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The American familyfarm is the cornerstone of our nation—but is its existence in jeopardy? As the land of the free and home of the brave, the American familyfarm has been a foundational part of this nation and the meaning of independence. According to the 2022 ag census, familyfarms still dominate U.S.
“Of 400 farms in our county, only five are organic,” says Matt Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Organics in Hutchinson, Minnesota. His 2,500-acrefamilyfarm is patchwork across 40 miles of land the family owns and leases, and grows organic corn, soy, wheat and specialty crops such as beans and peas.
Meet some Midwestern agrarians, some of whom come from conventional farmingfamilies, who are using their land to reestablish the connection between trees, animals, and food production. Wendy Johnson’s ‘natural savannah’ Wendy Johnson and her husband, Johnny Rafkin, own Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, in Charles City, Iowa.
At the same time, the number of farms and farmland in the U.S. lost nearly 142,000 farms from 2017 to 2022. During that same period, an estimated 20 million acres of farmland went out of production. Monitor Finances and Seek Professional Guidance: Financial readiness is key to land ownership. has been in decline.
When Jeff Broberg and his wife, Erica, moved to their 170-acre bean and grain farm in Winona, Minnesota in 1986, their well water measured at 8.6 Those tiles, which were first installed in the mid-1800s and have now largely been replaced with plastic pipes, ultimately allowed farmers to grow crops on land that was once too wet to farm.
During that same time, production has grown, as only farms of more than 200 hectares (approximately 400 acres) have increased in number. According to the recently released 2022 Census of Agriculture , the largest four percent of US farms (2,000 or more acres) control 61 percent of all farmland. Yes, they do.
That got me ruminating about who is really in the drivers seat on a typical farm or ranch business. And who was really in charge when I was co-owner of our family dairy farm? I had to admit, although I was managing the finances, the milking herd, and the crops, it probably wasnt me or anyone else in the family.
The debate surrounding industrial agriculture and farm consolidation is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, industrial agriculture is criticized for contributing to the decline of small familyfarms and promoting unsustainable practices. Large-scale farm operations own 42 percent of U.S. farming sector was $543.1
Share farming in the UK There are a small but growing number of share farming arrangements in operation in the UK. Stream Farm , a 250-acrefarm in Somerset, was established in 2002, based around a share farming structure.
For every acre planted in winter cover, the conservation district would pay the farmers $50. Part of a state-wide program to help reduce farm-chemical run-off entering groundwater and waterways, these are considered “incentives” – not “entitlements” – which help farmers transition to more sustainable practices.
Those include multi-generation familyfarms or beginning farmers that are adopting agroforestry or farmers transitioning from annual production to perennial production. Blooming ecological success Maggie Taylor of Delight Flower Farm, a commercial cut-flower farm in Champaign, Ill., has always been ecologically minded.
Award Highlights NSAC congratulates all LCM recipients, including the following NSAC members: California Alliance of FamilyFarms (CAFF) , World Farmers , Cultivate Kansas City , Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA) , Maine Farmland Trust , Agrarian Trust , and Land Stewardship Project (LSP).
I was born and raised in rural southwest Wisconsin, where I attended a high school located in the middle of a 30,000 acre seedcorn field. Most of the previous generations of my family were either dairy farmers or worked in fields closely related to dairy farming. And are those things related? Photo provided by Hamilton.
Today, Tim and Joanne manage WR Grazing in collaboration with Doug and other family members on 3000 acres of land. In 2019, they ran a series of crop trials on 20 acre paddocks to experiment with different crop mixes. We have been dealing with continuous drought conditions, which can hit the finances hard.”
Writing in 1985, Steele presents a clear-eyed view of the complex environmental, economic and social challenges that were facing farmers, many of which continue to be at the heart of today’s conversations about our food and farming system. INTENSIFICATION Modern farming is intensive. Tractors are expected to cut four acres an hour.
That got me ruminating about who is really in the drivers seat on a typical farm or ranch business. And who was really in charge when I was co-owner of our family dairy farm? I had to admit, although I was managing the finances, the milking herd, and the crops, it probably wasnt me or anyone else in the family.
Familyfarms are the backbone of our food system. More than 90 percent of farms—about 500 million—are run either by individual or family labor! billion people worldwide are involved in familyfarming, and these operations produce more than 80 percent of the world’s food value, according to U.N. More than 1.5
In this video, Michael shares about his early career as a researcher and educator with the Rodale Institute; describes how the gnawing in his gut led him into farming and the move toward more regenerative practices that strengthen biodiversity, build soil health, and sequester carbon; and explains his family’s efforts to mitigate climate change.
40 Acres & A Mule Project , United States 40 Acres & A Mule seeks to acquire Black-owned farmland to be used to celebrate and preserve the history, food, and stories of Black culture in food and farming. The food system cant change overnight, but the flow of finance can, says Dharshan Wignarajah, CPIs UK Director.
As with all programs, NSAC will continue to analyze the RPFSA’s CSP provisions, including a proposed one-time CSP subprogram focused on enrollment of up to 500,000 acres of native or improved pasture land used for livestock grazing in the Lower Mississippi River Valley to address water quality issues leading to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.
FSA is currently unable to offer pre-qualification or pre-approval services for farm ownership loans, yet this service is routinely offered by other lenders working with competing buyers for farm properties, which puts buyers who must use FSA financing at a disadvantage.
The 2022 Census of Agriculture reported that the number of American farms fell below two million for the first time in almost a century. Kids are leaving the familyfarm to pursue careers outside of agriculture, and they’re not coming back. When am I going to start running the farm?” Is agricultural policy to blame?
He recounted the innumerable ways his 1,500 acres of tobacco, spread over several counties around Wilson, the historic center of the flue-cured tobacco industry in North Carolina, might lose money if he’s not careful. Small-scale, part-time tobacco farming that filled savings accounts or paid debts—that was real, but is no longer.
In 2016, Willis Nelson and his three brothersthird-generation Black farmersstarted a farming venture with 40 acres in rural Sondheimer, Louisiana. Located on the western bank of the Mississippi River, the familyfarm now spans roughly 4,000 acres and produces corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and milo.
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