In the United States, consolidation throughout the agricultural sector makes it difficult for smaller, independent farms to survive. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, large farms comprise only 4 percent of the total number of farms in the U.S. but control two-thirds of agricultural land. Now many are calling for solutions to help support beginning farmers and revitalize rural communities.

“The industry trends have just made it more difficult for a small acreage farmer to produce a profit and almost certainly they prohibit you from making a living at it,” says Shaun Miller, farmer at Miller Hogs and Hay in central Iowa. “It changes what your vision of a family farm is and how you have to go about getting there.”

Between 1935 and 2023, the number of farms in the U.S. decreased by 72 percent, while the average farm size nearly tripled. Farmers have reduced the amount of labor and land used to farm and increased inputs such as machinery, farm structures, fertilizer, and pesticides, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Today, just four companies represent 73 percent of U.S. beef processing and 67 percent of pork processing, and only four corporations control 65 percent of the global agrochemicals market.

“To farm in a modern way, you have to be large, you have to have economies of scale, and that requires an impressive amount of chemical, genetic, and machine technology,” says Dr. David Peters, Professor of Agricultural and Rural Policy at Iowa State University. “A lot of smaller farmers cannot make those investments…[They] are increasingly falling behind and they drop out.”

Consolidation has had a range of negative impacts for U.S. family farmers, says Jordan Treakle, National Programs and Policy Coordinator at the National Family Farm Coalition: Fewer and less competitive markets, which usually lowers prices for producers; fewer places to source agricultural inputs, which usually means higher transport costs and traveling time for farmers; and fewer locally adapted seed options.

“Independent family farms are the bedrock of healthy rural economies,” says Treakle. But “systemic low prices have undermined farmer livelihoods and forced hundreds of thousands of family farmers out of business across the country.”

As farming becomes more expensive and uncertain—and urban areas provide more job opportunities and off-farm career paths—young people are migrating out of rural communities. Departures from rural counties over the past two decades have outweighed new arrivals. Meanwhile, the average age of U.S. farm producers rose from about 50 years old in 1978 to 58 years in 2022, according to the USDA.

Population decline has meant the loss of essential public infrastructure for many rural communities—such as schools, clinics, hospitals, and local food infrastructure—and the loss of middle-income jobs.

Read the full article about rural communities by Emily Payne at Food Tank.