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Why is that the standard measure? By that rubric, an overwhelming number of small businesses can't support families. Certainly without a lot of supplemental i

by taeric 3y ago

Why is that the standard measure? By that rubric, an overwhelming number of small businesses can't support families. Certainly without a lot of supplemental income. I'm ok with the definition that most farms just aren't small. Certainly ok with the idea that a small farm is still giant compared to any other "small" business. But I find it odd that Clarkson's Farm, a show many are probably familiar with today, is literally 1/10 the size of what you are calling a small farm. Is that just a tiny farm? Edit: Finally tried clicking around your links, I think you messed up the WA one. At any rate, I see a "small" farm is designated by revenue of about 28k. https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Imported/641-WSDAAgInfographic-WEB.pdf?_gl=1*1kpv6a2*_ga*MTIxMTkzMTcxNy4xNjkwNTY1NzQ5*_ga_9JCK8SVQPE*MTY5Mzg2OTQyNC4xLjEuMTY5Mzg2OTU2Mi4wLjAuMA https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Imported/641-WSDAAgInfogr..... shows that "63% of farms are less than 50 acres" So, I can see how your average number can work, as that is how statistics work. That said, most farms are clearly not 11k acres. Edit2: Annoyingly, that link I put up indicates the "small" revenue is 250k. It was an exemption of some sort that I closed the link on that indicated 28.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
Because size is irrelevant. A 1 acre greenhouse can produce more calories and imcome than a 10,000 acre dryland farm. And all real farms have at least 6 figures of revenue. They also have at least 6 figures of expenses. A small combine harvester costs $500,000, for example.
- taeric 3y ago
  If you are using 500k equipment, you are no longer a small farm, though? You are small for large farms, maybe. But not what anyone would think of as a small farm. I'm curious what the exemptions are on runoff regulations. That was the driver for what got me asking. Edit: I realized late that the numbers for average farm in WA was not jumping to the US state, as I was silly to assume. Since we are discussing US farms, it makes sense to look at those sizes, to me. And, yeah, our farms are much much smaller. Even Texas has average sizes in the 1k range.

by taeric 3y ago

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Because size is irrelevant. A 1 acre greenhouse can produce more calories and imcome than a 10,000 acre dryland farm. And all real farms have at least 6 figures of revenue. They also have at least 6 figures of expenses. A small combine harvester costs $500,000, for example.

taeric 3y ago
If you are using 500k equipment, you are no longer a small farm, though? You are small for large farms, maybe. But not what anyone would think of as a small farm. I'm curious what the exemptions are on runoff regulations. That was the driver for what got me asking. Edit: I realized late that the numbers for average farm in WA was not jumping to the US state, as I was silly to assume. Since we are discussing US farms, it makes sense to look at those sizes, to me. And, yeah, our farms are much much smaller. Even Texas has average sizes in the 1k range.