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Agri View: Does Size Matter

Dan Agri View

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Everett Griner talks about how the size of the farm matters in today’s Agri View.

Does Size Matter?

We don’t have as many mid-sized farms in America as we used to. Did you know that? It sounds like bad information but it is not. Why? Well, I will get to that in a moment. Between 1990 and 2012 statistics show over 6,000 fewer farms in this country. The reason for that is not as bad as you think it is. Many of those mid-sized farms became large farms. One source that keeps up with these changes judged a farm with 350,000 to a million dollars in gross cash income to be mid-sized. And while the numbers were declining, household finances were getting stronger. Some doubled their overall income even while farm value was growing. How could this happen? Because farmers are better educated they say. But mid-sized farms are still essential to overall farm production all over America.

That’s Agri View for today. I’m Everett Griner.