[Nirvana]

So what is a family farmer? The answer is straightforward. The 200,000 families that produce 85% of the nation’s food are family farmers. Only 2% of our food is produced by corporations. Family farms come in all sizes. In the mind of urban writers, exactly when does a family farmer become a factory farmer? No one knows or can say, but chances are good that if your size is larger than a few acres, you are at risk of being called a factory farmer.



“Factory Farmer” as a descriptive term is meaningless. The processes used in production don’t vary a lot between sizes of farms. Certainly size does matter. Larger operations offer economies of scale and this is the feature of American agriculture that has pushed us to the forefront of efficiency in the world. Spreading the cost of overhead and management over 1000 acres of cropland is more efficient than over 100 acres. Looking after 1000 cows is more efficient that 100 cows. Both manpower and equipment are used more efficiently. Larger producers got to be larger because they are more efficient. A useful exercise for those who chose to label operations as factory farms would be to edit their articles or books to substitute “efficient” for “factory” in front of every farmer entry in the article or book.



The myth of the small family farm as the sole custodian of a caring, sensitive food provider is out of touch with reality. Many small farms are tended by owners with a primary job elsewhere. They are small tracts outside of town where the owner runs a few livestock or farms a few acres in their spare time. Other small farms are owned by rich people who have no understanding of production practices and often don’t really care. They are interested in a retreat and the tending to the crops whether plant or animal is never a priority.



At the core of production agriculture are the thousands of American farmers who make their living farming livestock and crops every day. They vary in size but share one common concern – the health and sustainability of the crops they produce –whether plant or animal. They fight the elements, the weather, the markets, and daily crisises of production agriculture every day of the year because it’s in their blood. They spend very little time and lose very little sleep worrying about whether they are a family farmer or a factory farmer.