4 ms·

I pulled some numbers from us government data 5 years ago or so and found that farms 10,000+ acres got around $300 revenue / acre, compared to 1-5 acre farms wh

by dwiel 12y ago

I pulled some numbers from us government data 5 years ago or so and found that farms 10,000+ acres got around $300 revenue / acre, compared to 1-5 acre farms which got $30000 revenue / acre. Big farms have a better ROI. Invest $1M into large scale farms and you get more profit out than investing $1M into small scale farms. Large farms are more efficient with money and labor. Small farms are more efficient with space.

GeneralMayhem 12y ago
It's not obvious that dollar-value is a good proxy for food quantity. How much of that is explained by crop choice? Large farms grow grains, which are relatively cheap; fruits and specialty items require more individual care and by-hand harvesting, so they should correlate with smaller farms, and they sell for much more $/calorie.
- dwiel 12y ago
  That is a good point, but 100x more expensive seems like it can't entirely be accounted for by more specialty crops. Most small farms in my area do most of their sales growing typical vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, etc. Wheat is, in bulk, $0.125/lb right now. At a farmers market, there are a few things that fetch $12.50/lb, but not too many. There are plenty which sell for $1-$2/lb. That does account for 10x of the cost difference though, thanks.
  - GeneralMayhem 12y ago
    Picking which price to use could easily vary another 10x either way. Is the government using local farmer's markets, retail at grocery stores across the country, or the price that retailers pay farmers? What does a "bulk" price mean for grains? Corn is at about 7 cents per pound, if you buy it a metric ton at a time on the commodity market. Not saying the result you got is necessarily wrong, but I'm very skeptical of economic comparisons that don't carefully control for these sorts of things.

4 ms·

I pulled some numbers from us government data 5 years ago or so and found that farms 10,000+ acres got around $300 revenue / acre, compared to 1-5 acre farms wh

by dwiel 12y ago

GeneralMayhem 12y ago
It's not obvious that dollar-value is a good proxy for food quantity. How much of that is explained by crop choice? Large farms grow grains, which are relatively cheap; fruits and specialty items require more individual care and by-hand harvesting, so they should correlate with smaller farms, and they sell for much more $/calorie.
- dwiel 12y ago
  That is a good point, but 100x more expensive seems like it can't entirely be accounted for by more specialty crops. Most small farms in my area do most of their sales growing typical vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, etc. Wheat is, in bulk, $0.125/lb right now. At a farmers market, there are a few things that fetch $12.50/lb, but not too many. There are plenty which sell for $1-$2/lb. That does account for 10x of the cost difference though, thanks.
  - GeneralMayhem 12y ago
    Picking which price to use could easily vary another 10x either way. Is the government using local farmer's markets, retail at grocery stores across the country, or the price that retailers pay farmers? What does a "bulk" price mean for grains? Corn is at about 7 cents per pound, if you buy it a metric ton at a time on the commodity market. Not saying the result you got is necessarily wrong, but I'm very skeptical of economic comparisons that don't carefully control for these sorts of things.