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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Small farmers are doing okay . . .
  • Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 11:07:12 -0700


And now of days are the number of farms really increasing or is the USDA
simply measuring them by a different yardstick?

Definitions have changed in both the USDA and the Census Bureau. More people, my people, have become ruralites each year for the last many years now. There is a continuing outmigration from urban to rural counties, although in 2004 there appeared to be greater percentage growth in metro areas, which Metropolitan Statistical Areas the US Census Bureau has ballooned, making the numbers misleading. For lots of good reasons, many prefer to live in a rural setting but not diminish their urban lifestyle with its attendant financial requirements so they move to fringe counties but commute to the high-paying jobs. The USDA and Cooperative Services, being the clever bureaucracies that they are, need clients to justify their expensive existence. So they have embraced what once were called hobby farmers, what we might call homesteaders. Additionally, ruralites with CPA advice find they can offset city income with rural losses, so many "farms" exist for that purpose. Why not write off a tractor, riding mower, trailer, and part of household operating expenses? Have an elevated gas tank installed and buy gas with no sales tax and at a bulk price, then fill the commute car. We Americans are clever people and the IRS has motivated ever more cleverness.

Found this: "American SMALL FARM is the largest national magazine that specializes exclusively in the interest and needs of the American Small Farmer. We use USDA's definition for a small farm. Our readers earn income from agriculture and usually have at least one full time off-farm income. Our articles are written to help you improve your farm business and lifestyle." http://www.smallfarm.com/home.htm

Found another site that said the 1997 definition of a small farm was up to 100k farm sales.

Found this at the USDA site: "There is also variation in projected net cash income changes by size of farming operation in 2005. Commercial operations, which represent about 9 percent of farms and more than 70 percent of production, are expected to experience a 2-percent decline in average net cash income for 2005. Average net cash income of intermediate farms (primary occupation of farming and gross sales below $250,000) is forecast to increase by nearly 3 percent in 2005. Two-thirds of U.S. farms are classified as rural residences--operators of which typically earn most of their off-farm income from off-farm sources. In contrast with intermediate and commercial farms, the vast majority of these farms were employed off-farm prior to becoming a farmer, with a much larger share of both operators and their spouses having off-farm jobs. The farm operations of these households have for many years averaged a negative net cash income, with 2005 expected to continue this trend."

And finally, this:

"small farm

"In the past, ERS [Economic Research Service of the USDA] frequently used $50,000 in agricultural sales as the delineation between large and small farms. "Noncommercial" or small farms had sales less than $50,000, while "commercial" or large farms had sales of $50,000 or more.

"To some extent, the cutoff between small and large farms is arbitrary, and cutoffs other than $50,000 are also used. The National Commission on Small Farms, for example, used a much higher cutoff in its definition of small farms: farms with sales less than $250,000. The Commission wanted to include more farm families of relatively modest means who may need to improve their net farm incomes. ERS has created a farm typology, with eight groups, that incorporates the Commission's $250,000 cutoff.

"Nevertheless, most farm businesses are small businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA) generally classifies farms as small if they have sales less than $500,000. By SBA standards, about 97 percent of U.S. family farms are small. (The SBA uses higher cutoffs for nonfarm businesses. Cutoffs range upwards from $3 or $5 million, for businesses where cutoffs are defined in dollar terms. They begin at 500 employees for businesses where cutoffs are defined in terms of employment.) "






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