What comes to mind when you picture a farm? Rolling green hills surrounded by a white fence, a ramshackle barn in the distance, and horses quietly grazing? Miles of golden fields of wheat swaying in the breeze, a tractor rumbling along? In recent years, a lot of farms are a far cry from these images, but it is telling that the traditional farm is still a fresh image in everyone's minds.
Are family farms endangered? Through all my research my answer has turned from a definite yes to a conditional yes. Farmers are some of the toughest and most traditional people around, and they will fight for their passion. Though the dynamics of a family farm may adapt according to the current times, such as hiring outside the family and working off the farm in off seasons, they are far from going anywhere. The popularity of consuming food grown closer to home and farmer's markets is helping to save the small farmers. Before this blog I had no knowledge of the farm bill, and just how much agriculture affects things like the SNAP program. It is definitely something I will keep track of and learn more about now that I am aware of it. I would like to know more about how this legislation affects farmers and how it might be contributing to the decline of family farming. I would also be very interested in talking to some of the farmers I know and asking if they participate in the agricultural surveys that affect the bill and other legislation. Research showed that a lot of farmers don't respond to the survey because it is lengthy and they say it asks irrelevant questions.
This has been a great question to explore and one that I can continue to explore long after this class!
Farmer's Tribute: So God made a farmer. Paul Harvey. from Farms.com Agriculture Videos on YouTube video from
I was surprised to find in my research that about 96% of farms in the U.S. are considered family farms. It led me to ask what is the actual definition of a farm? What determines a farm to be small, large? Is there a way to tell how they all rate in comparison? In their article "Understanding America's Diverse Family Farms", Robert Hoppe and James M. MacDonald break down farms according to the USDA definition and shows by the numbers how farms are really faring.
The USDA and Economic Research Service (ERS) classifies farms by several criteria. These include the "size of the farm, the primary occupation of the operator, and family/nonfamily ownership of the farm." (Understanding) It is also important to note that the USDA definition of farm means "any place that produced and sold-or normally would have produced and sold-at least $1000 of agriculural products in a given year." (Understanding) To get an all-in-one picture and comparison of the farm groups, the ERS and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) send out an annual survey called the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). This survey is a good resource to determine how farms are operating, and can help determine future farm policy.
Taken from the 2014 survey, the table above shows that family farms are the most numerous, but not the most productive. While there are several factors that help keep the small family farms operating, the large scale farms have cash crops on their side.
It's hard to determine a future for the small family farms since there are so many factors that affect them. Hoppe and MacDonald explain in this article that a huge percentage of family farms, 53 to 76%, were operating in the red by the 2014 survey. However, the owners are able to keep their farms by working jobs off the farm. Many also write off their losses on their taxes. It seems unfair that the large and non family owned farms hold most of the cards for the high value crops and livestock. On the other hand, the high value crops require large amounts of production, and a smaller farm wouldn't be able to meet demand. Small farms also have the highest production of poultry and hay so there's a niche there.
These numbers from 2014 could be drastically changed by now, I am definitely interested to see how the 2016 survey turns out after the new 2014 farm bill, but it probably won't be available until mid year 2017. Did the new crop insurances affect production numbers? How are the midsize farms keeping up? Is the survey going to change after the 2014 farm bill? I am holding out hope that despite the opinions of the farmers, the farm bill may actually do some good for the family owned operations.
....in 1960 that number was just 26. Are family owned farms to thank for the increase in numbers? Lydia DePillis of the Washington Post says yes, even though the family farm of Americana is long past, family owned farms are still thriving. DePillis says it's the midsized farms, not the small ones, that are actually dwindling. Due to the farm bill subsidies, small farms are able to lock in crop prices before harvest even happens and can use the money to invest in high tech equipment to make farming less physically demanding. Most people claim that corporations have taken over a lot of "the little guy" but she claims that corporations are actually taking more of a coordinating role instead of a direct ownership in farms. Corporations have realized that understanding the dynamics of the land in the area is crucial, and it's best to trust in the farmers who have owned their piece of land for several generations. She does admit that technology may still eventually take over some aspects of farming, as technology is evolving every day and knowledge of the land could soon be easily monitored by a computer.
The writers behind Farm Futures agree that the mid size farm is what seems to be going away. They also point out that technological advances have helped the smaller farms to keep up in production with the bigger guys, but it is important to note that farms have become more specialized. Instead of combining many different crops and having room for livestock, farmers are now focusing on just one crop, which allows utilizing more of their land. Those specialized farms are often contracted with a corporation as DePillis stated in her article, which can be misleading because the farm will still show as family owned but the farm is under corporate standards, which can be hard for the small farmer to comply with. DePillis would also disagree with Farm Futures about specialized farms keeping up, she shows that even though farmers are able to plant more of a crop and make more money, a single disaster or dip in price would wipe out that crop immediately.
Both articles have mentioned family farms staying in operation by partnering with corporations, but how does that change the dynamic of the farm? Farmers are able to buy more equipment and better pesticides to keep up with the bigger guys with their subsidy, but what extra regulations come with that? Are the smaller farms staying afloat because of the interest in organic and locally grown produce? How long until that runs out? I say knowledge of the land can never be replaced by a computer, and it's sad to see farmers needing to sell out to corporations to stay running. Stay tuned while I dig deeper.....
This shows that most farms are considered family-owned, but how many are rented by corporations behind the scenes?
"Buy land, they're not making it anymore." -Mark Twain
As any farmer will tell you, farming isn't easy. Illinois farmer J. Gordon Bidner says "A lot of it comes down to whether or not you're a pessimist." (Betting the Farm) According to Business Week the farm economy has been nearly perfect for the past 5 or 6 years, but farmers are about to need to tighten down for a while. Mark Twain had a point that land is a nonrenewable resource, but he couldn't have predicted the challenges modern day farmers face when purchasing land. Record demands for crops such as corn for ethanol based fuels meant more land purchase, and since business was booming it meant low interest rates on land. Unfortunately the low rates meant pushing farmland beyond it's true value, so when the boom slows interest rates rise back up and changes the income to debt ratio. On the upside, Paul Pittman, chief executive officer of a farmland real estate fund based out of Westminster, CO predicts that farmers may not face major financial crisis because of the 5 years of good economy. (The Fat Years)
The government has had a way to help farmers during hard times since 1933, a program known informally as the farm bill. The farm bill is renewed about every five years and is a huge piece of legislation. (NBC) I've only scratched the surface. Part of the bill includes subsidies, one known as the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and the other Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The ARC insures farmer's income in bad harvest years, and the PLC compensates for when crop prices fall. The trouble with these is farmers have to predict and choose which subsidy they want, and they have to sign up by a deadline or they default to the PLC. Nothing like shaking up that magic 8 ball and literally betting the farm!
So, how do farmers really fare during tough times? How much does a subsidy run on average and how do they get one? I have always heard that farming required a crystal ball but I was unaware of the extent. Imagine how tough it would be to predict if a major natural disaster was going to wipe out your crop or if demand for your crop would plummet. After reading just about land values rising and falling so frequently, I have to wonder about the other expenses of running a farm. Not only is there large equipment and livestock to maintain, it's also income for the family. How could a farmer who owned a smaller farm not be tempted to sell everything and leave the work to bigger corporate farms? I believe in the tradition of the family farm, so I hope to uncover some information on how these smaller operations are still an integral part of modern agriculture and how they are keeping the tradition alive.
This video is from Alabama Co-op extension, but it was one of the shorter overviews of the farm bill. video from
Bjerga, Alan. "Betting The Farm." Bloomberg Businessweek 4420 (2015): 34-35. Business Source Premier. Web. 1 July 2016.
Bjerga, Alan, and Jeff Wilson. "The Fat Years End For American Farmers." Bloomberg Businessweek 4459 (2016): 18-19. Business Source Premier. Web. 1 July 2016.
