1. Farm Size and Sustainability: How does farm size relate to people, profit and planet?
Paul D. Mitchell
AAE 320

3. Sustainability and Agrarianism
Small farms: celebrated over the centuries: Agrarianism
Hesiod’s Works and Days, Vergil’s Georgics, …
Chinese Agriculturalism: Peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism [F.H. King]
French Physiocrats, Jeffersonian democracy
Small is beautiful, Back to the land, Closer to nature, …
Food Movement is just the current manifestation
Current focus on Ag Sustainability is the latest manifestation of this in academics, science, & business
Three Pillars of Sustainability: People, Profit and Planet
Let’s look at the data on how farm size connects to farm income and environmental performance

4. Overview Farm size trends based on USDA data
Relation between farm size and farm income based on USDA data
Evaluate accuracy of “Don’t Let your Children Grow Up to be Farmers”
Relation between farm size and use of BMPs: Prokopy et al. (2008) meta-analysis

5. USDA Data on Farm Size
Classifies farm size based on annual sales revenue
Categories I use here ($1,000)
< $50, $50 to $250, $250 to $500, > $500
Simple rule of thumb I use to connect annual sales to actual income is to assume a profit margin of ~20%
Revenue of $250,000 means income of about $50,000
Thus the $50 to $250 roughly means $10,000 to $50,000 in annual farm income

6. Total Number of Farms in the US from 1996 to 2012
Lots of variability, with net increase of ~160,000

7. Number of Farms in the US from 1996 to 2012 by Size Category
170 bu/ac x $4/bu x 75 ac = $51,000
Lots of small farms with < $50,000 in annual revenue

8. Number of Farms with < $50,000 in Revenue in the US from 1996 to 2012
Number of Small Farms has Increased since 1996

9. Ag in the Middle is Disappearing!
Number of Farms with $50,000 to $250,000 in Revenue in the US from 1996 to 2012
170 bu/ac x $4/bu x 375 ac = $255,000
Ag in the Middle is Disappearing!

10. Number of Farms with > $250,000 in Revenue in the US from 1996 to 2012
Number of Large Farms is Increasing

11. USDA Farm Income Data
Rural Residence: < $250,000 and not farm as occupation
Intermediate: < $250,000 and farm as occupation (Small Farmers)
Commercial: > $250,000
$52,440
Small farms make their money as non-farmers
Commercial farms have done well recently

12. How much is $52,440? Assume a family of four: Ma, Pa and two kids
US poverty threshold in 2012: $23,492
Eligible for SNAP (food stamps) and free school lunches if less than 130% of poverty level = $30,540
Eligible for Reduced Cost school lunches if less than 185% of poverty = $43,460
Main point: many kids from small farms will qualify for free or reduced school lunches and/or food stamps
For comparison: minimum wage $7.25/hr x 40 hrs/wk x 52 weeks = $15,080 x 2 adults = $30,160/year

13. Same result even if you look at “successful” small farms
Half of Small Farms made money as farmers
Of those Small Farms making money, only about 1/3 of their household income is from farming

14. Median Farm Income by Type
In 2012, most grain/crop farmers and dairy farmers made money
Livestock and fruit/vegetable farmers did not

15. Where do farmers get this off-farm income?
60% from other jobs held by the farmer or spouse
14% from other businesses the farmer runs

16. Lifestyle/Quality of Life Indicators
More dairy, hog and fruit/veg farm households than average lack health insurance
Small farm operators do about 2/3 of the farm work while commercial farm operators do about 1/4 of the farm work

17. US Net Farm Income (Cash)
Four years of record farm income, with 2012 the highest ever seen, but small farmers have not been part of this

18. Quick Summary Small farms ($50,000 to $250,000 revenue) disappearing
20% decrease from 1996 to 2012
Commercial farms increasing in number
54% increase in farms > $250,000 from 1996 to 2011
Most commercial scale farms have made very good incomes the last several years, but not most small farms
Many of these small farm households likely are on the edge of poverty (1st world version), lacking health insurance at above average rates
My Point: Based on these data, I’m not convinced “small farms” are economically sustainable as sole income source, must economically diversify
Don’t let your children grow up to be farmers is right

19. What about Environmental Sustainability?
Prokopy et al. (2008) Meta-analysis
L.S. Prokopy, K. Floress, D. Klotthor-Weinkauf, and A. Baumgart-Getz Determinants of agricultural best management practice adoption: Evidence from the literature. J. Soil Water Conserv. Soc. 63(5):
Let’s use adoption of BMPs as a measure of environmental sustainability
Table 2 variables:
Acres: larger farms have more acres
Income: larger farms have more income
Labor: larger farms have access to more labor

20. Prokopy et al. (2008) Meta-analysis

21. Prokopy et al. (2008) Meta-analysis

22. Prokopy et al. (2008) Meta-analysis
Table 3 results: impact of variable on BMP adoption
Acres: 37 positive, 16 negative
Income: 33 positive, 14 negative
Labor: 24 positive, 5 negative
Table 5 results: Which types of BMPs have more positive than negative impacts?
Acres: soil management, nutrient management, other
Income: soil management, livestock management, other
Labor: soil management, nutrient management, other

23. Environmental Sustainability & Farm Size
Farm size has a weakly positive impact on farm BMP adoption, especially soil and nutrient management
My Point: Based on these data, I’m not convinced “small farms” are environmentally more sustainable
Could use these results to argue the opposite
Comments/Notes
Social/community aspects of sustainability (network) positively correlated with higher BMP adoption
Diversity also positively correlated with higher BMP adoption

24. Don’t Let your Children Grow up to be Famers
The dirty secret of the food movement is that the much-celebrated small-scale farmer isn’t making a living.
The food movement is missing, ironically, the perspective of the people doing the actual work of growing food.
Policy Proposals: What do you think?
Loan forgiveness for college grads who pursue agriculture
Programs to turn farmers from tenants into landowners
Guaranteed affordable health care
Shifting subsidies from factory farms to family farms
Building your own production hubs & distribution systems
Support workers up and down the supply chain