Large family farms are only eight percent of the farms in the U.S., yet they produce 62% of our food. But they get a smaller proportion of government payments.

June 16 , 2010 column from the Star Beacon and Gazette
by John Parker

Travel around Ashtabula and Trumbull County and other areas of northeast Ohio and notice the large fields that are being farmed. Most of them are planted to corn or soybeans and some can be 100 to 200 or more acres in size.

Making that observation raises some good questions. Why have farms and fields become so much larger compared to 30 or 40 years ago? Just what size farms really produce our food locally and in the United States?

Smaller farms of 40 years ago were not large enough to provide an income that would support an adequate farm family income. So families had some choices. One was to go out of the farming business. Let someone else farm the land. That made land available for others to buy and expand their operations, becoming more efficient.

Many families also decided to keep the farm but a family member would work at an off-farm job. They would grow crops working nights and weekends to get the job done. In most cases they were also able to get fringe benefits which were helpful. We have a lot of these part-time farms in northeast Ohio along with the larger ones that we might call commercial family farms.

Our food in the U.S. is produced on small family farms, large family farms and some non-family farms. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, 89 percent of U.S. farms are in the small and retirement categories. They produce just 22 percent of the value of food produced in this country.

Large family farms are only eight percent of the farms in the U.S. They produce, however, 62 percent of the food we have. Those figures—only eight percent of the farms producing 62 percent of our food—are dramatic. They illustrate the efficiencies of these larger family farms that produce much of our food.

Larger non-family farms are just 3 percent of the total. According to USDA, most of them represent family-owned and controlled corporations. They do produce about 17 percent of our food so are significant in their importance and reflect efficient production.

With 83 percent of our food produced on family farms, we realize that the idea of "factory" farms is a myth. America's farms are diverse and differ in what they contribute to U. S. food and fiber supply and that diversity is part of our free enterprise system in this country.

Sometimes we hear criticism that much of the government safety net farm payments go to just the non-family farms. Again according to USDA, these non-family farms receive just 8 percent of the safety net payments.

According to USDA definitions, large family farms are about 8 percent of all farms. Yet they produce the largest share, 62 percent, of all crops produced but get a smaller proportionate share of government payments. Smaller family farms get proportionally more benefits.

The landscape of U.S. agriculture is dominated by family farms. They may be organized as a sole operator, partnership or a family corporation but are still independent. Because of weather and price fluctuations, they take exceptional business risks. They always have, to provide food and fiber for a needy world.

Some sources today are critical of America's agriculture without realizing the importance of the amount, kinds and quality of food they produce. These critical sources are putting our food supply in danger. They are actually encouraging hunger in this country and around the world. With 40 to 50 percent more food needed in the world by 2050, we need the efficiency of our larger family farms.

John Parker is a free-lance agricultural writer.

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