Half of all Americans were farmers

[mike]

"In 2012, USDA commemorated and celebrated its 150th anniversary. Founded in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress establishing the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Two and one-half years later, in what would be his final annual message to the Congress; Lincoln called USDA 'The People's Department.' At that time, about half of all Americans lived on farms, compared with about 2 percent today."
-USDA (2012)

"When the U.S.D.A. was founded more than 158 years ago, about half of all Americans lived on farms; today less than 1 percent of the population are farmers."
-NYT (2020)

I found the fact that half of all Americans were farmers in the 1860s to be a fascinating statistic. Also interesting is that, according to the above two quotes and the dates they were written, that number dropped even further just in the last 8 years.

In my rural area, and all across the country really, there are so many former farm properties around with old dilapidated barns and other broken down, weathered farm structures and implements. Many people who still live on farms don't utilize the buildings and land to earn a living like their parents and grandparents did. Clearly, not too long ago, running a small dairy farm still made a living for a family. Not these days.

I'm interested in hearing what some factors are that have led to the decline in the number of Americans who live on farms. Many are pretty obvious, but I'd like to hear your ideas.

[steve-in-kville]

From my experience, farming has to be in someone's blood for starters.

Second, it would be nearly impossible for someone like me to start farming.... more often than not, the farms are handed down to the next generation. To by land, equipment, dairy herd... no way.

A few years ago I took a serious look at produce farming. Rent land, by some equipment, etc. I did the math. All it would have taken was one bad year and I would have been toast.

[barnhart]

Capital intensive, heavy risk, unreliable markets controlled by outside forces...

Several years ago NY State was one of the few where the number of farmers was increasing and the median age was moving down, not up. This is due to small producers in the Hudson valley who self market to the city. It didn't happen on it's own, there was planning, investment, regulatory changes ect designed to encourage this growth. If there is a movement across society, consumer habits, government, etc the trend can be reversed.

[Szdfan]

In my area of Colorado, there are abandoned homesteads everywhere. The area was flooded with homesteaders around WWI due to the Homestead Act, the high price of grain and several unusually wet years. Most of those homesteads disappeared during the Depression as grain prices collapsed and the Dust Bowl eviscerated farming.

My in-laws were able to hang on during the Dust Bowl and grew their ranch by purchasing their neighbors’ foreclosed property for cheap.

Since WWII, farming has become increasingly mechanized and efficient— which has led to more consolidation and less individually owned farms. More land can be farmed with less people.

The heavy use of machinery has also increased overhead and it’s become increasingly expensive to farm. One of our ranch friends sits on property that is worth millions of dollars, but only clears tens of thousands of dollars in profit a year. On top of that, commodities prices are low. A few years ago, our rancher could get $1.85 a pound for his beef at auction, now it’s down to the $1.30’s. It’s the meat packaging and food processing companies that make the most profit.

A lot of farmers are “bivocational” in order to keep the farm going.

[Biblical Anabaptist]

Speaking from experience as one of the casualties, I think one of the big reasons is the lack of affordable financing. If farmers could get financing with the interest rate and terms that you can get to purchase a house for instance, farming could probably be a profitable enterprise. I don't know what the current rates would be for a farm loan, but I do have a commercial loan on a residential property I own as it is a rental. The loan has a 20 yr amortization with a variable interest rate. Currently that rate is 4.5%. A residential loan has a 30 year amortization, and currently I am seeing rates at 3% or less, some actually under 2%.

So let's do the math. Assume a $750,000 loan as farming can be very capital intensive. $750,000 @ 4.5% for 20 years is a monthly payment of $4744.87. $750,000 @ 3% for 30 years is $3162.03. That is almost $19,000 a year difference.

When I started farming 45 years ago, you could walk into almost any bank and get an agricultural loan. Today many banks will not do ag loans. Some of that may be because of government regulations. This then puts the pressure on to get loans from the government (FSA) which is "supervised credit" which is actually controlled credit. The goal is to put the little fellow out of business and make the rest keep getting bigger and bigger, going deeper and deeper into debt, which is government money which gives the government more and more control. In the 70's it was stated that the problem with farming is that there are too many little independent farmers out there doing their own thing.

50 years ago, farmers worked together and shared equipment. Then the time came where everyone had his own equipment and needed to have shinier paint than is neighbor. Then it went to hiring custom operators with the 1/2 million dollar machines which they trade every 2-3 years. Who pays for all this? The farmer.

there was also the trend toward consolidation. Instead of each town having its own processing plants (perhaps several) where farmers would take their milk in cans on the back of their pickup, we now have large processing plants perhaps 100+ miles from the farm with managers making well into the 6 figures and possibly 7 figures. This resulted in some of the things we are now seeing such as the Dean Foods bankruptcy which is now trying to extract money from farmers that they have already been paid for their product.

The bottom line, I think there are 3 things. The farmers own ego, government regulations which make it very difficult for the little guy, and consolidation resulting in a lack of market for the little guy.

I believe we are beginning to see a reverse in this trend with some going on a smaller scale and selling at the farm or farm markets as it was done 50-75 years ago. Where this will go remains to be seen. It does seem there is increasing consumer demand for this.

[Neto]

Out in western Oklahoma (where my dad grew up) we started seeing lots of abandoned farm houses in the early 70's. Bigger equipment allowed a single farmer to maintain much larger areas than the original quarter-section farm. Young people were also drawn away by the allure of the city. (Don't ask me, I haven't any idea what the city has to offer that is so great.) I suppose that younger people were not willing to operate what amounted to subsistence farming, like my grandpa's operation. They had chickens, sheep, and cattle, and sometimes pigs as well. They sold eggs and milk, wool, and wheat. Otherwise, they 'lived off of the land'. You just don't "get rich" doing that. My grandpa seemed to be content with this, although I did hear him say sometimes, of another farmer's barn, "I wish I had a barn like that, and he had one better."

[joshuabgood]

I think mechanization and tech is the number one factor. Farms produce more than they ever did. It is easy to transport the product pretty much anywhere. Food production doesn't need to be close. But mechanization, centralization, and efficiency come with a high economic and social cost.

Just like there used to be 200 auto companies in the USA and now there are only 3 or 4.

[Ernie]

Today:

Successful large operation farmers must have:
1. capital or very reasonable financing to get started.
2. ability to take care of plants or animals.
3. good business sense (like any larger business)
Many large farmers sell products at wholesale rates and do OK because of the volume they produce.

Small farmers must have:
2. ability to take care of plants or animals.
3. good business sense (like any smaller business)
4. good marketing plan (unless they have a wholesale outlet that pays good prices)

50 years ago, all that was needed was hard work, some cheap land (or cheap financing), some basic business sense - and a person could stay in business and do just fine.

[RZehr]

Along with what has been mentioned -
Farmers are selling a commodity. Old technology. Not a branded product, not a service, not a patented invention. Difficult to have any control over your pricing, nor can you develop loyal customers.

[temporal1]

I found the fact that half of all Americans were farmers in the 1860s ..

Half seems low. Possibly this refers to farm owners or principals? (i think) Ag+Ag related work was greater than half? Not sure. And, today, Ag-related work remains a big part of the economy, altho owners are few.

i’m not sure at all about Mennonites, but, for Ag in general, i think it’s highly government-centered.
i’m sad that so much of ALL of our lives, every minute bit, is so gov-centered. Good night, gov is in our bedrooms! can anyone function at all without government??

USDA
https://newfarmers.usda.gov/

https://www.usda.gov/topics/farming/grants-and-loans

https://www.usda.gov/topics/farming/res ... ed-farmers

https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/grants-and-loans-farmers

There is MUCH more.
i’m overwhelmed when i think about how gov is central to farming.
from what i witness around me, farmers are political. they know local+state politics, and federal politics. because of gov. mandates, farmers can survive weather, acts of God, conversely, they might be put out of business by that same human law.

i don’t find farmers to be noisy about politics. i find, for survival, they keep on top of politics.

Gov regulations cannot be overlooked.