Census shows long-term sustainability loss

The Gazette is right that “following long-term trends is key” for the Census of Agriculture. Amazingly, in 1950 there were well over 150,000 farms with cattle and calves, hogs and pigs and poultry sales, and farms with dairy sales were very close. These numbers have all declined much faster than the number of farms.

Of surviving farms, the percent with “value added” hogs and pigs declined from 84% in 1950 to 59% in 1969, to 33% in 1992, to 7% in 2017, and then down to 6% for 2022. Loss of farms with dairy and poultry is also extreme. For cattle the trend is similar, falling from 90% of all farms to 69%, to 45%, to 29%, then on down to 25% just five years later.

We see huge parallel losses of farms and land for sustainable livestock crops, “pasture on cropland,” hay and oats, a massive structural change causing pollution. There were more than 12 million acres of these crops in 1950, when most farms had them. Acreage fell to 7.9 million in 1969, 4.3 million in 1992, less than 1.3 million by 2017, and just over 1.2 million today. We see “permanent pastures,” on hills and near streams, converted to corn and soybeans.

While net cash income is up for 2022, as a return on land, building and machinery assets, it’s only 4.2%.

The major policy change behind the creation of this pollution problem is the reduction and ending of price floor programs, where farmers subsidize CAFOs.

Brad Wilson

Springville