Are small Farmers dying the the USA?

[6barrett]

 

Over the past years small farmers have been crushed by the price of their goods going there by the floor they have gone down by almost 50%. With their prices going down the price that it takes to produce their product is going through the roof. Leaving them razor thin margins also leave many if not almost all farmers with debt. The avg small family farm is 250k in debt. While a large operation is in 1.8M in debt. Leaving both in large amounts of debt with producing costs continuing to rise and the price of their goods not rising at all. Small farmers who are in the crop industry are taking a huge hit as all of the land for sale is selling at such a high price  that only the large sized farmer has the money to buy the land and it’s so competitive that it's almost impossible for them to expand. This is causing big farmers to get bigger and small farmers to get smaller and crushing the medium sized farmers too. 

 

I think the small farmer is slowly but surely dying and that families won't be able to survive off of 300 acres and a couple animals. I think that large farms will take over the industry creating a monopoly and control the price of grain and ultimately food too. I think that we need to try and make sure that small farmers can survive and flourish in today's agriculture

Do you think that it is possible for a small family farm to survive in 2024?

 

Do you think that large farms are taking over?

 

How do you think farmers could get out of debt?

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2024/july/farm-businesses-well-positioned-financially-despite-high-interest-rates/#:~:text=For%20farms%20with%20debt%20in,and%20%24783%2C500%20for%20midsize%20farms.

[6AJ]

I think that the large farms are going to slowly take over and they are going to own a lot of ground. But I also think that the small farms will come back and be even bigger than a lot of farms already.

[1Ethan]

I think it is possible for a small family farm to survive but it will most likely be hard since a lot of things come from bigger farms. I have no clue how farmers could get out of debt. They might be able to try starting another business or side hustle along with farming so that they have extra income and are able to pay out debt quicker. That is something that they could do. Or they could just sell things so that they can get debt payed off too.

[6Dalton]

Do you think that it is possible for a small family farm to survive in 2024? Yes, I think that Small Farmers in the U.S. can survive. With Trump back in office there are some things he could do to help save small farmers. Mainly by raising grain prices. With that, there is also a possibility that large farms will take over. Like I said earlier the main way farmers could get out of debt is for the grain prices to go up and seed and chemical prices to go down. Otherwise, they might just have to sell or rent out their land and equipment to someone else.

[1Ethan]

I agree with you. I also think that it should be possible for small farmers to survive. it may be hard and also like you said, When trump is in office, if grain prices go up and chemical prices go down they should be able to get by.

[1 Abbie]

 I think people still rely on farmers to grow crops in order to use for food later on,expecially in small towns. Do you think that large farms are taking over? Yes, because the bigger farms more and more companies will go to and try to buy from. 

[5 Madden]

2.) Large farms are definitely taking over due to their larger number of crops and superior/increasing income. There is a higher demand for bigger farms due to the sheer number of crops they grow, so people could obtain more crops, and the farmers would be more trustworthy because they maintain such a big farm with success.

[6elana]

I think some small farms can surive depending on the location and if that family / owners know people around. If it is close to a town it could thrive and be completely normal. but if its deep in the country  it could be hard to reach. larger farms for sure have taken over.

[6barrett]

 I agree with you on "I think some small farms can surive depending on the location and if that family / owners know people around. If it is close to a town it could thrive and be completely normal." I had never thought of that and i think it a great point

[1Edgardo]

I do think that small family famers can still live in 2024 if they can stilll have food and water and clothes to survive. I also think that large famers are not really taking over small because I think there are not trying to take over small famers because they are big. I also think that famers can get out of debt.

[6barrett]

I dont agree with you when you said " if they can stilll have food and water and clothes to survive." But they need more then just that they need the money to survive and rep[air things. i dont agree with you when you said "I also think that large famers are not really taking over small because I think there are not trying to take over small famers because they are big"