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The family farm: will it survive?

By CHARLES B. SHUMAN, former president of the American Farm Bureau Federation

WHEN I started farming 50 years ago, there were six family farms in the four miles between our home and the nearest town of Sullivan. Today, there are only two! Most of the houses are still there, but they are not occupied by farmers. All of the land is in crops, but the two remaining family farm operators till far more acres than the previous six farm families could handle in 1930 with horses and small kerosene-burning tractors. Indeed, nationally, the number of family farms has decreased dramatically from 6.5 million in 1930 to approximately 2.3 million today.

What happened to these 4 million family farms? Were they displaced by huge,factory-in-the-field corporation farms? The answer is definitely not The family farm remains the dominant type of operation in America. Only about 1 percent of U.S. farms are corporately owned, and most of those are family corporations. There has been no material increase in the proportion of corporate farm operations in the last 50 years. The average size of the family farm has increased from 150 acres in 1930 to more than 400 acres today. The once small family-operated farms have simply grown in size, thanks to the use of modern machines and more efficient methods.

There are a few huge corporate farm operations which often produce highly specialized crops such as pineapple or head lettuce, but the family farm is more secure today than ever before. Today's farm operators are better educated, better financed and better informed than were their counterparts of past generations. They are served by specialists who can analyze problems involving soil fertility, animal health, weed control, mechanical repairs and credit and market trends. While other industries have been plagued by declining productivity, U. S. farmers have continued to increase their efficiency and are now producing food and fiber at a lower cost per unit than any other nation. In Marxist nations, agricultural production is always "below expectations," but in the U.S. food is plentiful and requires only 16 percent of the average factory worker's paycheck. After supplying domestic needs, we export almost one-fourth of our total production to help feed millions of people in other lands.

But what about the living conditions and prosperity of the farm family? Of the farm families I know, most would not exchange their occupation or life-style with any other family in any other occupation. There are unsolved problems, such as marketing, but the opportunities for a reasonably secure and rewarding life for farm families are as great or greater than in any other business or profession. The average farm family lives in a modern house, provides a good education for the children and participates in the community and cultural activities. It is not a dull hfe. It is sometimes very complex and demanding and involves the entire family.

The family farmers of America are well-informed and well-organized for action on state and national issues. Seventy-five percent are voluntary members of the Farm Bureau, the principal farm organization. Leadership is as good as, or superior to, urban leadership, and there is a wonderful new generation of farm families taking over. They are quick to adopt new methods and make needed changes in response to market demands.

The most serious threat to the future of the family farm is not from a "takeover" by some form of corporate or alien ownership and control. The greatest danger for the family farm is federal government intervention and control. The first government farm program, the Federal Farm Board, was passed in 1929 and was followed by a long succession of expensive acreage control and price support schemes which were intended to reduce production and increase prices. The price supports, however, stimulated unneeded production which piled up in government storage bins and depressed farm prices and income for many years. Farmers are still being handicapped by excessive federal regulations just as are other businessmen, but the unnecessary and burdensome production controls and price supports have largely been abandoned. Those earlier subsidy and control programs actually worked to benefit the larger farms which could absorb acreage cuts with little effect on income. It was the small farmers who were severly hurt by government farm programs.

From the time of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to the present day, family farmers have operated successfully in competition with large-scale farms. They are not being pushed out. In fact, they have many advantages over the corporate or other large-scale operators. One of the most important of these advantages is in the cost of labor and management. Large operators must depend upon well-paid managers and many hired workers. The family farmer is his own manager and provides most of his own labor. It is hard to imagine a 40 hour per week employee on a corporation farm getting up at 2 a.m. to check on a corporate sow due to farrow before morning.

The changes in agriculture have been good for both consumers and farmers. It is good that less than 4 percent of the U. S. population is needed to produce food and fiber, thus releasing millions of workers to produce other goods and services. It is good that farm families can now benefit from higher income, more leisure and better communities. It is good that more and more nonfarm or part-time farmer families have the opportunity to live with us in the rural communities.

March 1981/Illinois Issues/41


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