. Whatley's ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███████
This doesn’t capture the passage’s claim that Whatley offers a solution to small farms to help them avoid debt and bankruptcy. The main point isn’t about the relationship between Whatley’s approach and consumers; it’s about how Whatley’s approach can help small farms.
c
As part of █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ █████████ ██████
This doesn’t capture the passage’s claim that Whatley offers a solution to small farms to help them avoid debt and bankruptcy. (C) merely indicates Whatley assesses small farms’ ability to compete. But it doesn’t mention Whatley’s solution.
d
While CMCs are ███ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ █ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █ ████ █████████
The passage doesn’t focus on the risk of failure despite implementing Whatley’s solution. The main point is the fact Whatley offers a solution, not the risk that it doesn’t work.
e
The adoption of ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ █████████ ████████
The author never suggests that Whatley’s approach, if adopted, would threaten large-scale production. The approach is presented as a way for small farms to survive. Whether their survival threatens large farms isn’t discussed.