“Factory Farms” is a term that we hear far too often from those who are seemingly opposed to the conventional form of farming that we are all used to seeing. Many times, it is thrown out by those who wish to either radically change or do away with agricultural practices in general, making many wonder if these people enjoy eating and wearing clothing.
What makes the term even more frustrating is that those who use the term “factory farming”, don’t ever specify what meets that definition. If they do try and specify a criteria, you often see that the criteria are different for each person who is defining it. The goal is that they are trying to show that farms are corporate entities that are ruining the food industry around the globe.
However, the USDA has come up with figures that are far less negative for farmers. Katherine Lacy is an economist for the USDA’s Economic Research Service. They have just released a report called “America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance: 2023 Edition.” She says that many farms on either end of the spectrum of what we would consider large and small, are still family operations.
Overall numbers show that 97% of all farming operations are still family-owned businesses.
Beyond this information, the study also looked at the financial health of these family operations.
Many of the family farms out there are what we would consider “low-income.”
Betty Resnick, who is an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation talks about these financial situations.
