Where are Family Farms going? The days of sitting on your front porch, watching the farmers pick the fields or the children play in the garden are seemingly disappearing. But why? A sector of our world is being lost, and with it go the little farmhouses, the small red barns, and the beautiful pastures our cattle graze. The ever-rising cost of farm living is growing exponentially every year, but income continues to decline how do we expect the small farmers to make it? Between new generations, rising cost, the growth of agribusiness, and the advancements in technology we have virtually wiped out all of the family farms we saw 50 years ago.
This is no new phenomenon, farmers have always been motivated to “get big, or get out” as President Nixon’s secretary of agriculture Earl Butz said in 1973 (Down on the farm). The farmers of the 21st century have done just that, gotten big. Michael Pollan, a writer of food production and author of bestselling books, blames the government's way to enable the big businesses and forget
…show more content…
This rattles most people. Take Brandon Whitt, a farmer from Tennessee for example as someone who sees this as somewhat of an issue. He states that "97% of American farms are owned by family farmers" (Corporate Farming vs Family Farming). But when you continue to read his information you find that he too finds his farm as being labeled more of a business. So, what's the other side? Most people when thinking of a family farm categorize it as a single family, raising a few of each animal and harvesting their own land and this is where the confusion comes in. In reality, we are losing these types of farms, but in the broader scope of things we see that real family farms still dominate the makeup of farmers in America. The definition has just changed. So, in the end, this is a debate of whose definition is