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Southern agriculture. The agriculture itself. There’s still a lot of money to be made in agriculture, for somebody at least. Here’s a map of how much money is made from crop production across the country .
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The agriculture itself • There’s still a lot of money to be made in agriculture, for somebody at least. • Here’s a map of how much money is made from crop production across the country. • All statistics and maps from either the U.S. Census or the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unless specified differently.
Who’s producing what? • Although maps for production of most commodities are available to your heart’s desire, let’s look at brief views. • What about cotton? (Or as a percent of harvested lands.) • What about tobacco? • What about livestock? More specifically, pork or poultry?
Where does the value come from? • How much is being made from this agricultural production? • Look at this map of the average crop value per acre. • Where are the most valuable crops per acre being produced? The least?
“Bimodality” • A complicated word meaning that there are two peaks to whatever you’re measuring—in this case at the ends of the scale. • So, in Southern agriculture today, the income of farmers is “bimodal”—there are many farmers who earn little, a smaller but important number at the top, and few in the middle.
Small vs. Large Farm • For example, look at this map of the number of farms from 50-99 acres. • Now compare it with a map of the number of farms from 500-999 acres. • Or in general the distribution of farm sizes across the country, by the percent of farms of a certain size.
Family or Company? • When you think of “farms,” it’s pretty easy to imagine a family farm. • How common are they? • What about corporate-owned farms? How common are they in the South? (At least in 1997.)
Bimodality, part 2 • Most production value comes from a relatively small number of large farms. • Yet most of the land in agricultural production is still in the hands of ‘small farmers,’ though that definition is changing.
Making a living • As the O’Sullivan article from SRDC explained: • “family farming is becoming an increasingly rare social phenomenon.” • Let’s see. How many farmers in the South make most of their living from farming? • And conversely, how many farmers made their living mostly from some other occupation?
Diversity is increasing • The O’Sullivan article discusses in detail the increasing diversity of farm ownership, operation, and management of Southern agriculture. • Here’s one example of diversity in ownership: female-operated farms in the U.S.
Rise in corporate agriculture • Why has more and more production come from corporate-owned and operated farming enterprises? • What is “vertical integration?” • What are the benefits of “scale?” (Meaning, you produce on a larger scale.)
So what troubles are faced by small farmers? • Economic (see pp. 4-8) such as profitability, cash flow, investment, loan availability. • Research availability. • For a long time, African Americans had a harder time getting USDA-backed loans, and successfully sued. • Do many people you know plan to launch an agricultural career? Why or why not?
What to do? • Should small farms be assisted? • If so, what is an economic argument to help small farmers? • What would be a social argument? • Should larger corporate farms continue to grow as a proportion of agriculture? • What does the SRDC report recommend?
