Farm policy
The Hutchinson News
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Small farms are making a comeback in Kansas despite government ag policy that encourages mass production. This might be a testament to the American consumer, and Washington may want to pay attention.
U.S. Department of Agriculture data released last week showed the first increase in the number of farms since World War II.
In Kansas, the number of farms less than 500 acres increased by 7.5 percent since 2002. And the state added 700 farms of just 1 to 9 acres since 2002.
This is encouraging for rural Kansas. Anecdotally, some of these new farmers are urban people choosing to buy into the rural lifestyle, if only on a part-time or hobby basis.
The new farmers are not typically conventional wheat growers or cattle ranchers. Rather, they are niche farmers.
They might be like Keith Nafziger, a commercial airline pilot who raises grass-fed, heritage breeds of cattle and sheep on a small farm near Hillsboro northeast of Hutchinson.
Many small farmers grow produce for sale at the local farmers’ markets.
These new producers are evidence of consumers’ growing interest in locally grown produce and grass-fed and organic meat.
Federal farm policy does not help such producers. Instead, it subsidizes agriculture to keep grocery store food prices down by rewarding mass production. Taxpayer subsidies go to the biggest producers, not to small farmers.
That isn’t an altogether bad policy. Cheap food is good.
But much of the decline of rural communities can be blamed on farm policy that drove family farms off the land.
At least some consumers are making a statement that they miss traditional, locally marketed agriculture. This is one more reason Congress should reform farm subsidies, if not end them altogether.
The Hutchinson News
Feb. 16, 2009