Question Earthority!

“Between 1997 and 2002, the percent change of farms making $5,000,000 or more was 42 percent. The typical acres per farm harvested for corn jumped from 200 in 1982 to 450 in 2002. And just to be clear about the take-home point: large-scale family and non-family farms accounted for 9.7 percent of farms while contributing 75.4 percent of the value of production in 2004; fewer, larger farmers like Larry are responsible for ever more crop production and the number of mid-sized family farms has gone through the floor. Why should we care about the loss of what has come to be called the ‘agriculture of the middle,’ the mid-sized family farms that were once the backbone of the farm economy? In short, because we lost the grassroots base for action on federal farm policy.” (08/19/08)