5 ms·
It varies with whatever you're trying to produce, but the biggest problem is that family farmers are being displaced by larger farms mostly because of economies
by MsMowz 9y ago
It varies with whatever you're trying to produce, but the biggest problem is that family farmers are being displaced by larger farms mostly because of economies of scale. The only thing left (at least, where I'm from) that family farms can do alright by is beef, and the reason is that you can't just stick a calf in a feedlot for its entire life like you can with chickens or hogs, so there's not as much room for economies of scale.
Farming has been a race to the bottom for a long time, and this is welcomed by people who want to see cheaper food at any cost. I'm sympathetic to that view, but when I watch the continued erosion of rural communities based around the erosion of farming as a living, I have to think we should do something. What will happen to those people? And what will we do when (or if) we take into account the enormous environmental costs of large-scale farming? You're not going to just get those family farms back, because unless you're raised on a farm you probably won't have an interest in farming.