The Myth Of The Family Farm
The Myth Of The Family Farm

Author: Ingolf Vogeler

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1000303705

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The ideal of the family farm has been used to justify a myriad of federal farm legislation. Land grants, the distribution of irrigation water, land-grant college research and services, farm programs, and tax laws all have been affected. Yet, asserts the author, federal legislation and practices have had an institutional bias toward large-scale farms and agribusiness and have hastened the demise of family farms. Dr. Vogeler examines the struggle between land interests in the private and public sectors and finds that the myth of the family farm has been used to obscure the dominance of agribusiness and that the corporate penetration of agriculture has in turn contributed to the plight of migrant workers, the decline of small towns, and the economic difficulties of independent farmers. Dr. Vogeler also identifies the major shortcomings of agribusiness and federal land-related laws and programs; examines the regional impact of agribusiness and federal farm programs on rural areas; and considers the role of racial minorities and women in the development of agrarian capitalism. In conclusion, he offers a structural analysis that provides the means for progressive social change and states that the achievement of economic equality in rural America and the dismantling of the corporate control of agriculture can be realized through farmer-labor alliances.

Farm (and Other F Words)
Farm (and Other F Words)

Author: Sarah K Mock

Publisher:

Published: 2021-04-26

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781636768205

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We love The American Farmer. We trust them to grow our food, to be part of children's nursery rhymes, to provide the economic backbone of rural communities, and to embody a version of the American dream. At the same time, we know that "corporate farms" are disrupting the agrarian way of life that we so admire, and that we've got to do something to stop it. So what's our plan for saving the farms we love? In Farm (and Other F Words), Sarah K Mock dismantles misconceptions about American farms and discovers what makes small family farms work, or why they don't. While exploring the intersection of farming and wealth, Mock offers an alternative perspective on American agricultural history, and outlines a path to a more equitable food system moving forward. Calling for change, Farm (and Other F Words) tackles questions like: Do farmers really get paid not to farm? Are "big corporate farms" the future? How much good has the food movement done for small family farmers? Ultimately, Mock suggests a solution without putting the onus for change on struggling consumers and reminds us that, "the future of American agriculture is not yet decided."

Family Farming
Family Farming

Author:

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2008-06-01

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9780803217485

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Americans decry the decline of family farming but stand by helplessly as industrial agribusiness takes over. The prevailing sentiment is that family farms should survive for important social, ethical, and economic reasons. But will they? This timely book exposes the biases in American farm policies that irrationally encourage expansion, biases evident in federal commodity programs, income tax provisions, and subsidized credit services. Family Farming also exposes internal conflicts, particularly the conflict between the private interests of individual farmers and the public interest in family farming as a whole. It challenges the assumption that bigger is better, critiques the technological basis of modern agriculture, and calls for farming practices that are ethical, economical, and ecologically sound. The alternative policies discussed in this book could yet save the family farm, and the ways and means of saving it are argued here with special urgency. ø This Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author providing a more national perspective, underscoring the repetitive cycles of American agriculture over the decade, and assessing the major policy issues that have dominated agriculture in recent years.

Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms
Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms

Author: Robert A. Hoppe

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 1437937004

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Most U.S. farms -- 98 percent in 2007 -- are family operations, and even the largest farms are predominantly family run. Large-scale family farms and non-family farms account for 12 percent of U.S. farms but 84 percent of the value of production. In contrast, small family farms make up most of the U.S. farm count but produce a modest share of farm output. Small farms are less profitable than large-scale farms, and their operator households tend to rely on off-farm income for their livelihood. Farm operator households cannot be characterized as low-income when both farm and off-farm income are considered. Nevertheless, limited-resource farms still exist and account for 3 to 12 percent of family farms, depending on how ¿limited-resource¿ is defined. Graphs.

U. S. Family Farms
U. S. Family Farms

Author: Kathleen Perry

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781634836296

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Most U.S. farms are family operations, and even the largest farms are predominantly family-run. Small farms are less profitable than larger farms, on average, and their operator households tend to rely on off-farm income for their livelihood. Generally speaking, farm operator households cannot be characterised as low-income when both farm and off-farm incomes are considered. Small family farms dominate the farm count, but midsize and large-scale family farms account for the bulk of farm production. Information on the different kinds of farms -- and the farmers who operate them -- is important for understanding the economic wellbeing of farm households and the implications of farm policy. This book proves accurate, detailed, and unbiased information on the structure and finances of U.S. farms, including the relationship of farm size and type to agricultural production, financial performance, sources of farm household income, and the extent of off-farm work. The book provides a sense of the financial position of family farms in general and of different types of family farms.

This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm
This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm

Author: Ted Genoways

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2017-09-19

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0393292584

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Winner of the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize 2019 selection for the One Book One Nebraska and All Iowa state reading programs "Genoways gives the reader a kitchen-table view of the vagaries, complexities, and frustrations of modern farming…Insightful and empathetic." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family farm—and their entire way of life—are under siege on many fronts, from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a radical new landscape and one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.

American Agriculture
American Agriculture

Author: Mark V. Wetherington

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-05-28

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1442269286

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American Agriculture tells the story of farming in American from contact between Native Americans and Europeans to the present. Agricultural historian Mark V. Wetherington provide a narrative overview of significant historical trends explored through specific crop regions and their emergence over time. He traces the decline of the family farm that at one time formed the backbone of America’s agrarian culture and the emergence of large industrial farms that overproduce subsidized commodity crops. American Agriculture provides a narrative overview of significant historical trends explored through specific crop regions and their emergence over time. It is interdisciplinary in approach and places the major themes and topics within the broader context of the nation's history. This book will be essential reading to anyone interesting in the past, present, or future of American farming.

American Dreams, Rural Realities
American Dreams, Rural Realities

Author: Peggy F. Barlett

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780807843994

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This book draws on the stories and words of over a hundred farm families in an average county in Georgia's prime agricultural region to construct an account of the disaster years and their consequences.

Gaining Ground
Gaining Ground

Author: Forrest Pritchard

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-05-21

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0762794380

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With humor and pathos, Forrest Pritchard recounts his ambitious and often hilarious endeavors to save his family’s seventh-generation farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Through many a trial and error, he not only saves Smith Meadows from insolvency but turns it into a leading light in the sustainable, grass-fed, organic farm-to-market community. There is nothing young Farmer Pritchard won’t try. Whether he’s selling firewood and straw, raising free-range chickens and hogs, or acquiring a flock of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, his learning curve is steep and always entertaining. Pritchard’s world crackles with colorful local characters—farm hands, butchers, market managers, customers, fellow vendors, pet goats, policemen—bringing the story to warm, communal life. His most important ally, however, is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and eschews organic foods for the generic kinds that wreak havoc on his health. Soon after his father’s death, the farm becomes a recognized success and Pritchard must make a vital decision: to continue serving the local community or answer the exploding demand for his wares with lucrative Internet sales and shipping deals. More than a charming story of honest food cultivation and farmers’ markets, Gaining Ground tugs on the heartstrings, reconnecting us to the land and the many lives that feed us.