The New Family Farmer

According to the latest 2007 USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service, roughly 4 million family farms have been lost since the 1930’s, though it should be noted that small farms (50 acres in size, or less) have increased about 13% compared to the earlier USDA 2002 census data). As the population of family farmers continues to age, there is also a critical shortage of young farmers to take their place. Michael Paine is a rare breed; he doesn’t come from a farming family, and he’s relatively young. His story is a good example of the unique challenges facing those who wish to take up farming.

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Comment by Chris Byers on December 16, 2009 at 11:28am: This is interesting but one thing not mentioned is the biggest single reason small farms stop being small farms, the death/inheritance tax. Many more are going to stop being small farms and it is going to become even harder to get someone interested because of the huge 50% taxes being levied against these places when someone dies.
We need small farms and we need a tax structure that allows them to be continued, this is one of the reasons banks will not loan on them for the land. They know if the person dies the inheritance taxes will keep them from getting the loan from being repaid.