U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Jan. 22, 2024, at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, warns the nation's continued loss of farms puts American identity and democracy at risk.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If the U.S. keeps hemorrhaging farms as it has over the past four decades, far more than its rural economies will be threatened, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

While those communities would undoubtedly suffer, Vilsack warned such losses would endanger the central pillars of American identity and democracy.

“At the foundation of our economy and our value system is American agriculture,” he told growers Monday, Jan. 22, at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Vilsack’s speech was at once somber and optimistic as he described the steep national decline in farm numbers and acres and what the USDA is doing to reverse the trend.

Vanishing farms

Nearly 440,000 farms have disappeared in the U.S. since the early 1980s, as many as the current number of operations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Colorado, he said.

In that same time, U.S. farmland decreased by more than 140 million acres, equivalent to the land mass of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland, Vilsack said.

“I don’t think the country can stand the continued acceleration of the loss of small and mid-sized operations,” he said. “Are we OK with that? I’m not. I don’t think you are, either.”

As farms shut down, rural populations dwindled enough to force school closures due to the lack of children, Vilsack said. Similarly, fewer shoppers meant small town commercial districts suffered, causing more family companies to go out of business.

Traditions lost

However, the devastation cannot be measured in demographic or economic terms alone, as America is grounded in its rural traditions, he said.

Vilsack gave the example of a dairy family that lost all its cattle in a severe storm. To sustain the farm, neighboring farmers contributed their own cows to replenish its 150-head herd.

“Folks, that’s what’s at stake here,” he said.

The rural way of life rewards hard work and teaches people that success must be earned, Vilsack said. “It is the value system of this country, represented by the people in this hall.”

The U.S. military’s strength likewise depends on the sacrifices and patriotism of rural Americans, he said.

“The people who risk their lives to preserve our freedom, a disproportionate number come from these communities,” Vilsack said.

Large and small farms

Though farm numbers and acreage have fallen, the U.S. agricultural system has successfully continued feeding the nation and the world, he said. In recent years, growers have experienced some of their highest profits on record.

“The challenge is the income has become consolidated,” Vilsack said.

Fewer than 8% of farms earn about 89% of the nation’s net agricultural income, leaving the remaining 11% to be divided among roughly 2 million smaller operations, he said.

The USDA understands that large operations play a crucial role in the food system and wants them to continue flourishing, Vilsack said. The agency simply wants to ensure a fruitful future for other growers as well.

New opportunities

“We’re creating opportunities for those 92% of farms to be able to have multiple income streams,” he said.

Crop insurance options offered through USDA are expanding, disaster payments are allowing farms to recover from catastrophes, and growers are eagerly enrolling in new conservation programs created by legislation passed in recent years, Vilsack said.

Markets for carbon offsets and other environmental services offered by farmers will provide new sources of income, as will cutting-edge biofuels from agricultural byproducts, he said.

“We’re excited about this future,” Vilsack said.

To help control input costs, the USDA is investing in domestic fertilizer manufacturing and individually tailored on-farm renewable energy projects, he said. The agency is also diversifying livestock sales channels with grants for local meat processing facilities.

“Many of these projects are farmer-owned, which creates another profit opportunity,” Vilsack said. “They’re also providing opportunities for their neighbors to have decent, good, viable markets.”

Of the average dollar spent at a grocery chain, only about 15 cents goes into the farmer’s pocket, he said. Through local- and regional-based food outlets, however, that share can increase to 50 cents or 75 cents.

“This is a combination of efforts to preserve the ability of small and mid-sized producers to stay in business,” Vilsack said.

When children or grandchildren want to return to agriculture after college or the military, farmers should be able to welcome them back with open arms, he said.

“I want that conversation to always be: There’s tremendous opportunity here. I want there to be excitement and opportunity discussed around that table,” Vilsack said. “I understand the significance to the greatest nation on earth, our country.”