Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
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Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#2https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/09/does-corporate-farm...
> So what’s going on here—why is the perception of “corporate farming” so widespread when actually almost all of the country’s food is being grown or raised by family-owned operations?
> It might have something to do with the fact that corporate agribusiness is indeed very real—it’s just that it has carved out the most profitable parts of food production for itself, while leaving the dirty, uncertain work of farming for others.
> The reality is that farming itself is generally a terrible business. There’s much more—and much easier—money to be made by selling farmers the raw materials of their trade—like seeds, fertilizer, or livestock feed. And there’s also plenty of money in buying farmers’ output cheap (say, corn or hogs) and selling it dear (as, say, pork chops or high-fructose corn syrup). In his excellent 2004 book Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization, Richard Manning pungently describes the situation:
>> A farm scholar once asked an agribusiness executive when his corporation would simply take over the farms. The exec said that it would be dumb for the corporation to do so, in that it is not free to exploit its employees to the degree that farmers are willing to exploit themselves.
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#3The most meaningful statistic I found in the article is
>Small family-owned farms accounted for 19% of the value of all agricultural products sold in 2017
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#4https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/09/does-corporate-farm... > So what’s going on here—why is the perception of “corporate farming” so widespread when actually almost all of the country’s food is being grown or raised by family-owned operations? > It might have something to do with the fact that corporate agribusiness is indeed very real—it’s just that it has carved out the most profitable parts of food production…
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Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#5The most meaningful statistic I found in the article is >Small family-owned farms accounted for 19% of the value of all agricultural products sold in 2017
So the 4% of total number of farms accounts for 81% of value of all agricultural products?
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#6The most meaningful statistic I found in the article is >Small family-owned farms accounted for 19% of the value of all agricultural products sold in 2017
So the 4% of total number of farms accounts for 81% of value of all agricultural products?
No, there are also mid-size and large-scale family farms. Many of those are owned by corporations, but that corporation is owned by a single family so it counts as a family farm. "Small" is defined as gross income of $250,000 or less.
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#7https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/09/does-corporate-farm... > So what’s going on here—why is the perception of “corporate farming” so widespread when actually almost all of the country’s food is being grown or raised by family-owned operations? > It might have something to do with the fact that corporate agribusiness is indeed very real—it’s just that it has carved out the most profitable parts of food production…
> The reality is that farming itself is generally a terrible business.
I have found it to be a wonderful business. It has been way more fruitful than the other businesses I have invested in.
You might get lucky elsewhere with greater returns, but that comes with a lot more risk. Farming is a pretty well understood business.
> There’s much more—and much easier—money to be made by selling farmers the raw materials of their trade—like seeds, fertilizer, or livestock feed.
Maybe, but we are also in that business. We affectionately call it the 'co-op'. Any money made comes back as a dividend.
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#8yeah but...
aren't all (most) these farms under some insane contract to run a CAFO, even though they are technically considered "small"?
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#9https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/09/does-corporate-farm... > So what’s going on here—why is the perception of “corporate farming” so widespread when actually almost all of the country’s food is being grown or raised by family-owned operations? > It might have something to do with the fact that corporate agribusiness is indeed very real—it’s just that it has carved out the most profitable parts of food production…
> The reality is that farming itself is generally a terrible business. I have found it to be a wonderful business. It has been way more fruitful than the other businesses I have invested in. You might get lucky elsewhere with greater returns, but that comes with a lot more risk. Farming is a pretty well understood business. > There’s much more—and much easier—money to be made by selling farmers the raw materials of t…
I'm curious how many acres you have. We have a 10 acre field that has been used to grow hay for horses for the last 20 years, but I am thinking of diversifying into a cash crop.
Re: Family Farms Account for 96% of all U.S. Farms
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the 4% of total number of farms accounts for 81% of value of all agricultural products?
No, there are also mid-size and large-scale family farms. Many of those are owned by corporations, but that corporation is owned by a single family so it counts as a family farm. "Small" is defined as gross income of $250,000 or less.
A gross income of 250,000 isn't a small farm, it's a hobby farm. The average margin for farms is 15%, and smaller farms are worse than large farms. A $250,000 gross likely means a Worse than the small margin is the variability. A good year can have a 50% margin and a bad year a -25% one.