A farm is a unit of cultivated land set aside to grow, raise and produce agricultural products or fuel.http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=farm Farms employ 17 percent of the labor force and the U.S. food and farming system contributes nearly $1 trillion to the United States national economy— which is more than 13 percent of the gross domestic product. http://www.farmland.org/programs/protection/default.asp The farm protests in the 1920s and 30s and the farm crisis of the 1980s affected the price of land and thus, farm operators' social status when examining the relationship between agricultural land scarcity and economic growth.http://www.jstor.org/pss/3743208 The price of farmland dropped 39 percent between 1980 to 1986 then jumped 83.3 percent over the next nine years.http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/fzlinder/long%20run%20trends.pdf
Farmland is rapidly disappearing in America. Ninety-one percent of America’s fruit and 78 percent of vegetables are grown near metro regions where they are in the path of development. Every hour, the country loses 125 acres of farm and ranch land.http://www.farmland.org/actioncenter/no-farms-no-food/local-food.asp Black owned farms represent 61 percent of all minority farms. One third of the black farmers are 65 and older—which is older that then entire population of farmers in America.http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=1987/US/US87334.xml;US8700688 Legislation to finalize $4.6 billion in discrimination settlements with black farmers is stalled in the U.S. Senate.http://www.blackfarmers.org/html/080610_01.html
Legislation
If structured properly, limits on imports and exports can provide long-term benefits to a large segment of farmers. Climate change legislation can prevent direct regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency—a scenario that would harm agriculture and agricultural producers more than cap and trade. http://www.farmland.org/documents/InformaPotentialImpactsofCapandTrade.pdf The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 contains 15 titles covering support for commodity crops and other farm related items. It is renewed every five years and reviews of the bill began May 2010.http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/10Jun/RS22131.pdf
Saving Farmland Video
Farmland is shrinking in the United States because of urbanization. The land and the soil should be protected if farm products are to be available and affordable. Conservation easements help save farms. Landscape preservation practices have evolved over time and helped create the Great Farm Belt. Farmers help too by learning best practices to prevent harm to the environment from farmland run-off.
References
Fast Facts
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Growth
In 1940, the average farmer grew enough food for only 19 other people. By 2006 farmers grew enough food for 144 other people.
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Two percent
Farmers account for only two percent of the American population.
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Number of farms
Since 2007, there are 2,204,792 farms, 75,810 more farms than in 2002.
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Women
The Census of Agriculture states that since 2007, there were 306,209 female farm operators, a 30% increase from 2002.
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What we spend
Average Americans spend 10 percent of their income on food, compared to Native Americans who spend up to 51 percent of their total income on food.
