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Speaking as someone who provides services to the industry, your statement just isn't correct; as I originally stated it's a popular myth that is very different

by kochb 6y ago

Speaking as someone who provides services to the industry, your statement just isn't correct; as I originally stated it's a popular myth that is very different from reality. There are large corporations involved, but they come in at the points where inputs are supplied to the farmer and production is purchased. Production is still operated by family run farms. It's so capital inefficient that no corporation would dare bother.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Here's some data: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2018/06/28/iowa-state-isu-farmland-farm-facts-ownership-tenure-survey-owners-debt-land-rent-family-income/742159002/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/20... Its pretty bleak. Farmers that don't farm. Family ownership has dropped drastically. Most farm owners are 65 or older, half of that women that outlived their families and don't work the land any more. Most land in production is rented. Families that keep the ol farmstead do it for sentimental reasons and hire it out to a corporation.
- kochb 6y ago
  Land ownership is a tangential subject, but this does portray some accurate details about modern agriculture in the US. Many children leave the family farm; they can earn more with less work, and operating a profitable farm operation is very difficult. Families don't like selling their farmland, so they rent it out to another farmer. There are funds that buy farmland to profit from rental or future resale, but again they are not the operators. Perhaps it'd be helpful if you provided a few examples of these corporations? Not incorporated family farms, but these for-hire corporations operating at large acreage scales.
- marcusverus 6y ago
  The article indicates that the people who own the land are renting it out to the people who are farming it. This doesn't mean that corporations own the land or do the farming. The article you linked explicitly states that corporate ownership is very low and as not changed in 40 years. > Corporate ownership has remained relatively stable since 1982, coming in at 10 percent last year.

by kochb 6y ago

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Here's some data: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2018/06/28/iowa-state-isu-farmland-farm-facts-ownership-tenure-survey-owners-debt-land-rent-family-income/742159002/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/20... Its pretty bleak. Farmers that don't farm. Family ownership has dropped drastically. Most farm owners are 65 or older, half of that women that outlived their families and don't work the land any more. Most land in production is rented. Families that keep the ol farmstead do it for sentimental reasons and hire it out to a corporation.

kochb 6y ago
Land ownership is a tangential subject, but this does portray some accurate details about modern agriculture in the US. Many children leave the family farm; they can earn more with less work, and operating a profitable farm operation is very difficult. Families don't like selling their farmland, so they rent it out to another farmer. There are funds that buy farmland to profit from rental or future resale, but again they are not the operators. Perhaps it'd be helpful if you provided a few examples of these corporations? Not incorporated family farms, but these for-hire corporations operating at large acreage scales.
marcusverus 6y ago
The article indicates that the people who own the land are renting it out to the people who are farming it. This doesn't mean that corporations own the land or do the farming. The article you linked explicitly states that corporate ownership is very low and as not changed in 40 years. > Corporate ownership has remained relatively stable since 1982, coming in at 10 percent last year.